David Ejchorszt
Author
D. Ike Horst
“Consider that writing is the exercise, and real world experience and reading is the nutrition.”
Milestones
My road in life took a while to figure out.
Early Childhood - exactly what you would expect. Formative years are often overlooked when one talks about trauma or life experience. The fact is, there is actually too much to tell or summarize.
Failure in post-secondary education - I bombed my first attempt at college.
Homeless and wandering - I lived out of my car for many months. For a three year period, I was migrating between California, Idaho, and Utah.
Vocational Training - I learned several trades in the medical field, and I made decent money for a while.
First Service - AmeriCorps NCCC Year 23. This was my introduction to disaster relief and conservation. I was proud to help people and the environment.
Second Service - AmeriCorps St. Louis. This honed my skills related to my conservation work, but I was forced to face interpersonal trials and long-withstanding trauma.
Work in conservation - I worked with a state agency and a private agency as a wildland firefighter, timber harvester, trail / maintenance personnel.
Post-secondary education success - I found my niche getting my bachelor's in English - Creative Writing with Liberty University. I also began publishing work and transitioning into a career in writing
Education
GED
Bachelor
English - Creative Writing
Liberty University
English - Creative Writing
Liberty University
Career
Author
I've written several novels, and published my novella: Death, The Pharmacist.
Career Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Writing
Art
Being Creative
Day to Day
I write hundreds to thousands of words a day, conduct social media outreach, and send emails to various news outlets, podcasts, blogs, etc. Being an author is a unique career because there are no work days and likewise no off days. Work and life are blended. Sure, there is a production quota and also necessary business tasks, but being an author is about thinking, producing, resting, and repeating the aforementioned cycle.
Recommended Education
My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:
Bachelor
English - Creative Writing
English - Creative Writing
Hurdles
The Noise I Shed
From Society in General:
"1. Writing isn't a real profession. 2. The chances of making sustainable income from book sales are slim. 3. Consider that readers are quick to forget, and slow to forgive. 4. Everyone has a big idea, but that doesn't make them a good writer. "
Challenges I Overcame
Financial
