AWARDS

Born and raised in Long Beach, California, David Armstrong receive his B.A. in Elementary Education from Brigham Young University and his M.S. in Instructional Technology from the University of Southern California. The author spent many years in the cold-war Aerospace industry as a programmer, analyst, and project manager before moving his family to Utah. He and his wife, Evelyn, reside in Kaysville. The couple has three children and five grandchildren.

I got my first taste of writing in seventh grade when I had to compose an essay. I stumbled upon alliteration, which my English teacher took for a stroke of innate genius. She praised me to my parents and told me I had a great future in literature. I did not have the courage to tell her I had copied the sparkling literary turn of words from something I had heard on TV. Nevertheless, she encouraged me, and I got involved in journalism classes through high school. 

I thought I was a pretty good writer until I got a C on my first college essay, followed by a D on the next and a D- on the third. I counseled with the professor and learned the difference between journalistic writing and formal essay style. I finished the first semester with an A in English, my confidence restored. 

I tried writing short stories but got only rejections. Then I learned about the fiction formula and finally published a middle-grade story in a literary magazine.

While working as a project manager for Rockwell International, I helped develop an early version of an Executive Information System. I wrote a report of the project, which the company submitted to a computer industry journal and was subsequently published.

Creative writing went on the back burner for years as my family grew and the normal pressures of life left little time for other interests. I never actually stopped writing, of course. My job required extensive business and technical writing – hardly literary masterpieces, but the words kept flowing. 

When the kids grew up, I picked up creative writing again, experimenting with both non-fiction and fiction. I joined the League of Utah Writers and attended critique groups and workshops. I finally hired a developmental editor, Callie Stoker, who provided me with the structured feedback and direction I needed to finally write something I thought people might actually want to read. The Porch came out of that experience. 

I now have published five books and have several more projects underway.