About Me

My name is Paul S. Kennedy, Jr. I was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. I attended college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison from June 2006 until December 2009 (a lifelong dream of mine ever since I saw the Badgers win the Rose Bowl in 1994!) where I studied Psychology as a major and poetry as a hobby. Though I didn't finish a formal degree, I learned much from my time at one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, including how to write and the importance of making connections (something I will expand upon later).

I began writing when I was about 10 years old after watching many episodes of the cartoon "Doug" and seeing him write in his journal every day. I couldn't really keep up with the daily entries though. I had what I didn't know then was writer's block. Not much happens to a 10 year old that needs to be written down.

Some years later when I was in the eighth grade, my best friend (who coincidentally happened to like drawing) started a comic book together with me being the author. Another project that never saw fruition despite my many, many drafts (wrote so much!).

The following year, as a freshman in high school, I was introduced to the P.E.O.P.L.E Program, a pre-college program sponsored by the University of Wisconsin-Madison (such an amazing opportunity for an aspiring Badger!) that not only paid for my college tuition upon completion, but also introduced me to writing poetry as part of it's curriculum. So you could say that without that program, I wouldn't have gained a passion for writing nor want to publish my writing.

After 3 years of pure writing and trying to figure out what kind of book I want to write and publish, I got an idea: "More Than Two Sides." I always heard the phrase, "There's  two sides to every story" or something similar, and I thought to myself, there's actually more than two sides. There are many dimensions to explore and view the same phenomenon. So I began to write poems that reflected the many sides of myself and how I saw the world. Another project that would have to take the back burner just two years later as I began writing what truly was my first book, "The Keeper of the Gate".

An ambitious venture (get it?), trying to create a modern day epic poem the likes of the Illiad. My manuscript was found by a traditional publishing company and I was ecstatic to be "chosen" by whatever powers that made bestselling authors. The company went under and I was left at square one again, no book published.

Thankfully, I was already looking ahead to the sequel and going the self publishing route. That traditional publisher was absolutely the worst and really made me want to just do it myself since I pretty much had to anyway and all the tools that they provided were/are on Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing and Barnes and Noble's Press as well.

In 2018 I re-released "The Keeper of the Gate" on Kindle in both hard copy and as an ebook. Just this year I have FINALLY released "More Than Two Sides" as an ebook on Barnes and Noble Nook (hard copy and Kindle version coming soon). 2020 is slated to see the release of the prequel to the "Keeper" story, title and story still pending, but that's the most exciting part of the process for me is writing it all out!

All in all, it's been a 17 year journey with many ups and downs and growth, but mostly learning. After all this time of aiming to become published and turn my writing into a career, I want to do my part and share this knowledge with as many people as I can reach. Hopefully I can show someone something they hadn't yet thought of, or possibly I could learn more from what other's have experienced and further spread that knowledge, which truthfully that's all I'm doing anyway.

So why come to me for advice? Simple. Because I'm putting all the information you need in one place. I'm not hiding information so you buy subscriptions. I'm not teasing some secret knowledge that really is common sense (you're just overthinking things, it's not that hard. It's just scary). My line of communication is always open for direct question and answers. My personal email is attached to the site, not a business account or anything like that. I want to share what I know so that maybe the next aspiring Homer doesn't have to bump his or her head on the path to becoming published and successful!