About the Author

[carsonshepherd]

Someone on my writing journal asked me for a bio, so I wrote this.

***

I'm 31, an Aries, and I grew up in the middle of the corn field in the middle-left of Illinois. I have one brother two years older whose emotional torment is the reason I'm screwed up in the head. The day after my seventh birthday I had a bad accident that landed me in the hospital and rehab for many months. The doctors told my parents I might never walk again but obviously they were wrong. This, according to my brother, is the reason I'm spoiled rotten. I started reading at four and making up stories even before that. Art was my passion but I don't really have any talent, so finally I started concentrating more on the stories that went along with the pictures instead of the pictures.

My parents split when I was eight and my mom took my brother and me away from the farm. I went to five different elementary schools in several states between grades 2 and 6, which is probably why I have trouble with basic math. Moving and being the new kid was a nightmare for me because of my deep anxiety in unfamiliar situations. I bounced in and out of gifted programs but I never fit into conventional learning. School and I just don't get along. I was a very neurotic child who was convinced we were all going to die in a nuclear war, if a brain tumor didn't kill me first.

Finally, my brother and I moved in with our dad and stayed put. In high school I met my bestest friend and soul mate, OhMissScarlett, and lots of other great friends. Once I made peace with never being like everyone else, I was a lot happier person. My dad died of cancer in 1990, when I was just 15, and we went to live with our mom, who had moved home to be nearer to us. She wasn't working then, she drank instead, and we were extremely poor, but I had a car and I mostly stayed with Scarlett and her family. I was embarrassed at how we lived, but I considered it a test: if someone couldn't handle the way I lived then they could fuck off. In the midst of all this, I was learning my sexuality and all the drama that went along with that.

I went to college at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri for a year, but the Mississippi River decided to wipe out our house, so there was no money to go back, even with financial aid. There was no home to go back to, so I did the best I could. When I looked up, I was living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with my ex. We lived there for 5 years and then moved here to a large city in the south, his hometown, in 1999. We split up, but I've stayed here with my current lover, whom I've been with for 5 years now. I'm close enough to home to visit, but not close enough to get roped into babysitting. *g*

Right now I live in a little yellow house on a quiet street. I have a day job, four dogs, and a relationship. I write. As a writer, I'm self-taught. I don't know all the terminology or methodology, and I don't have a piece of paper to prove I know anything. I observe people closely and try to write what I see and feel. None of my characters are me, but at the same time there's a little bit of me in all of them. This past year, I've finally come to the realization that I have moderate social anxiety disorder, and that has made the picture of my life much clearer for me. I'd like to go back to college and get a degree, but I'm really not sure in what. All I've ever wanted to do is write, and you can't learn how to do that in school. You just do it.


***

Anyone else want to do an "About the Author?"

 

[cloudy]

I like it.

I don't know that I could come up with anything quite as nice as that, though, so I don't think I'll try....not now, anyway.

 

[impressive]

I have this one on my Phaze author bio page:

Alessia spends most of her time crusading for the disadvantaged, ranting about injustice, or performing her domestic duties as a work-from-home mom. When she slows down, however, her imagination takes over. After years of painting delicious images in her mind, she finally decided to capture them with words. Much to her delight, they’ve been well-received.

Everyone, Alessia believes, possesses an exquisitely vivid and varied imagination when it comes to sex. A few are blessed with the time and the talent and the desire to convert their “mind movies” into words on paper – or on a screen – for others to enjoy. Alessia is thrilled (and more than a little awed) to have the opportunity to share her fine flickering hungers with Phaze readers and hopes it’s the beginning of a very long, very satisfying affair.

Too tired to draft anything better ATM.

 

[BlackShanglan]

*nuzzles*

Brothers can really suck, can't they?

My bio: See avatar. Pretty much sums it up.

 

[carsonshepherd]

*nuzzles*

Brothers can really suck, can't they?

The thing about being screwed up in the head was sort of a joke.

 

[Rhys]

You left out the part about being a sex addict, a kink fetishist, (the cherrios thing was really kinky!) and the addiction to twink porn

otherwise I'd say you were pretty honest

 

[BlackShanglan]

The thing about being screwed up in the head was sort of a joke.

Ah, apologies. I actually am, of course, and so mis-read it.

