I recently picked up a copy of “The Bone Collector” on VHS the other day, and while I had my reasons for picking up the 1999 thriller, I remembered that the chain between the movie and my writing was longer and albeit sillier then I initially thought and figured it would be something fun to toss up on the blog.

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It all began as a simple purchase at what I think was Walmart.

I was eleven and had twenty-bucks and a burning desire for new PC games.

When I ran across Tomb Raider III it was an easy choice, there was a movie announced later that year, the hype was everywhere.

Now I can’t say I was ever any good at the game and ever did anything more then run around the mansion and shoot at the butler, it did open the door to a teenage love for Lara Croft.

Cut to later in 2001, and the Tomb Raider movie is in theaters on my birthday. To day this was a canon event in my young life, as it was for many young gamers of the day. I had the poster on my wall for longer then I care to admit.

At a later date one I’m not sure my mom introduced me to the movie The Bone Collector, sold of course purely off the casting on Angelina Jolie. It worked and became one of my favorites to watch on a rainy day.

At the time, I had no idea that the movie was based on a novel.

While I was an avid reader when I was younger, most of my reading were young adult fantasy novels (I grew up in PEAK Harry Potter rise) and in my early teens the hobby had slowed considerably.

Enter The Vanished Man, a book my mother picked up at the grocery store one afternoon after making the connection between the author and the movie we’d come to love.

At the time, it was unlike anything I’d read before, tense, thrilling, mature, had multiple POVs, and interwoven story lines. It opened a whole new realm of reading to me and over the next few years, I bought, borrowed, ordered every Jeffery Deaver book I could get my hands on.

I was obsessed. To this day I still carry them with me, although I will admit my collection is behind his more recent works, I still do intend to catch up!

With those books came a new passion as well, one to write.

I began writing short stories and novellas, some complete, some forgotten, but the desire has been burning inside ever since.

I sent Mr. Deaver one of my stories once, when I was maybe fifteen or so. He was gracious enough to reply and although for legal reasons he couldn’t read my story, he sent me a letter full of hope and encouragement and to this day I have it printed in a frame and it’s one of my most cherished items.

So there it is, how a teenage driven gaming purchase lead to a live long love of writing and story telling. Not the most amazing story but one worth telling none the less!

I appreciate you reading and if you want to hear more weird stories, writing advice, and other things of that nature, consider subscribing to our mailing list!

Thanks for reading – JD