Autobiography
The Gift
Ryan Keith Johnson was born October 5, 1977 in Stillwater Minnesota and grew up in Somerset, Wisconsin. As a boy, he got interested in writing in 3rd grade because the class was writing short stories. Full of energy and imagination he enjoyed running, drawing, writing poems.
As the oldest boy of three sisters Ariane, Stephanie and Kayla, he formed a close relationship with Ariane and the imagination to create more stories began to take form. Ryan didn’t like school because he was often singled out and picked on by the other kids. Somerset was a town that was controlled by certain families and the teachers favoritized certain students.
In 4th grade Ryan wrote his first book “Willy and Alley’s Greatest Adventure.” It was written in a summer school class, but the course was over before it was bound. The book was lost by one of the teachers and never seen again. Ryan continued to write and produced another book called “Me and My Human” a school assignment in 5th grade. Besides writing he enjoyed playing soccer and football. He also experienced the pleasure of taking advantage of his ability to run fast to pick on kids who couldn’t run as fast. It would only come back to haunt him latter.
Friends came and go through his life, but one friend that inspired him to write the novel that would change his life and allow him to take his writing to the next level. In 1989 Robert Harris moved to Somerset for the year because his father was in the Marines. Together they produced ideas for 6 books that were fantasy novels (sorry the books are censored for copy right reasons). The two best friends vowed to return and finish the books.
That summer in 1991 Ryan began writing the novel with a paper and pencil and after numerous attempts to get past the third chapter he was able keep writing once school started. He enjoyed bike riding and running around with his mother and sister on the paper outs. He did most of his writing during classes and didn’t care for school because it was boring. The kids teased him because he didn’t care for the school fashion or for what was considered cool. He was a loner and kept to himself with a small group of friends, but eventually even his own friends unraveled and turned against him.
In 1992 the book was done at 150 pages and 13 chapters and he was excited to see that it was completed and showed it off to everybody at school including the teachers and his parents. His folks didn’t take it serious or even read it because they were busy with other things. It was that same year the book got stolen by a jealous student. He lend it to a teacher to read and didn’t realize that he already signed over it’s destruction. Ryan went into a depression for a couple weeks. He came out of it and began the re-write followed with a 2nd installment. It took him 10 months to re-write the book that took two years before and he never again lend any of his original work out.
In 1992 Ryan began writing music, but they were more considered poems. The ideas kept springing up in his head and to get inspiration he would mimic other artist to bounce his own ideas. It was his father who told him to start writing music and quickly his reputation began spreading in the school. A few guys got together to start a band, but it never got off the ground. In 1993 Ryan began riding his bike to school to get away from riding the school bus and getting picked on. Junior High was the worst and it was only getting worse. His life at home with Ariane was his only autonomy because he would continue to write his books and music. Ariane was almost his only support and best friend. Many of the kids at school were thinking he was gay because he wasn’t around any of the girls or showed any interest. He began hearing rumors around school that he was having sex with his sister and his parents were brother and sister. It was appalling and irritating to go to school and have to deal with it. Ryan got into fights at school and the same was with Ariane. Ariane got picked on a lot more than Ryan and took it pretty hard. Kids at school were cruel and even though the teachers did their best to justify and solve the problems they couldn’t be there all the time.
In 1996 Ryan got his poem published through Anthology of Poetry for Young American, entitled “Young and Sweetness Forever,” Ryan continued to write and had two more books written (Sorry these books are also censored), but these books were Science-fiction fantasy verses the early two fantasy books. He was also writing more music and had six little books with poems and music. While that was doing well and his relationships with his sisters were ok he had problems socializing with girls because he was girl shy. He wanted to date, but was painfully shy of rejection and because of this it became difficult to write romance scenes in his books. Not knowing how to describe a kiss or the simile of touching was hard. As a late bloomer he was able to get his first kiss with a girl when he was 17. That same year he met an older women, Lisa , who took his novels seriously and helped him edit the book so that they would be published. He had a intimate relationship with her, but at a young age he wasn’t ready to commit to a relationship leading to marriage. The relationship ended a few years latter.
Ryan graduated high school in 1997 and completed eight novels including a children’s book and 12 song books. He traveled to Steven’s Point Wisconsin for a program called Art’s Word where he shocked English teachers with his novels and ability to write without reading that many books. He also performed in front of a live audience with a song he wrote. In 1998 Ryan met Kisus who would be his life long pen pal and still to this day they still keep in contact. She would latter become an icon inspiration for his novel on Angels and “Healing Heart” as well as many other stories.