 

[carsonshepherd]

You left out the part about being a sex addict, a kink fetishist, (the cherrios thing was really kinky!) and the addiction to twink porn

otherwise I'd say you were pretty honest

Depends on what kind of bio I'm writing whether or not I mention the kinky stuff.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Ah, apologies. I actually am, of course, and so mis-read it.

 

[hugo_sam]

Not to threadjack Carson, but on a tangentially related topic.
I think it is so neat that you and OhMissScarlett knew each other prior to lit.
I'm sure there are some others that knew folks before coming here and certainly those that have met as a result of lit, but I just find that neat.
There is a remote possibility that Cloudy and I met at some time in the distant past since we were often in the same place at roughly different times, but to actually have a good friend here to start with is nice.
[/endthreadjack]

 

[carsonshepherd]

Not to threadjack Carson, but on a tangentially related topic.
I think it is so neat that you and OhMissScarlett knew each other prior to lit.
I'm sure there are some others that knew folks before coming here and certainly those that have met as a result of lit, but I just find that neat.
There is a remote possibility that Cloudy and I met at some time in the distant past since we were often in the same place at roughly different times, but to actually have a good friend here to start with is nice.
[/endthreadjack]

We've been best friends since we were 13. She told me about Lit actually.

 

[hugo_sam]

We've been best friends since we were 13. She told me about Lit actually.

Cool

 

[OhMissScarlett]

You left out the part about being a sex addict, a kink fetishist, (the cherrios thing was really kinky!) and the addiction to twink porn

otherwise I'd say you were pretty honest

I think you just wrote my bio, lol.

 

[Varian P]

I'd like to go back to college and get a degree, but I'm really not sure in what. All I've ever wanted to do is write, and you can't learn how to do that in school. You just do it.

For eons I put off finishing college because I didn't know what I wanted "to be," but finally decided to study what I enjoyed studying for the sake of the learning itself (yes, I did major in being trite). I didn't learn how to write at university, but my studies gave me lots of ideas and new perspectives.

Hey, if you pick the right discipline, for grad school you can do your dissertation on participating in an online community of porn writers.

 

[NoJo]

Carson, that was an excellent bio, revealing yourself without self-indulgence. Reading it gave me the same feeling as when one is shown someone's old family photos -- which I always find fascinating.

You could tighten it a teeny bit -- it's worth honing, because it really is good.

I'm gonna post a bio too now.

 

[NoJo]

I’m on the right side of 40 (I’m 48 this year). When I grow up I want to be a writer. It’s taken me almost half a century to get where I am today, which is not really anywhere at all, but hey, I can see trees outside my office window.

I was born and raised in London. My father was a TV and film writer. I’ve been around writers since childhood. But I’ve only started writing in the last five years, having spent most of my adult life as a piano player and programmer. The programming took over when I was raising my two children, as it’s a good way to earn a living while staying out of the rain. But now my kids are in their teens, I’ve returned to the piano -- they can pay their own way through college.

I’ve noticed I can make people laugh, often without even touching them. I regard this ability as a mysterious force, which luckily I’ve decided to use for good instead of evil.

I suffer from depression, which is why I’m so keen on laughter. I’ve taught myself to laugh my way out of my depression, sometimes to the extent that my family has to turn up the TV in the living room. Americans say I have a dry, British wit, which presumably means I maintain a straight face when I joke around. But maintaining a straight face is the first rule of comedy.

I regard life as an implausibly long stark grey Wall, on which humans have been invited to graffiti. You can see my stuff about a third of the way along, at the bottom. The thing that looks like two donuts fighting over a disembodied ear is meant to be two people fucking.

 

[wishfulthinking]

to Cars, Imp and Joe

I'll give it a go, but I do ramble.

I'm in my 20s. I have 2.5 degrees + a diploma. I regret that I am not one of those people who love to learn for the sake of learning. I was lucky enough that I knew what the lecturers wanted, even if I couldn't give it to them. Because of this, I think all those qualifications are merely a piece of paper, and have little to do with character or intelligence. EQ v IQ and all that

As of last year, I am the middle child. I trying to develop the middle child tendancies, but find I sometimes loose my way I have 4 parents, and they all love me. I'm very fortunate in this way. The split and divorce was very amicable, but it fucked up my trust in people a lot, and made me very independent that I find it hard to open up.

I can be very manipulative, and want my own way. Rarely I don't get my way, and usually rely on charm, and get miffed when this doesn't work It takes a lot to piss me off, but once I am, I go after blood [scorpio]. But I don't keep grudges, because my memory is shit and I can't remember. On the plus side, I'm very laid back and fun loving.

