About Richard Flores IV

All About Me (Well the parts I chose to share)

The Summary:

I currently live in Vacaville, CA with my beautiful wife and my three young boys.  I was born and raised in Vacaville, CA, and I truly love it here.  I have also lived in Folsom, CA and Orangevale, CA.  As a High School Student I volunteered with the Vacaville Police Department and then begun a career in Security.  I went to work for the Department of Defense for several years before starting my own business.  When the economy claimed my business as another one of its defenseless victims.  I returned to the world of real work, one I don’t much enjoy.

I currently participate in the Vacaville Chamber of Commerce, I volunteer with the Vacaville Youth Soccer League Board of Directors, and spend the rest of my time with my family and writing.

How I became an Author:

Early in High School I started a hand written novel, that has long been lost to the ages.  The idea sits in my head and may someday make its way out in another one of my works.  Despite my fears of humiliation and that I would lose what little reputation I had, I had a short story read to my High School English class.  The response was overwhelmingly positive.

Flash forward through many years of being a Teenager, growing up, and pretending I was a responsible adult, writing had taken a back seat and had not really crossed my mind.  That was until I started working in Security Management for a busy (and by busy I mean criminally active) downtown urban shopping center.  I found escaping to this imaginary world was a great stress relief and I began writing these events down.

Three hundred thousand words later, my first son was born.  Talk about a life changing event, and also a time constraining one.  However, writing never left my mind, despite the fact that time always ran out before I could actually do it.

Three children later, in 2010 I decided the excuses were done I was going to go back to writing.  Not just as a stress relief, but I wanted to share these stories with others who would enjoy them.  So I began a self study in the craft of writing.  The first site I came across was for Jeffrey A. Carver who had an entire free guide to Writing Science Fiction and Fantasy.  I read this guide and it dispelled so many fears I had, plus gave me some great advice and insight.  I emailed Mr. Carver and he replied rather quickly with some kind words.

I spent the next couple of weeks (and paychecks) at the Borders picking up writing advice books and expanding my collection of Science Fiction Novels.  I joined the Hatrack River Writers Workshop and listed the first Short Story I had written in over 10 years with them.  The advise and encouragement I got was astounding.

At the beginning of August 2011, after piling up the rejections, I got my first acceptance letter.  As I promised myself, I started this blog/website.

And that is how my career in writing began. It’s far from an inspirational tale, but its mine to share.