That same year he moved to Rice Lake Wisconsin to major in Mechanical Design. He learned that he was amberdexrias. His right arm became very tired while writing notes for algebra and he began writing with his left arm and hand. This proved to be an advantage when writing his next book which would be called “The King’s Retribution.” He met a women that he fell in love with, her name was Kristy. After two months in Rice Lake Ryan realized he made a mistake in choosing his major and decided to move back home with his parents to decide what he was going to do next. He was inspired by Kristy to write The King’s Retribution. The book took many revisions and would continue to take more revisions for the next six years before being published. The story was originally 20 pages single spaced, but through time was expanded to accommodate more characters. Two stories that was written were “An Angel Visit” and “Lion Ascend. An Angel Visit was based on his experience with the event in Rice Lake.
After moving back to Somerset Ryan got re-hired back at Pizza Hut and went to school at WITC in New Richmond, but didn’t like the courses because they were boring, but he wanted to make his parents proud of him. That all changed when he saw the commercial on TV from Brown Institute for Animation.
In the fall of 1998 his writings took a back seat as he pursued graphic design and Animation. He continued to work at Pizza Hut and let people read his stories to get their input. He continued to meet women, but would suffer socially because he had no way to get past the fear of rejection. This was college and he was still girl shy only this time he wasn’t thought of as being gay because nobody cared. In 1999 he met a women who would be his next girl friend, Naomi. She was interested in his ideas and the emotions that he put into his stories. The same was with Lisa. After Naomi graduated she went traveled to Arizona to get her Bachelor Degree. After two years the relationship fizzled out because of the graduation, they remained friends.
In 1999 Ryan got hired at UPS and drove to Eagan everyday after School for work. He continued to work at Pizza Hut, but was beginning to see an end of that career. Ryan continued to write and had 10 novellas and was writing more poems. In 2000 he quit Pizza Hut and graduated from Brown College. He got hired briefly by Notorious Motors to re draw a cartoon character. In 2001 he got hired at Aardvark Graphics, but the company went under after six months and he was left looking for another job he applied at Wet Cement Production for Animation at the same time 9/11/01 happened and he was turned down for the job. The economy changed and finding a job was scarce.
Writing; the nature of the art, craft and gift.
In 2002 He got hired at Fed-Ex and moved into a Hammond Studio apartment to conduct his books. By this time he was making close to $10-11.00 and that was more than what most design jobs were offering. UPS offered him a job as the newsletter designer and Ryan jumped on it, but after three months he got tired of managers criticizing the lay out and design he put out. He was also getting frustrated with the upper management who weren’t taking his ideas seriously for the recognition programs and latter quit when the company decided not to pay him for his hard work. In 2002 he worked for RPG Printing, but was disappointed to learn that there was no career opportunity as a designer. The idea to work at Walt Disney came to pass, but animation was going for the 3-D look instead of the 2-D look. He carefully decided to withdraw from that option and continued to work at both UPS and Fed -Ex while writing his new novellas and illustrating. He met his next girlfriend Lisa nick named Epona. Ryan also continued to receive visits from spirits in his apartment. He began writing a novel about angels and used the Holy Bible for reference. In was in July 2002 Ryan became Christian and decided to use his gift of writing to write for Jesus and himself. This changed how he looked at writing stories because it gave him inspiration to put an extra flavoring in his characters that weren’t present before. The relationship with his girlfriend ended two weeks before Thanksgiving in 2002. The reason the relationship ended was due to unfaithfulness from her. It was a heart broken moment in his life that only made him write more about his pain and to stay away from women for about three and a half years.
