I wrote my first novel when I was five. No kidding. It was 10 pages, all handwritten in pencil on notebook paper, front side only. I dimly recall that it was about a young hero (me) finding an orphaned boy sitting naked on a fallen tree. I'm not sure what that might mean from a psychological standpoint, but I was just a kid at the time. Don't get all Freudian on me. In my novel, our daring protagonist offers the boy a place to stay, clothes to wear and food to eat. Think of it as sort of a morality tale about lending your fellow man a helping hand. It won me several accolades, such as kudos from my mom and step-dad, and inclusion in one of our nightly bible studies. Unfortunately, due to an unprecedented and never-repeated attack of modesty on my part, the novel was lost forever when I told my step-father that he could throw it out if he wanted, it wasn't that important. I'd say the one lesson I took from that whole thing was, “Never be modest about your own work.” It's always important to SOMEONE… even if it's just you.
Over the years, after the lamented "Lost Novel" incident, I continued to be the little story maker. My love for story may have been due in large part to the fact that I learned to read around age 3 – my family have all sworn under oath. But you can't overlook the heaping piles of encouragement that everyone gave me, either. Whenever my family noticed that I loved to read, they gave me anything and everything they could find that contained the printed word. Books, magazines, newspapers, comic books, the Bible--if the English language appeared in it, it was given to me to read. And then there was Christmas. Probably the best Christmas gift I ever got was a cassette tape recorder. It was one of those rectangular black boxes with little faux-chrome accents. That and a whole pack of cassette tapes gave me all the materials I needed to dictate an impressive array of stories. At that time in my life I was reading a lot of "Encyclopedia Brown" books. Think of them as "flavor of the month" books – sort of like "Harry Potter" is now. Whether you like them or not, there's one thing you can say about books like that – they get kids to read. And this kid was reading them so often that he started imitating them. I would dictate a detective story into my tape recorder and my folks would listen to it, smiling. They were probably just being tolerant, but that encouragement was all I needed to keep making new “episodes.”
As time went by and I grew to an age where I could wander around by myself, I became quite the little explorer. There wasn't a back road or a patch of woods within ten miles of my house that I didn't know thoroughly. My little band of neighborhood hooligans and I would ride our bikes from one end of Wild Peach to another, usually getting into a little bit of harmless trouble here and there. Well... mostly harmless. At least it gave me something to write about later. Writing was my first passion, of course, but little did I realize that I was on a fast track to a strange and sometimes harrowing career in the media. I became involved in the media at an extremely early age. It all started with a contest to name the school paper for Wild Peach Elementary. There were several hundred entries, as I recall, and everyone was allowed to submit more than one suggestion. The winner would receive a huge jar of jellybeans. Free candy... I'm in. So I put in as many suggestions as I could think of. Most were fairly lame, if I recall. “The Daily Pit,” “The Wild Peach Gazette,” etc. But one apparently stood out above all others. It had come to me all of a sudden, like some sort of vision from God (think Blues Brothers). So I scribbled it down on the little mimeographed entry card: "The Golden Peach Press." And behold! A newspaper was named! First headline? "Kevin Tumlinson Wins Naming Contest." And a working relationship with the media was born. Little did I know that I would spend a large chunk of my adult life working in various forms of the media. That golden peach was an omen. I got into things a lot while I was growing up. I was always curious about how things worked. As a result, many small electronics met their fate at my hands. Seeing the carnage, my stepfather encouraged me by buying me the "Electronics Experiment Set" from a Sears catalog. The household electronics were safe for a time. I learned a great deal from that little experiment set. For instance, I learned that I love to make sparks. Electric sparks are the coolest things ever! But I also learned how to build an electronic circuit, how to trouble shoot, and how to be patient until I can actually get it to work. Translating "love of electronics" to "love of science," my folks then began buying me any science kit they could find. I had an incredible chemistry set, one of the best, with actual real-working chemicals that surprisingly were never swallowed by me in an attempt to give myself super powers. I also had a very cool microscope, a nifty telescope, and several varieties of building sets (Legos, Lincoln Logs, Robitix, etc.). I feel I got a pretty well rounded education. I was exposed to all sorts of opportunities to learn through hands-on experience. To this day I'm largely a "kinesthetic learner." Which basically means I "learn by doing." I developed a habit while I was growing up that persists to this day. Whenever I'm interested in something I go all out to learn everything I can about it. The result is that I have a variety of skills and talents. Call me immodest if you want, but it's true. Video editing, graphic arts, photography, web design -- heck, even cooking, I've picked up a litany of skills and talents over the years. As a result of my curiosity and interests, I've worked in a variety of interesting and exciting fields. I've produced radio and television. I've been an editor and a writer, a teacher and a columnist. It's been a long road, but I think I've done very well for myself. Money has always been an “up or down” sort of thing, but by every other measure of success I'm quite the overachiever. I've even been labeled by some as a "Renaissance Man.” I can live with that.
