An Ode to a Friend - Glen Dahlgren

It’s funny when you meet people in life–virtually or otherwise–who go on to become a part of your journey and you a part of theirs. 

I met Glen Dahlgren through social media at a point in my life when I was about to switch careers and pursue writing full-time. Glen and I had a unique shared background; he was leaving a partnership with the same small publisher that I was considering signing with. Ultimately, my cousin who is a film exec inspired me to pursue Independent Publishing, and I passed on the contract and self-published my memoir, but Glen and I stayed in touch ever since.

That put me in a similar position as Glen where we both sought to navigate the vast and complicated journey of putting our works out there. And even though Glen and I are in two genres that couldn’t be further apart, we both discovered that our paths often crossed right before our eyes. We competed in similar contests, albeit different genres, and shared both wins as well as tough breaks with one another. To have someone in your corner to bounce ideas off of, to share research and connections, editors, opinions on covers, narrators, distribution companies, release schedules–the list goes on and on and on–has proven to be absolutely invaluable. And though Glen and I have different enthusiasms and approaches for many things in life, I like to think we both have made each other better writers and businessmen and we chase the dream to share our stories with the world. Like they say, the biggest gift you can give is that of your time, and I guess what I really wanted to share is that Glen has always been there for me, and for that I am grateful.

I was inspired to write this after watching success catch up with Glen as his efforts are paying off in real-time. We each recently won a finalist award in a contest that we both entered, as I learned tonight that he is short-listed by Chanticleer International Book Awards, aka the 2021 Ozma Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction. As someone who has learned to love Fantasy through Glen’s writing, I wish him the best-continued success moving forward for not only himself but for his amazing series including both The Child of Chaos and The Game of War. I highly recommend them both and am grateful to call Glen my friend.

Learn more about Glen here.