And now, for my next trick...

Good morning Cybernauts!

After much thought and internal debate I have decided that as my second post, I should inform you, the world, about me, the writer. But first, there are a few things I feel that are worth mentioning.

Rule 6:

I must do something everyday, no matter how small, that brings me closer to getting published. It may be that this is in fact my daily writing, or it may be that this is making a call, looking up a name, researching an agent, or reading about other writers' experiences with getting published.

Exception to Rule 6:

Sundays can be difficult, particularly here in the South, when it comes to contacting anyone. It is also to be a day of rest. As such, I reserve the right to pursue another passion on this day instead of getting published.

And now, for your edification, I feel you all should know who am I, where I am coming from with this challenge, and what my circumstances are. In short, my dossier.

My name is Spencer Hixon. I lived in the northern Virginia area for 20 years, then got married and moved to the South in the pursuit of furthering my wife's education. She is behind me 100% on this. I have not listed her as a passion of my life because I see her as my support to help me on my journey to pursue my passions.

I went to George Mason University in Virginia where I earned a B.A. in English - Nonfiction Writing and Editing, but only after doing 2 full years as a Systems Engineering major. Why I changed is a long topic that I will avoid on this blog. As you might be able to discern, having a fair amount of engineering in my background (top of the class in engineering and physics classes) has affected the way I write and how I perceive and approach challenges in general. I am currently employed writing SEO content for hotels (if you do not know what this is, a quick search on your favorite search engine- I recommend goodsearch.com- will reveal the facts more succinctly than I can).

I am also a twin. Yes, identical; no, we don't share thoughts or pain. We just think and look alike. This is important to mention because my brother is an artist and we have begun collaborating on publishing webcomics, that is a comic book posted on the internet, and I am the writing force behind his current project and blog, Weakly Animated. For the purposes of my challenge, I will consider getting my webcomic published as fulfilling my goals, but it will not take precedence over getting published by other means. Our webcomic is currently set to be published on TangentArtists.com, a group my friends and I made for just such a purpose.

As far as my writing is concerned, I am very eclectic and have trouble narrowing myself down to one genre. I am currently working on a piece of historical fiction/suspense/horror and a creative nonfiction piece about a girl in the 80s dying of cancer. I have also written articles, a how-to guide, memoirs, fantasy, and even poetry, all of which has been published in some form (but I have yet to be paid for anything). I foresee this presenting some difficulty, but I know other successful writers have been able to overcome the genre issue.

I tend to prefer short stories, though I am also working on a novel. In my next post, I will update everyone as to where I am in my attempts to be published. Until then, happy surfing.