Before I became serious about writing, my path was anything but straightforward. Like a lot of people trying to figure out life after high school, I bounced between jobs while going to college and trying to discover what I actually wanted to do.
At the time, I thought game development might be my future. I earned an associate’s degree in game development and even worked as a bug tester for mobile games like Diner Dash and Cooking Dash. My personal style of bug testing was what I jokingly called “stress testing through stupidity.” I would intentionally try strange or unexpected actions just to see if the game would break. Sometimes it worked surprisingly well.
But the deeper I got into the process, the more I realized that programming and development weren’t really where my passion lived. I enjoyed games, but I didn’t enjoy the technical side nearly as much as I enjoyed storytelling.
Before that realization, though, I had already worked several jobs that taught me a lot about people, management, and stress.
One of my earliest jobs after high school was working as a dishwasher at a restaurant. It was my first real experience with workplace conflict and the pressures that come from being understaffed and overworked. Trying to keep up with a full restaurant by myself while dealing with constant complaints quickly became exhausting.
That experience was frustrating at the time, but it taught me something important: how quickly a work environment can become overwhelming when communication and support break down.
Later I worked in life insurance sales for a short time. The job involved driving to meet potential clients and making calls to set up appointments. Sales simply wasn’t a good fit for me. The pressure, the constant rejection, and the uncertainty of commission-based income made it difficult to stay motivated.
Eventually I found a position as an electronics associate at Walmart, where I spent about two years working full-time. For the most part, I actually got along well with many of my coworkers, and it was one of the first workplaces where I felt somewhat comfortable.
But even there, new management and increasing expectations created additional stress. Balancing work responsibilities with family obligations made it difficult to keep up with everything that was expected. Over time, the situation became overwhelming.
Around this period in my life, I was also facing significant personal and health challenges. Not long after publishing my book, I began experiencing serious medical issues, including schizophrenia and cervical dystonia, a condition that causes involuntary muscle spasms in the neck.
These experiences forced me to step away from traditional employment and focus on managing my health.
While that chapter of my life was incredibly difficult, it also pushed me toward something that had always been there in the background: writing.
Throughout all those jobs and stressful experiences, I had been working on my book Freak Show whenever I had free time. Writing became a way to process ideas, channel creativity, and build something meaningful despite everything else going on.
Eventually I began focusing more seriously on my work as an author. My book was published, and I started exploring opportunities to promote it and reach readers.
Looking back, none of those jobs were wasted time. Every experience — good or bad — added perspective that I now carry into my writing.
Sometimes the road that leads you to your real passion is messy, frustrating, and full of detours. Mine certainly was.
But in the end, all of those detours led me exactly where I needed to go: telling stories.
Thanks for reading.