You might notice a 15 minute, ahem, gap in my resume. A time where I was in L.A. for six months working at a music house. While it teetered on the periphery of advertising, I wasn’t exactly sitting on the beach writing Superbowl spots.

I’m one of those who’s honest in almost an uncomfortable way. So if we ever meet, I’ll end up telling you what my time in L.A. was really about. As most stories do, it starts with a boy. But like my references, “Love life available upon request” is how I like to leave things on my resume.

What I will tell you is that I was writing during that time — a lot. I discovered when I wasn’t writing advertising copy, I couldn’t stop writing everything else. I wrote a line of greeting cards. A children’s CD. And eventually, a novel.

I have so many “almosts” with my novel that I could almost write a novel about it. Now, I know everyone has a screenplay tucked away in a dusty drawer, or is in a band that should be playing at Red Rocks, or they’re the funny guy at the office who would make Dane Cook look like, well, Dane Cook.

I’m not saying I’m the next great American novelist. I’m just aiming to be a damn fancy copywriter. I only want to make it clear that writing is what I do. It’s what I’ve always done. And it’s what I was doing even in the fifteen minutes where it looks like I wasn’t.