Who Am I

On March twelve in the year nineteen hundred and eighty I was born. It was a snowy day in the city of Warsaw, Indiana. My parents named me ‘Clay’ and I inherited the surname ‘Ashby’. I grew up like any other child of the era – although some might argue I was a bit more curious. I enjoyed television and computer games during my free time and I took a special interest in Legos.

School never came easy for me, especially mathematics. I harbored a special love for science class, but all else was a waste according to my young and distracted mind. The task of memorizing multiplication tables dwarfed a climb to the peak of the tallest sand dune of Lake Michigan.

I would oftentimes go home after school and rip apart electronic devices for fun. Usually, they never went back together, but seeing how that thing did what it did gave me immense satisfaction. Another fleeting satisfaction I found when young was writing. It was a short-lived venture, but I was only experimenting with creativity. I recall a story about my gerbil aptly named “Adventures of Gerbie”. I can still remember being overjoyed with the completion of this first story.

Eventually, I was pounded from all sides by adult logic about future career choices. I dabbled with many options. Airplane pilot, auto mechanic, and computer technician were among the most promising. Being a pilot meant a sub-par home life, so it got dropped after some remorse. Being an auto mechanic showed little promise of pay rate, so I decided against it. At the time computers were common, but still a new market, so I decided it had the most potential and I dove in.

Now I’m married and I have a beautiful wife and daughter. I love my family more than I could have ever imagined. I have a carrier in computers and server administration. It pays the bills so my family can live in comfort, but it doesn’t satisfy that creative itch I found when I was writing “Adventures of Gerbie” so long ago. I tried satisfying that itch over the years so many times I can’t even remember them all, and most of the time I probably didn’t know why I felt the need to create. I even tried to start my own computer business. I believe that was me trying to make something and not realizing my wish was to have a creative outlet.

The business failed – as most of them do. It wasn’t really a surprise, but it has kicked me back into Corporate America with a full-time I.T. job. I was lucky and I found a really good job, but it doesn’t satisfy my need for creativity.

One day during lunchtime I decided to begin a story. I had listened to Wil Wheaton’s podcast a lot and I believe his comments about ‘create something’ triggered it for me. Other than that I have no idea why I put those first words down, but I can tell you that I am glad I did.

Now my writing occupies a large chunk of my thinking and it satisfies my need to create. This website is where I communicate with you, the reader, about what I’m doing.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.