David Ejchorszt

D. Ike Horst

"Consider that writing is the exercise, and real world experience and reading is the nutrition."

Career Roadmap

David 's work combines: Writing, Art, and Being Creative

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Author

I've written several novels, and published my novella: Death, The Pharmacist.

Bachelor's Degree: English - Creative Writing

My path in life took a while to figure out

1.
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.
2.
Failure in post-secondary education - I bombed my first attempt at college.
3.
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.
4.
Vocational Training - I learned several trades in the medical field, and I made decent money for a while.
5.
First Service - AmeriCorps NCCC Year 23. This was my introduction to disaster relief and conservation. I was proud to help people and the environment.
6.
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.
7.
Work in conservation - I worked with a state agency and a private agency as a wildland firefighter, timber harvester, trail/maintenance personnel.
8.
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

THE NOISE
Messages 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.
How I responded:
When I felt discouraged, I sat down at my computer and wrote. Anything that is used as ammunition between people can be exposed on the page. I know that anyone has the capacity to tell a story, and having decided that my medium was the written word, I knew there was no one—not even myself—who had the right to tell me that I couldn't be what I wanted to be.

Experiences and challenges that shaped me

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Money is not the most important thing in the world, but every author is a sole proprietor. Writing is a business with production quotas, overhead costs, and sales tracking. This can be overcome through perseverance and time on task.

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