All photography provided by me and my family

My name is Christopher Slater

Born and raised in Tennessee, I've been politely referred to as "imaginative" all of my life. It always depended on who was saying that as to whether or not it was meant as a complement. I was always very talkative, and that usually got me into some trouble at school. It took a while before I learned to pipe down. It isn't that I stopped thinking about all of the things I wanted to say, I just learned to stop saying them. Most of the time. 

I started reading a lot of novels in middle school. Some of the first novels that I read were required reading for one of my classes. These included classics like The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Outsiders, and  Fahrenheit 451. All of those books had a big impact on me. I still have the copy of The Outsiders that I read in 7th grade. Yes, they had paperback books back then, not stone tablets. The first novel that I chose to read on my own was Day of the Cheetah by Dale Brown. I don't remember how I came across that particular novel, but it was pure action and excitement from beginning to end, and I was hooked. I spent the next few years reading any novel that fell into my area of interest. Unfortunately, that area of interest tended to be rather narrow and consisted of combat aircraft and Star Trek: The Next Generation. Still, there was plenty to read and I went after a lot of it.

Poor eyesight meant that I wouldn't be able to try and fly A-10s like I wanted to, so I made my plans for college. My Freshman English professor was the first to ever compliment my creative writing. He said that I should take whatever opportunities I could to improve on my creativity. College gave me several more opportunities, though rarely as part of a class. Instead, I found myself writing short stories in one notebook while taking notes in another. I still don't understand how I kept that organized. I had some friends that would critique what I was doing, and I fed off of it. It was rather addictive.

Being a husband, father, and teacher takes up most of my time now, and I love it. I wouldn't change it. However, I still try to create as much free time as I can to split amongst my past-times. Those past-times are reenacting and airsoft. No, writing isn't a past-time. It is a part of everything that I do. I write as a teacher. I write as a husband and father. I even write as a reenactor and airsoft player. I stopped talking as much (believe it or not!) so now it gets written instead. A glimpse inside my writing is a glimpse inside my mind. Now tell me that isn't spooky!

Things i have Done