A Brief Biography of
T.C. Gilchrist

T.C. Gilchrist has this to say for himself:
I’m the standard fare of Generation X…embittered, disillusioned, and just downright ornery.  I prefer to simply call myself a realist.

A child of the military, I’ve had the pleasure of living both up north and down south, as well as abroad. My parents divorced when I was nine.  Both my father and stepfather fit perfectly the roles set to them by popular movie and literature.

From the divorce on, struggling for money became a way of life.  One entire summer was simply spent fishing empty cans out of dumpsters in our beat up station wagon.  A hole had rusted through the back floor, and I could watch the road speed by.  We were homeless for three weeks at one point, living in two tents in the New Mexico desert.

The first time I remember putting a pencil to paper, I must have been in the first or second grade.  I had a dream, and during class, practicing writing, we were asked to create a short story.  So, using those silty colored pieces of paper with the oversized lines, I began to commit to words what I had seen in my minds eye.  I never quit, and have penned quit a few things in my
lifetime.  Some of it, looking back now, makes me cringe, but regardless, it still adorns old folders and notebooks.

Moving in with my father, I garnered the faint hope of getting to know "that guy who occasionally sent me cards on holidays."  I hesitate to mention that after graduation, I fell into a deep depression, suffering from anxiety attacks (diagnosed after seeing several hospital doctors).  Paxil became a dietary staple.  At some point, my father tired of me, and sent me packing.

I spent the greater part of three months in and out of homeless shelters, but I ultimately chose to live out of my Pinto (some sort of cosmic irony).  It perpetually smelt of puke, and had a species of fungus, resembling coral, growing out of the passenger side floor...but it was familiar to me.  I met those hopelessly addicted to drugs, and those oblivious to the world around them.  All of them thought me truly lucky to simply have a mode of transportation.

I have the heart of a story-teller, but I'm not sure I have the words.  I have had three previous works published in my lifetime; one in middle school, one in high school, and one in college.  At the same time, these have been the only things I've ever submitted, with the exception of
"Evolution of a Ranting Atheist."

I plan on continuing my education in the art of storytelling.  I'm a patient man when it comes to my writing, and I'm in no hurry.

                                 - T.C. Gilchrist
 
 

The music playing is "That Voice Again" by Peter Gabriel and was downloaded from the website, Peter Gabriel.