I’ve been a lifeguard, a fast-food-flinger, a network administrator, and a soldier in the U.S. Army. From 2004 to 2011, I made a living as a blogger and affiliate marketer. I worked from home and made my own hours, so in many ways it was a dream job, but I’d always wanted to tell stories (instructing people on how to select a home security system or which gym equipment to buy wasn’t quite as fun as you’d think). Back in 2009 or so, I decided to “get serious” about finishing up some novels. I had a number of half-written manuscripts I could have focused on, but the characters I’d known longest were the Emperor’s Edge crew, and I also enjoyed spending time with them (seriously, who wouldn’t want to spend time with Maldynado? ). I finished Emperor’s Edge…and then let it sit on my hard drive for a year. I wasn’t sure it was good enough to send off to an agent (nor was I excited by the idea of querying ten bazillion agents). And there wasn’t much point in starting EE2 if I hadn’t sold EE1. So, I went on to write Encrypted, thinking that would be easier to sell because it was a stand-alone story and I had more experience as a writer by then. But… what started out as high-fantasy in a steam-age world ended up having this strange science-fiction bent in the end, and I wasn’t sure how to “sell” it to agents. Cross-genre? Steampunk? High fantasy? It wasn’t really any of the above, and, either way, I didn’t see many agents looking for those things (in fact, I saw more of them saying, “under no circumstances send us that secondary-world-fantasy crapola” — it’s possible I’m paraphrasing). About that time (fall of 2010), I got my first Kindle and stumbled across JA Konrath’s blog on self-publishing. Within weeks, I’d decided I wanted to go that route. Since I had a background in blogging, search engine optimization, internet marketing, etc., I wasn’t intimidated by the idea of online book promotion (though, as it turns out, my background helped less than you’d think, and I had a lot to learn!). In late 2011, I e-published my fourth novel, and, thanks to your support, I’ve been able to leave the old day job and make this author thing a full-time gig. I’m not making what I used to make, but it’s my dream job, and that’s what matters most to me.