Hello everyone, please allow me to introduce myself.
My real name is Ryan but my online handle has been 'Sharky' for as long as I can remember. I'm 23 but I'll be 24 before the week comes to a close and I live on a little known island between England and France known as Jersey, Channel Islands.
I am not a published author. I don't think I am even close to being a published author, but I am slowly and surely working my way through my first novel which is tentatively known as 'Tales of Fray' a fantasy book which I hope to aim at the Young Adult market.
As much as it pains me to admit it the truth is that I only picked up books in the past few years. Not because I haven't wanted to read books but because I'm heavily dyslexic. (If I'm honest, by the time I've finished writing this I will have used a spell checker and found numerous mistakes, but I get better each year). I could barely read at age 11 and it took until I was 19 years old before I'd conquered dyslexia to the degree that I felt confident enough to pick up a book and read it from beginning to end. It was The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S Lewis, I enjoyed it immensely and I've barely taken my nose out of books since!
Whilst I have come to appreciate and enjoy writing more than I thought I ever would, my drive to write a book wasn't from a love of writing, but a drive to tell a story that could really capture the imagination of children and young adults in the same way writers like C.S.Lewis, J.R.R.Tolkien and many others have done for me.
I hope I can achieve that and look forward to being apart of this community of writers.
Thank you for reading my longer than expected introduction!
P.S. If you could spare a few moments of your time, please do check out my blog which is still a work in process.
www.RyanLThomas.com
or twitter at:
http://twitter.com/RL_Thomas
Thanks again,
Sharky
