I've always loved to write for as long as I can remember, dating back to my first-grade class when we wrote an entire children's picture book (general synopsis: four friends and I played the Chicago Bulls in an incredibly high-scoring and thrilling game of basketball). There's just something so cathartic about putting words onto the page and bringing characters and worlds to life. The world of indie books speaks to me because it allows complete control over my work. My main goal is to entertain and this is the best avenue for that.

Taking an idea and making it come to life. Writing is a unique form of art and when you can immerse your audience – and yourself – in that world, it's pretty amazing.

Writing in and of itself brings me great joy. But when a fan tells me that something I've written has resonated with them, whether it's a situation or a specific character, that's an entirely different and elevated feeling. My fans have been very supportive of my writing, and I hope I continue to bring them stories that entertain and make them think.

"Short Stories for Short Attention Spans" is a teaser of my book of short stories that will be released as a physical book in the coming year. I'm very excited about it and look forward to sharing it with the world.

I also participated in NaNoWriMo this past November and think I have the basis of a strong novel. There's still plenty of tweaking to do with it, of course, but I'd encourage everyone to try it at least once. For those who are unfamiliar, each November is National Novel Writing Month. It's just as it sounds: write an entire novel in one month. It's daunting, challenging, and exciting all at the same time.

Roald Dahl is certainly an inspiration with his ability to turn any situation into one where I can't stop reading. His characters are also full of quirk, which is always a good thing, in my book. "Catcher in the Rye" and "Angela's Ashes" are among my favorite works, so I have to give J.D. Salinger and Frank McCourt some love, as well. Finally, I wish I could write mysteries as well as Agatha Christie does. She's terrific.

Have you ever sat around all day and done nothing? I hate it! I physically and mentally feel better if I'm accomplishing something, so knowing that there are things to do and goals to reach gets me out of bed every morning. It also doesn't hurt that hitting the snooze button only makes me feel more tired, so I avoid it like the plague.

I'm a karaoke fanatic. I used to host at The Gaslite in Los Angeles, which is well-known in part due to a Funny or Die sketch with the singer Jewel. That gave me an opportunity to sing a lot – hey, somebody's got to keep the party going during a lull in performers – as well as see which songs were well received by the audience. For fun, I've kept a running playlist of the songs I've performed, and I can say without shame that there are more than 500 songs on that playlist.

Continuing the music theme, I play in the band Burning Years here in Austin. It's pretty cool to see how music can lift people up, and I've developed some great friendships with other bands in the area as a result.

You may also find me running around outside for exercise. Sometimes it's just running, other times it's playing basketball, football, or ultimate frisbee. They're all great workouts and are fun ways to take advantage of the often-warm weather we have.