There have been several major influences in my life. One of the biggest was my grandmother, Sammie “Granny” Mansel. In many ways, Granny is directly responsible for my writing career. I was basically raised by her and my grandfather, and so she was the one who often encouraged me in ways that I'm not sure other parents would have. She bought me books, bought me my first typewriter, and she paid for my creative writing classes. She saved me, more than once, from a life of settling for second best. When she passed away, it was devastating to me. Sometimes I think I'm still recovering. Another huge influence in my life was Orson Scott Card's sci-fi novel, "Ender's Game." My Freshman English teacher in high school, Mrs. Robinson (here's to you), had assigned us to read a library book and do a book report. I was wandering around aimlessly, not really getting into the assignment much, when the librarian, Mrs. Burke, asked me what I was going to read. I shrugged, not really knowing or caring. She then asked what I was into. Now, just like any teenager, I was very concerned with my image. I read constantly, but I knew the books I was into at the time would sound lame to everyone else in my class. So, in an effort to be "cool" I said, "Science fiction." Because, I reasoned, people who read science fiction are cool. I always did have a skewed perspective on the world. So, Mrs. Burke suggested "Ender's Game." I picked it up and felt the slightest bit of disdain when I saw the goofy looking yellow space ship on the cover. It didn't really look interesting, but I was out of time. I had to have something to read, and this would have to be it.
Lucky for me, standardized testing fell on that week (looking back, I realize that the library assignment was done specifically BECAUSE standardized testing would start that week. Reading a library book would keep most of us from getting bored and causing problems). I've always been pretty quick when it comes to these tests, and so it took me no time whatsoever to finish up, and rather than face boredom I cracked open my paperback. And a world of marvels was opened up to me! It took only a few minutes to get into the story about a young boy taken from his family and placed in a battle school in the name of saving humanity. It was a story so profound and powerful to me that it literally changed the way I perceived the world around me. I had been an avid reader my whole life, had loved stories my whole life, but I had never lived in one before. I've read "Ender's Game" at least once per year ever since. It's a tradition I gladly adhere to because I count it among the greatest books ever written. I'm a little biased, but who can blame me? Because of that book I realized for the first time that the stories I was creating could have an impact on people. The idea that something I wrote might be able to have the same impact on someone else helped me to make one of the biggest decisions of my life. I became a writer and a storyteller. And I've been one ever since. So Mrs. Burke and Mrs. Robinson also get added to the list of my big influences. Mrs. Burke for getting me to read the greatest book ever, and Mrs. Robinson for recognizing early on that "Hey, this kid's got talent!' She told me every day that I would be a writer. I needed that. God bless them both! Once out of high school, I had to face facts that the world was going to demand a career out of me. So I went to school and got a background in Electronics Engineering. And once that turned into a recurring nightmare I left and went back to school, attending Houston Baptist Univeristy. At HBU I ended up once again encountering my old friend the media. I was a double major, English and Communications, and as part of that whole mess I ended up interning at a national radio show. This led to meeting my good friend Todd Hewey, who ended up hiring me to help produce his documentary series about historic aircraft. That gig led to more TV related work, graphics work, photography work… that's a lot of work. And it all ended up with me starting my own production company, Hat Digital Media. Now I produce film and television on top of everything else. I'm still just a story teller at heart.
All that, and a lot of accomplishments in life, but I was still feeling pretty blue most of the time. Why? Because I didn't have anyone to share it with! That is until January 8th, 2006 when the lovely Miss Kara Staible became the even more lovely Mrs. Kara Tumlinson. Those who said it coudln't be done, writhe in envy! I managed to win the heart and hand of this extraordinary gal and we've been peaches and cream ever since. The future, whatever it may hold, looks brighter. Thanks to Kara I've enterd a whole new chapter in my life. One filled with encouragement, strength, happiness and love. And I just couldn't ask for a more supportive and nurturing wife. Now, if only she had some nice things she could say about me! One day I'll live up to the kind of husband she deserves. Until then, I've got the papers... it's too late to back out now! And thus ends our tale. I could go on. It's my job, after all, to slap words onto the screen. But if you've actually made it this far then I think I've tortured you enough. I may add to this little autobiography some day. Until then, though, I hope you have enjoyed your visit, and I hope you find something on this site worth getting excited about. Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to e-mail me any time! Sincerely,
J. Kevin Tumlinson |