From 2003 to 2005 the writer worked at UPS and other odd jobs while getting very little motivation to continue. The revisions continued for The King’s Retribution and Lion Ascend. He continued writing more music echoing his pain from the prior relationship to Epona. Ryan revised and edited short stories like “The Flesh Beast” and “Closer” it was a test for him to see if he could write anything , but fairy tale fantasies. He neglected his skill as a graphic designer after a couple years of getting hired at a job and then a few months getting let go. He decided to use his knowledge and expertise to full-fill his writing ambitions. These advantageous would help him complete his books because he knew how to draw well and provide type set. He continued slowly to re-fine his gift and had very little support from family members. His father asked him if he regretted going to Brown College, which left him with no job in the first place and told him to get into heating and air conditioning repair. His mother told him to consider another major like Power Linemen. It was dreadful to hear and although they may have been right the economy was showing that no industry would be safe and decided to pursue his dream of publishing his book. In 2004 Ryan talked to his supervisor to get a full-time Combination job at UPS. In April of 2004 Ryan won the full-time bid for the pre-load shift and didn’t look back at part-time job. The pay was at $14.50 and after a 2 year progression he would be bumped up to $20.00 and receive the .80 cent raise every year. This was a good deal because it would allow him to buy a new home and move out of his parent’s house and go back to school to get his bachelor degree, if he wanted to get it. Then after the probation period ended the job began getting turbulent. Ryan’s relationship with his sister Ariane was at an all time low. She turned her back on him and underhanded things to him and they’re parents. In 2006 the relationship became destructive and dis-trust-full.
At UPS the writer was in charge of loading three package cars on a conveyor belt and they had to be loaded a special way in the package car. He began to get harassed by his manager Bill Millard and Beth Artiga and other part-time supervisor for the way the cars were being loaded. He was harassed to the bathroom for taking so long or having to go to many times. Ryan also learned that the drivers were exchanging packages on routs to get their job done so they could go home. While that was happening Ryan was getting yelled at for the packages not getting their on time. There was discussions to move him to another area, but it never happened. Ryan retaliated by filing grievances and talking to his business agent Jeff Eckman. He talked to a lawyer about tape recording and whether it was legal in Minnesota and began writing 100% of his dealings of UPS in a journal ad documenting them everyday instead of using that time to write his books. The reason he was doing this was because Jeff Eckman wasn’t taking him serious. The harassments got worse. The Preload Manager Mike Baker, Tom Shoeburg and the District Manager continued to criticize the way he was doing his job. They were expecting him to get mad and quit, but Ryan continued to work and wouldn’t give in to a walk out or quiting because he was going to be making $40,000.00 a year after his progression and raises. It was also during this period when Ryan found a newspaper from an employee about Xulon Press and the low cost to self-publish. Unfortunately Ryan couldn’t concentrate because he was worried about getting fired from his job.
On January 5, 2005 UPS fired Ryan because of misloads and because he trusted the union Local 638 they let him down and he couldn’t get his job back. UPS claimed that Ryan was talking about entering the building with a gun to blow up the place. Ryan talked to a lawyer about his rights and asked for his help to receive unemployment benefits.
A Brand New Day Begins
On February 2005 Mr. Mike Baker and Bill Millard of UPS made an appeal for Ryan’s unemployment benefits. A hearing was issued for April by an arbitrator to make the decision for UPS’ reason to deny unemployment benefits. The Local 638 was very little help for his lawyer to find out what happened specifically. The only evidence that Mr. Baker, the Preload Manager, had was a claim from an alleged eye witness that Ryan was talking about entering the UPS Hub to shoot employees and supervisors. The claimed individual who claimed he was talking about guns was Daniel Bakken who was from the Bloomington area of the hub.
Ryan and his lawyer made arrangements to accept the phone call with the arbitrator as well as with Mike Baker and Bill Millard who also had a Part-time Supervisor with them. Many of Ryan’s witness’ would not answer the phone. It was no surprise to find out that they were told not to participate in fear of loosing their job. The arbitrator continued with the hearing asking a series of questions, but the situation was getting frustrating because of the incomplete and biased arguments Mr. Baker was making on the phone to get a reaction from Ryan. Then the conversation led for the call of Daniel Bakken to be made and it was revealed that Mr. Baker had created a house of cards. He put up an illusion that Ryan was fired because of what someone said. Daniel Bakken couldn’t be contacted and Mr. Baker admitted that Daniel Bakken transferred to the airport to be closer to home and was never in Ryan’s area. So the whole idea to get Ryan fired succeeded, but to deny him unemployment benefits failed. Mike Baker and Bill Millard made themselves look like a bunch of idiots and the case ended.
In 2004 Ryan met the next women in his life who would prove to be a friend that would stick to his side. Cheryl Boden was interested in his artwork and the two clicked as good friends when he was going through troubles or heart threatening attacks about his newly published book. She helped him see the good in himself and supported him in his ideas to publish the book. Their relationship started off intimate, but became short lived when they decided they wanted different things in life and after a few months separated.
