About Michael J. Vanecek

I’m a daydreamer from as far back as I can remember, and have been jotting down ideas, stories and whatnot since my teens. I was fortunate to have fallen in with a creative crowd which helped me develop myself as an artist and story-teller. We spent countless hours passing ideas back and forth, developing characters and plots, writing, play-acting scenes and even breaking out a state-of-the-art VHS camcorder and laying down some action scenes. We spent as many hours quietly drawing our characters and scenes as we developed our ideas about them.

That foundation has followed me over the decades to today. I wrote obsessively where-ever I was, from scribbles in my note-books while barely scraping by in some run-down rental to tapping away on an old Smith-n-Corona digital during a brief stint in the Navy. I eventually upgraded to a DOS laptop and WordPerfect and started getting better organized with my writing when I met the love of my life and got married.

One of the things that kept me from taking my writing to the next level was a lack of confidence. I wrote obsessively, but the ideas and stories resided only on my computer and in my notebooks. A nagging question that an influential someone in my life had asked me years ago seemed to be a bit of a speed-bump, if not an outright wall. Why would anyone want to read what I write?

Getting married and having kids made it easy to justify not pursuing writing more seriously, and not seeking an answer to that question. After all, I had to get a real job, right? So for nearly 20 years I would jot down story ideas and piddle with scenes, but then it was off to my 9-5 to make sure my family was fed and the lights were kept on. But… that was just an excuse, a bandage at best. The creative obsession never left. I even got a degree in multimedia development and worked as a graphic artist and a photographer for a magazine. But none of that satisfied me like writing did… and does.

I had within my reach all these 20 years someone who was the answer to that old question. Someone who had no problem telling me when what I did was abysmal. Someone who had no problem correcting me exhaustively, and who seemed to delight in it. And yet, someone who seemed enthralled by the stories I would write and was extremely irritated that I didn’t write more or complete my stories. My lovely book-worm of a wife. She wanted to read what I wrote because she truly enjoyed the stories that I created.

In December of 2012, I decided enough was enough. I was either going to fulfill my talent, or I was going to discover then and there that it was all just a fool’s fantasy for me. I dug through some of my old stuff and found an oldie that my wife particularly liked that helped spark some inspiration for my current projects. That snippet is posted on my blog titled Vanessa Wakes. The current story is vastly different, of course. But it was enough to fan the spark. It encapsulated the colossal potential that I wanted for my stories.

Since then, I have written over a million words developing an epic story that currently spans six large books. It just flowed like a torrent as I wrote. I completed the first 230,000 word saga in a month and it was like I was part of the audience rather than the creator. The rest of the novels were no different. They flowed out of my mind as if the die had already been set. Decades of pent up creativity gushing forth.

It has been a consuming project. I work a day job programming and repairing computers and networks 40 hours a week. After I get off work, if I was breathing, it seemed like I was writing. Sleep was and still is often neglected as I would write into the wee hours of the morning. I see no end of it, however. Already I am planning the next series of books, and am constantly jotting down ideas as they come to me. The adventure continues.

My primary audience is pleased. She finally is happy now that she can read something I actually completed, a story that took her on a remarkable journey to a solid and satisfying conclusion. And my extended audience has expressed enthusiasm over my story. They read what I wrote, and want to read more because they like how I tell the story and how I am able to take them on an adventure that leaves them breathless and satiated when they close the book, yet eager for the next story. I hope you enjoy the adventure too.