J.R. Rain
I'm an ex-private investigator now writing full-time in the Pacific Northwest, where I live in a small house on a small island with my small dog, Sadie, who has more energy than Robin Williams.
As a kid I was always making stuff: skates, skateboards, skimboards, skis, sleds, clothing, furniture, wood carvings, Easter baskets, comic books, you name it. I was the mother of all nerds. Anyway, I think I was searching for the one thing I wanted to keep on making for the rest of my life. Then one day I discovered Choose Your Own Adventure books. Remember those? You as the reader were asked to make choices for the characters. Choose Your Own Adventures were a lot of fun and I just had to make my own. And so I did, writing three of them, and I've been hooked on writing ever since. (Just think, I could have been hooked on making Easter baskets.)
In high school, I was a fine balance of jock and nerd. I played football and baseball and somehow managed to write five complete novels. So how was I able to write so much and play sports and study at the same time? Easy. No girlfriend. In fact, I didn't kiss a girl until I was in college!
In college, I still managed to write two books and over 80 short stories. (Even with all the kissing.) Eventually, I graduated with a perfectly useless degree in anthropology, got married two weeks later, and shortly thereafter started my career as an insurance claims investigator. I've made better choices.
I would spend the next four years researching and writing my first adventure novel, THE LOST ARK. At the age of 28, I landed one of the biggest agents in Hollywood.
Welcome to Hollyweird. I discovered that I had a natural knack for writing screenplays. (Go figure.) For the next two years I worked exclusively with Paramount Pictures and Alphaville Productions developing various movie and TV projects. Some things worked out; most didn't. I learned much and I'm thankful for the experience.
Ultimately, I realized I had strayed far from my true love: writing novels (but never very far from my other true love: donuts). And so, with a little bit of money in the bank and some time on my hands (okay, fine, I got fired from my insurance job), I moved to Carlsbad and wrote three books: DARK HORSE, MOON DANCE, and CURSED.
Being married to a dreamer is tough. Being married to a dreamer and a writer is damn near impossible. Yup, you guessed it, after seven tough years my wife was gone, baby, gone.
Not to worry. I eventually met another girl (poor thing), and together we moved up to Seattle. Things turned ugly fast. I lost my job, my car, my money, the girl, went bankrupt, and yet somehow wrote THE MUMMY CASE in a freezing cold basement in the middle of a rainy winter, unemployed and stealing food (usually donuts) from local grocery stores.
Like the prodigal son, I eventually moved back home to southern California, where I got a new job, got my private investigator's license, got a new movie agent, moved to Hollywood and was fortunate enough to have my first novel published in November 2005 by Mundania Press.
In 2006, I wrote ELVIS HAS NOT LEFT THE BUILDING, and in 2007, I moved up to Oregon where I eventually became a vegetarian (for moral reasons), and wrote the first draft of my ghost story, THE BODY DEPARTED. In 2008, I moved back to southern California to help with my sick father.
Now in 2009, you guessed it, I'm back up in the Pacific Northwest, living on a small island in a small home with my small doggie. It's a simple, peaceful life...a life filled with writing, hiking, and Beggin' Strips.
(Remember: life is too short to work at a job you don't love. So follow your dreams, my friends, even if it means living on a faraway island in the back of beyond....)
As you can see, I've come far from those days of stealing donuts. Full circle, if y
As a kid I was always making stuff: skates, skateboards, skimboards, skis, sleds, clothing, furniture, wood carvings, Easter baskets, comic books, you name it. I was the mother of all nerds. Anyway, I think I was searching for the one thing I wanted to keep on making for the rest of my life. Then one day I discovered Choose Your Own Adventure books. Remember those? You as the reader were asked to make choices for the characters. Choose Your Own Adventures were a lot of fun and I just had to make my own. And so I did, writing three of them, and I've been hooked on writing ever since. (Just think, I could have been hooked on making Easter baskets.)
In high school, I was a fine balance of jock and nerd. I played football and baseball and somehow managed to write five complete novels. So how was I able to write so much and play sports and study at the same time? Easy. No girlfriend. In fact, I didn't kiss a girl until I was in college!
In college, I still managed to write two books and over 80 short stories. (Even with all the kissing.) Eventually, I graduated with a perfectly useless degree in anthropology, got married two weeks later, and shortly thereafter started my career as an insurance claims investigator. I've made better choices.
I would spend the next four years researching and writing my first adventure novel, THE LOST ARK. At the age of 28, I landed one of the biggest agents in Hollywood.
Welcome to Hollyweird. I discovered that I had a natural knack for writing screenplays. (Go figure.) For the next two years I worked exclusively with Paramount Pictures and Alphaville Productions developing various movie and TV projects. Some things worked out; most didn't. I learned much and I'm thankful for the experience.
Ultimately, I realized I had strayed far from my true love: writing novels (but never very far from my other true love: donuts). And so, with a little bit of money in the bank and some time on my hands (okay, fine, I got fired from my insurance job), I moved to Carlsbad and wrote three books: DARK HORSE, MOON DANCE, and CURSED.
Being married to a dreamer is tough. Being married to a dreamer and a writer is damn near impossible. Yup, you guessed it, after seven tough years my wife was gone, baby, gone.
Not to worry. I eventually met another girl (poor thing), and together we moved up to Seattle. Things turned ugly fast. I lost my job, my car, my money, the girl, went bankrupt, and yet somehow wrote THE MUMMY CASE in a freezing cold basement in the middle of a rainy winter, unemployed and stealing food (usually donuts) from local grocery stores.
Like the prodigal son, I eventually moved back home to southern California, where I got a new job, got my private investigator's license, got a new movie agent, moved to Hollywood and was fortunate enough to have my first novel published in November 2005 by Mundania Press.
In 2006, I wrote ELVIS HAS NOT LEFT THE BUILDING, and in 2007, I moved up to Oregon where I eventually became a vegetarian (for moral reasons), and wrote the first draft of my ghost story, THE BODY DEPARTED. In 2008, I moved back to southern California to help with my sick father.
Now in 2009, you guessed it, I'm back up in the Pacific Northwest, living on a small island in a small home with my small doggie. It's a simple, peaceful life...a life filled with writing, hiking, and Beggin' Strips.
(Remember: life is too short to work at a job you don't love. So follow your dreams, my friends, even if it means living on a faraway island in the back of beyond....)
As you can see, I've come far from those days of stealing donuts. Full circle, if y
