If you go back far enough in my family tree, you'll find the scottish bard, Robbie Burns. I don't know if that's just a coincidence, or if it is evidence that there's writing in my blood. My family is littered with degrees in English literature and I'm no different, having both a B.A. and an M.A.. Can there be a writing gene? Is it in my programming? Writing, like "the Force" in Star Wars, is "strong in my family." I was in the second grade the first time I wrote a story. I already knew that I loved reading, both comic books and regular books, and that I loved movies, but I had never tried to write. My teacher assigned a short story assignment in which we were to write an extra chapter for a Stewart Little book. I loved reading about that mouse's adventures so the chance to create my own story sparked a firestorm of electric creativity in my mind. I wrote ten pages in a fever, far more than any of the other students in my class, and I could've written more if the teacher had given us more time. The feeling writing gave me was euphoria -- that might be hard for some people to understand, but to me, writing is like a drug. I have to do it, and I don't feel right unless I'm freebasing on creative juice. So, nearly 30 years later, I've published three books and I'm working on a fourth at the same time that I'm illustrating a graphic novel adaption of one of my books with my wife. I've filmed a couple of book trailers for my novels and I love that process too. I'm a novelist, an illustrator, a director... I'm a storyteller.  The philosopher Alasdair MacIntyre said that "man is in his actions and practice, as well as his functions, essentially a story-telling animal," and I couldn't agree more. What separates us the most from every other species, I think more so than the oft-cited opposable digit, is that we've developed highly complex language. We can communicate stories to our young and caution future generations against making the same errors that we did. We always teach these lessons through stories. The African writer, Chinua Achebe, has said that "writers are teachers," and, again, I couldn't agree more. It's not only writers, however -- it is poets, composers, directors, comic book artists, and anyone else who is involved in storytelling. Stories cultivate the imagination, helping us imagine not only "what is," but also what "could be." Stories are our lessons and storytellers are our teachers. One of the best moments I've had as a storyteller so far was when a reader of one of my novels wrote me a letter and told me that, "There are quite a few people here in Ireland that are very excited about your work." I'd never met this person, nor the "quite a few people" on the other side of the planet to whom he referred, and yet, through storytelling, I'd reached them. When I read that... what a rush! I'm a storyteller, and like all storytellers, I'm a teacher -- my class is everyone who ever picks up one of my books -- and I have the best job in the world.