I sometimes write under the name J. D. Stiver. It is not my real name. It is a pseudonym that I use because I like it. Or at least I did before J. D. Vance came along and nearly ruined it for me. I decided to keep it because I believe I give off less of a J. D. Vance vibe and more of a J. D. from “Heathers” vibe, and I can work with that.

SCRYING GLASS is my first novel. It was fun and challenging to work on because I entirely failed to plot it out before writing it. I just made it up as I went along. Doing so made it feel less like I was writing and more like I was reading it while keeping notes. It only became a problem a few times when I would think, “Man. I have no idea how Brad is going to get out of this one.” … Long pause … “Oh, shit, right. I’m the one who is supposed to know the answer to that.”

I haven’t written anything in over twenty years. I thought I would get back to it.

I recently got accepted to Full Sail University in Florida, where I will be studying creative writing. Before that, decades ago, I attended Rose State College in Oklahoma, where I studied journalism. I have written for various newspapers in Oklahoma, both in college and professionally. In that capacity, I was telling other people’s stories, though I’d rather write my own. I have won dozens of awards, which I still have. They make excellent paperweights, and, on one occasion, aided in my efforts to commit homicide against a particularly irksome fly that had plagued me several days prior to its well-deserved death.

And with that, let’s see where this writing thing goes from here.