DJ's writing career almost began in the 5th grade after he discovered and fell in love with Choose Your Own Adventure books. He promptly set out to co-author one with his best friend, but fifty pages into the effort, the potential masterpiece suffered a fatal setback when Bantam Books released Adventure #13, The Abominable Snowman, the very same story he was working on. Undaunted, DJ went on to write for several years in the High School newspaper, churning out off-beat commentaries on life in the vein of Andy Rooney. Later, while pursuing his undergraduate English degree, he dabbled in poetry and essay writing when not studying classic literature. It wasn't until many years later, however, when he began attending a literature club fashioned after C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien's group, the Inklings, that he began to consider writing novels. The group reignited his passion for story and, along with another member, he formed an informal writing group where he began to write in earnest.