I don't think I'll ever be a writer as a full or part career. I hated English class at school and skipped it to such an extent that I didn't know the ending of Romeo and Juliet until I saw Baz Lurman's effort, and couldn't tell you want a noun was. I hate writing emails. Funnily enough, written and oral language is fundamental to my job - I can't escape it.

I'm single [no pms or emails pls ]. I am very strong in terms of I know what I want, when I want, how I want. But I'm a sub at heart, and this comes out in all my writings.

I guess this is more about my personality than anything else, but all this shapes what I write and how.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Oh great bios SubJoe and Wishful.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Carson, that was an excellent bio, revealing yourself without self-indulgence. Reading it gave me the same feeling as when one is shown someone's old family photos -- which I always find fascinating.

.

My mom's favorite picture of me is when I was about 2 and I was lying across a chair intently reading the book Dune, but I was holding it upside down.

 

[hugo_sam]

Personally, I think all the bios posted are very nice.
What an interesting and diverse group we have here at AH.
Well done all.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I'm sure there are some others that knew folks before coming here and certainly those that have met as a result of lit, but I just find that neat.

I have a friend who we've known for years (his wife was our midwife at the birth of our daughter), and we both wrote stories on Lit and didn't know each other "here" for a long time...! small small world

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I have a pathological relationship with attention--I chase after it like crazy, then get terribly unhappy when it finds me and I try to hide, so I can't write these bios. Just can't. I had to submit something once to some publisher but I quickly forgot what I said and I refuse to go back and look at it. Hopefully, I lied like crazy.

Best I've seen was Boota's though. It said something about him spending his time locked in a back room with a pistol and a bottle of tequila and the shades drawn, and I liked it so much I bought his book.

 

[NoJo]

I have a pathological relationship with attention--I chase after it like crazy, then get terribly unhappy when it finds me and I try to hide, so I can't write these bios. Just can't. I had to submit something once to some publisher but I quickly forgot what I said and I refuse to go back and look at it. Hopefully, I lied like crazy.

Best I've seen was Boota's though. It said something about him spending his time locked in a back room with a pistol and a bottle of tequila and the shades drawn, and I liked it so much I bought his book.

Funny, now I've read that, it's completely put me off reading his book. But I agree, it gives you a good picture of the guy, or at least his aspiration.

 

[Guest]

The idea of writing a succinct bio intrigued me. Amazing to me that I could do it. (O, but what lies between the lines... )

Perdita
-------------------

I was born and lived in Detroit, Michigan for 24 years. Most of my large extended Mexican family were illiterate migrant farm-workers or auto assembly-line men. Despite what follows, the worst thing that ever happened in my life was the death of my prince of a father when I was ten years old.

Mainly to get out of my mother’s house, at 18 I married a man who bullied me into having an unwanted baby. I divorced him but as he was a very good father, and all-round more 'together' person than me, I gave him full custody of my son. It was the hardest thing I ever did because by then I had learned to love the boy.

Wanting to get out of Detroit, and hearing jobs were easy to find in Denver, Colorado, I moved there in 1970 with all my belongings in a trunk and my spring term’s $250 scholarship money. During this transition my heart was broken for the first time by a local poet. It took over ten years to recover. (Freudian psychoanalysis did little to help severe depression then, but I had some great dreams.)

Hated Denver. That summer two friends from Detroit visited me on their way to California. I was between jobs so took the time for a 'holiday' (stolen credit cards were used for the gas and we slept at the side of the highways).

I’d never seen such a beautiful place as the San Francisco bay area (Detroit had been like Dante’s inferno to me, nearly literally during the 1967 race riot). I wrote my two Denver roommates, girls from Lubbock, Texas, to send my books and boots.

I began writing ‘for myself’ that year, 1970, and have basically educated myself through reading and the performing arts (theatre, opera, music, ballet). I still find writing the most deeply satisfying thing in my life.

In 1992 my heart was broken again, but that time I nearly died; it took a few years to recover. I am fine now with regards to my heart, but always cautious.

I married twice again and have two grown sons who are good men. I am looking forward to early retirement in a few years, but wish I could move to another country. However, I find solace in Jung's proclamation that, "The things of a life belong to that life."

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I was born and lived in Detroit, Michigan for 24 years.

beat ya... I'm 35 and still livin' here...

although, I was born the year you started writing for yourself... so you got me beat there!