My Journey to become a writer

"I believe writing is like breathing. I need to do it in order to live."

Jerry Parent as a child sitting by the pool.

I grew up in Los Angeles, actually East Los Angeles, in the City of Montebello.

My given name is Girard, and I have chosen to pen my novels by that name 

to remember my story and honor my parents, who fought to make sure I had everything in life to succeed. 


I suffered most of my early childhood with dyslexia, although in those years—no one knew what to call it.

Teachers said I was "dumb," but my parents knew better and sought out help. 

In a year's time, I was able to fight back that disability. 

It was as if I was given sight, after being blind, or could hear for the first time. 


As I grew and explored my newly found ability to read, I became fascinated with the writings of: 

Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, and John Steinbeck. 

The simplicity and purity of their voices spoke to me. 

I would sit for hours at a rustic table by our pool, sipping lemonade and reading all of their novels. 

I desperately wanted to write like them, but— 


Who was I to write a story? 

Why would anyone want to read it?


I took to drawing the world around me instead—with ink on paper. 

It as the closest thing I could get to writing. 


After high school, I attended St. John's Seminary College in Camarillo, CA, and graduated with a bachelor's degree in Philosophy.

I wanted to study the art of writing, but at that time, there was no such course. 

You either knew how to write, or you didn't.

While I was there, however, I spent a summer with some of my classmates, and our professor 

traveling and searching out many of the buildings, and locations John Steinbeck wrote about in his novels.


That summer was magical. 

It lit a fire in me that soon turned into writing poetry, then short stories, and finally a novel. 

I discovered that I could write about what I saw, knew, and felt.


But I still constantly questioned myself. 

Would anyone want to read what I wrote?


To answer that question, I started studying creative writing through multiple UCSanDiego Extension courses. 

I was hooked but knew that I needed to do something more to explore what was quickly becoming a passion. 

It was while I was taking those classes that a professor encouraged me to obtain my MFA.


And I did just that. 


In 2018 I received an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University-Los Angeles.

There, I found the tools needed to write stories that people would want to read. 

I also learned how to work with other writers to improve their own stories. 


While at Antioch, I served as the Fiction, Flash Fiction and Blog Editors for their online literary publication, Lunch Ticket. 

I immersed myself in writing, reading, and editing for over two years, and never looked back. 

It was as if I was baptized into a new religion.

One that didn't criticize, or judge. One that let me genuinely be who I am today.


Since then, my work has been published in multiple journals and blogs. 

I have also proudly edited and helped publish hundreds of stories written by others. 

I have written a novel. 


Now, as I enter my studio daily to write, I never ask:

Who am I to write a story?


I don't need to ask that question any longer because;


I am a writer.