To start, here’s the basic who and what about me: my name is Jacob Dicke, I’m 31-years-old and I live near Dayton, Ohio. I am currently an undergrad student at Southern New Hampshire University majoring in Creative Writing with a minor in Fiction. I am not married but I do have a kid, a 7-year-old Boxer dog named Tytus. He is my ride-or-die companion, if you will. I love all things Apple computer. I’m a graphic designer and social media marketer by day and an aspiring author at night. Writing for Odyssey, managing my creative firm and attending classes is what I do for the time being.

It has taken me a very long time to get to the realization that I am supposed to write for a living. I’ve had about every odd-job in the book; everything from working retail, food service, call centers, banking and most recently social media advertising sales and design. I have also been in college several times; once in film school, another in barbering college, and lastly here at Southern New Hampshire University.

I attended barbering college first where I had dreams and aspirations to cut men’s hair and open a modern guy-friendly salon. My mission was to create a place where men could receive grooming services in a comfortable setting, drink a beer, receive a massage and watch sports in a relaxed atmosphere. I still want to bring this dream to fruition, but it’s currently not where my headspace is right now.

Throughout my life, I’ve always had dreams of filmmaking. Cinema and theater have always been a large part of my personal culture, so when the opportunity arose for me to take digital cinematography classes at a rather well-known college located in Florida, I jumped at the chance. I quickly found out that what my personal sense of filmmaking is, and what the film industry idealistically requires are two totally and completely opposite things. I admit, I just couldn’t cut it. In all actuality, I don’t know if that was the case, or my miserable attempt at moviemaking was impacted by my failed marriage that was imploding at the time. A very long and not-fit-for Odyssey story later, I withdrew from classes, divorced and moved back home to Ohio where I’ve been ever since.

So what brought me to writing, you may ask? It seems that a common trait among writers is that we share a similar bond in our issues of dealing with stress, anxiety, bipolar disorder, and other types of similar conditions. I, for one, struggle with generalized social anxiety as well as panic disorder. I frequently have anxiety episodes and panic attacks that prevent me from living my life in the way I want to. Through therapy, medication, writing for reflection and meditation for relaxation, and thought realignment, I am on a newly formed path to somewhat of a recovery. I have always found writing to be a release of my frustrations, as it serves the need for an outward expression of an inward thing. In film school, my best grades were received in screenwriting courses, and in barbering college, my specialty was writing term papers. In grade school, I won many awards for my writing and this also continued through high school. I fully understand that school awards amount to nothing in the professional writing world, however, I was always encouraged by my parents and teachers to read books and write stories. Writing is one constant thing that has remained in my life, I always come back to it, never has it let me down, and it serves as a security blanket of sorts for me. The end-game with a creative writing degree, personally, is to equip me with the skills to become a well-rounded published author. I feel I have a knack for fiction writing and storytelling in general, but working at a newspaper and writing editorial style is something that I also feel comfortable with. I ultimately see myself relocating to eastern Tennessee one day and writing from my home nestled in the Great Smoky Mountains. I am positive that I will include those settings into my writing at some point. I hope that through the courses I am taking I can learn how to make my stories the best they can be.

While this is just a brief synopsis about me, I feel it will give you enough information to know where I am coming from and where I aim to be. Joining the Odyssey team will give me an abundance of valuable experience and enable me to grow personally and professionally. I hope that throughout this journey I can provide you compelling and interesting stories that will make you laugh, cry or think about things in a new way. It has been a true pleasure introducing myself to everyone and I look forward to writing for you.