A. J. Forget is a writer, traveler, chef, photographer, and dilettante. As a child, he found no greater joy than spending an entire day with his nose lodged deep in the binding of a fantasy or science fiction novel. He wanted to live in those worlds. But the effect those stories had on him was much greater than simply escapism. Those stories taught him about kindness, love, morality, and courage. Most importantly, they taught him the many ways a well-told story can change the world.
When he went off to school, it, for whatever reason, did not occur to him to study literature. Instead he focused on what he found most fascinating, which turned out to be a shallow study of nearly every field. His degrees are in Psychology and Environmental Science, but his education contained all manner of sciences, from organic chemistry to computer science and economics, as well as the other side of wisdom with courses on religion and history.
Upon graduating, he discovered that there were not many jobs in the world for a curious dilettante like himself, and he wound up bouncing from career to career, working in various roles as a deckhand, oyster shell recycler, floral delivery driver, bird watcher, wildland firefighter, psychological researcher, fire ecologist, map-maker, climate-change researcher, trail worker, and professional grocery shopper — to name a few — before he got serious about writing. And there was a reason for all of that bouncing around: None of those jobs ever felt totally right. On some level, he always knew that writing was his life’s purpose.
While A.J. has never found anything so difficult as writing, he has also never found anything so gratifying. Creating a bit of beauty in this world — be it a riveting story, a powerful scene, or even just a perfect line — is a bit of magic. And once you start creating magic, it is difficult to quit.
What you will find on this page are links to all the different projects A. J. Forget has taken on: blogs, poems, stories, books, and announcements of any new and upcoming publications, prizes and projects.
Thank you for visiting!