By day, George Anthony Kulz works as a software engineer at a university, writing software to transfer
electronic student records from one computer to another. By night, he writes
fiction and non-fiction to transfer stories and ideas from his imagination to the imaginations of others. He views both professions as a kind of magic.
He was a former contributor and editor at Your Teen Media, a magazine for parents of teenagers, and has written articles for parents of teens involving technology such as ChatGPT and TikTok.
You can also find him stomping around on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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And now, something a little more exciting. Here are a few things that helped shape me as a writer:
1. I once wrote a story in elementary school, about a friend of mine, my cousin, and I crash-landing on an alien planet. Since I wanted to make myself out to be the hero of the story, I KINDA made the other two look a little... not-so-hero-like. Which managed to piss them off. Thinking back on it, I realize that was an incredibly dumb move that I am truly sorry for. But I would mark this story as the spark that started it all for me.
2. Same teacher as the class I mentioned above - Mr. Donald Ring, in Brown Avenue Elementary School, Johnston, RI - used to give us vocabulary words every week. It was his thing, and he used to stress how important vocabulary was. Because of this, and his encouragement of my early writing, I attribute part of my growth as a writer to him. He was truly an inspiring and amazing teacher for these reasons and many others.
3. I used to steal adult novels from my mother's bookshelf and bring them to elementary school with me. What were some of those novels? Stephen King's Firestarter, The Dead Zone, and The Stand. V. C. Andrews's Flowers in the Attic, Petals on the Wind and If There Be Thorns. Dean Koontz's The Funhouse and The Mask. Just to name a few. I would have the book in one hand and a dictionary in the other to look up the words I didn't know. Obviously, some of the more colorful words I couldn't find in the dictionary. My vocabulary, colorful words included, grew exponentially during this period of my life.
4. I was once told to keep it down when I picked up The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams in the library as a kid and couldn't stop myself from laughing while reading it.
5. I was once told "Don't ever bring that book to class again" by my high school computer teacher when I brought a Stephen King book one day. I can't remember which book it was, but judging by the year this happened, I'm guessing it was probably It. (Although it could've been my mother's worn copy of The Stand, which I've read a number of times now. It never gets old for me.)
I learned one very important thing as a result of all this:
WORDS HAVE POWER.
You can also find him stomping around on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
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And now, something a little more exciting. Here are a few things that helped shape me as a writer:
1. I once wrote a story in elementary school, about a friend of mine, my cousin, and I crash-landing on an alien planet. Since I wanted to make myself out to be the hero of the story, I KINDA made the other two look a little... not-so-hero-like. Which managed to piss them off. Thinking back on it, I realize that was an incredibly dumb move that I am truly sorry for. But I would mark this story as the spark that started it all for me.
2. Same teacher as the class I mentioned above - Mr. Donald Ring, in Brown Avenue Elementary School, Johnston, RI - used to give us vocabulary words every week. It was his thing, and he used to stress how important vocabulary was. Because of this, and his encouragement of my early writing, I attribute part of my growth as a writer to him. He was truly an inspiring and amazing teacher for these reasons and many others.
3. I used to steal adult novels from my mother's bookshelf and bring them to elementary school with me. What were some of those novels? Stephen King's Firestarter, The Dead Zone, and The Stand. V. C. Andrews's Flowers in the Attic, Petals on the Wind and If There Be Thorns. Dean Koontz's The Funhouse and The Mask. Just to name a few. I would have the book in one hand and a dictionary in the other to look up the words I didn't know. Obviously, some of the more colorful words I couldn't find in the dictionary. My vocabulary, colorful words included, grew exponentially during this period of my life.
4. I was once told to keep it down when I picked up The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams in the library as a kid and couldn't stop myself from laughing while reading it.
5. I was once told "Don't ever bring that book to class again" by my high school computer teacher when I brought a Stephen King book one day. I can't remember which book it was, but judging by the year this happened, I'm guessing it was probably It. (Although it could've been my mother's worn copy of The Stand, which I've read a number of times now. It never gets old for me.)
I learned one very important thing as a result of all this:
WORDS HAVE POWER.
Enjoyed reading your "About Me." Not only is it informative, but entertaining as well! I'm sure Mr. Stephen King would get a kick out of your story of the computer teacher getting upset that you had a King novel with you in class! How ironic is that? Good work, George!
ReplyDeleteIn retrospect, regardless of what your feelings are about particular books/authors, you would think a teacher would ENCOURAGE reading. And, it wasn't as if I were reading the book while she was teaching. I just brought it with me to pass any free time I might've had.
ReplyDelete