Following your dream is exciting, but also intimidating.

I’ve always wanted to be a fiction writer, writing suspense thriller books for Washington D.C., but up to this point, life got in the way. I’ve been a marketer, an engineer, a salesman, a project manager, a program manager and senior executive.

The bulk of my career has been in support of Defense Science and Technology, working with or for esteemed organizations such as the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Research Laboratory, DARPA, the Director, Defense Research & Engineering, the Joint Improvised Explosive Devices Defeat Organization, the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization, the Army Research Laboratory, the Air Force Office of Science and Research, as well as many others. In support of our nation’s warfighters, I’ve had the privilege of testing technologies, crafting technical policies, tactics, techniques and procedures, participating in wargames and playing with things that go boom.

For the first 22 years of my career, however, I’ve also been a technical writer and a persuasive writer. Fiction writing is MUCH different, and I invested substantial effort and learning to arrive at this point. The past two years have been exhilarating, challenging, rewarding, but not without unique pressures. It is how we handle those pressures that reveals true depth of character. Like most fortunate folks, I am blessed with fantastic support as I embarked on this journey to tell a story I’ve kicked around for a few years.

My patient, wife Angela, who didn’t blink when I said I was quitting work to write, with no income prospects. Thank you for your undying love, faith and support, as well as our amazing family. As the lyric from my favorite song goes, “I’ll keep making the same mistakes, hoping that you’ll understand.”

The stars in my universe, Nicholas and Paige, are the joys that drive me forward everyday.

My parents, Sandi and Al, my sister, Kristin and Frank (friend, brother-in-law and partner in crime)—thank you all for your support and love, and for joining me on this crazy adventure.

To all my friends in the DMV who’ve helped, encouraged, read, brainstormed or supported me through this effort, THANK YOU.

Props to the SANDAL Creative Services editing team for a comprehensive line edit.

The RED HOTS Book Club for your candid, piercing comments—believe me, you haven’t lived until you’ve voluntarily submitted to the slings and arrow of outrageous fortune from an incredibly smart group of women who debate literary fiction for fun.

The Northern Virginia Writers’ Guild Meetup—thanks for the inspiration to publish.