When I was 14 years old, my father called the editor of the local newspaper, the Haverhill Gazette. "My son, all he does is write stories," he said. "Could you give him a job?"

He did.

That summer I tagged along with the court and police reporter, down to the mayor's office, the police station, the fire station. Then we went back to the newsroom, where I found an empty desk - it was an afternoon paper, so everyone cleared out after the deadline at 11 - and typed short essays for the Saturday supplement on an electric typewriter.

I've been writing and publishing ever since.

I was born in San Antonio, Texas, but was raised in the foothills of the Colorado Rockies and in southern New Hampshire. I went to college in Massachusetts, spent a year in Colombia, then taught English in Taiwan for two years. In 1993, I went back to Texas for graduate school, and in 1996 finished an MA in linguistics. I graduated with a PhD in English in 2000.

Throughout my foray as a teacher and academic, I never stopped writing fiction or journalism - in 1998, I became a contributing writer for the Texas Observer, and an essay published in the North American Review was nominated for a National Magazine Award - and when I graduated, I realized I had a very special choice to make. I could become an assistant professor, or I could become a writer.

I chose writing, which has offered immeasurable rewards.

I now live in Austin, Texas, with my wife and our catahoula -- neither of whom I would have in my life, I should point out, if it weren't for writing.