A year latter Ryan met Corrine Sorenson who was going through a divorce with her husband. She had a 2 year old daughter and worked at Cub Foods in the meat department. Ryan fell for her because she was beautiful, cute and had a lot of energy, but what he didn’t realize was that he was in for an emotional roller coaster ride. He was doing things for the wrong reasons and it ultimately back fired. Many of the differences they had was on health issues and how she wanted to be treated affectionately. There was resentment building for him to give up his opportunity to look for a job and get rid of his unemployment benefits to work at Subway. Ryan refused and opposition continued until Corrine gave him an ultimatum that if he left he may as well not come back and he didn’t. It also wasn’t helpful that he was doing all of this to please his parents. He learned that Corrine’s parent’s were telling her to break up with him.
Ryan rest assured for the present, but was uncertain for his future. He needed a job and knew that he would never get the amount of money he needed to do the things he had dear. He did have a part-time job at Cub foods that hired him two months prior to his termination, but he needed something more and the economy wasn’t getting better. Ryan went into a depression that lasted a couple months. The 40,000.00 a year job was going to help him become a home owner and further his education and now everything seemed distant. That was until he looked at the Xulon Press ad again and called them up to get more information. He began working on his portfolio and continued to look at how he was going to use his degree to get a job. He went back to Brown College and talked to the chairman of the Visual Communication department about auditing classes to jumpstart his job search. He took a course up in Building Computers from Component Parts. The trouble with trying to get hired in the job was that the employers were looking for someone to solve all their problems instead of the designer parts. Most of the jobs weren’t designer jobs at all, but word processing and having the customer be the designer, which is not how it’s suppose to work. By 2006 Ryan took two courses and was referred to Hennepin Technical College and in 2007 used the unemployment money to publish “The King’s Retribution”. It was his first book to be published and he realized that because of the internet he would be able to publish more of his work. The traditional way to publishing was slowly being done away with. Publishers don’t want to take a chance on a new author because of cost. Small publishing houses certainly don’t, medium publishing house are extremely picky because of how they want to profit, which leaves the larger ones who are willing to take chances. Ryan realized that many authors and amateur writers were going the rout of print on demand. So The King’s Retribution began making its way to print. Ryan spent six months of hard core editing and reading text book after text book of how the grammatical rules went and began looking at CS Lewis’ book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He began mimicking the dialogue and where the commas were kept so that he had consistencies with his characters. Revision after revision seemed to have more errors, but as he continued each draft was becoming easier to read and understand.
The book was ready and on August 2006 it was resubmitted. Ryan was very excited and felt like he was on top of the world. It was also very scary to when he got into a head on collision with another car the same day he re-submitted it. The author was headed back to Wisconsin from his internship in East Bethel for printing when a young women in a Lexus SUV drove through the Stop Sign and hit him. The event was life threatening and he suffered a broken clavicle, back problems and head injury. He seeked a chiropractor and the back issue healed. The case was resolved in about a year, but it was a wake up call that nobody is invincible and the inevitable can happen.
In 2007 Ryan met another women that ultimately changed his life and opened his eyes. She was from Russia and he met her on the internet her name was Anna. She was very attractive and he fell in love with her and the idea of marriage was the future. After five months of sending emails and talking on the phone she wanted to come over to the United States to meet him. He discussed it with his parents to see if she could stay at the house, but his mother refused and said that she was trying to get citizenship and use him. The author made a fatal mistake of listening to his mother after shunning Anna from his life. She never talked to him again and again fell in distress.
Ryan lost his job at Cub because of the accident and worked a few odd jobs such as McDonalds and Office Max until he was finished with School. In 2007 Ryan began putting together a list of places to do book signings and got his name in the Stillwater Gazette, Hudson Star Observer, Woodbury Bulletin and the Hennepin Technical College Magazine, which is distributed to 4 million people. There was a lot of fulfillment at the book signings and a lot of people recognized him from the magazine and bought his books. A lot of people loved his book, but there was a few that hated it and criticized the punctuation, but he had English majors who read the book who didn’t see any problems with the book. There was the exceptional complaint from a little girl who thought the book should have been longer. Both his parents were proud and advertised it too all the neighbors and relatives. It was exciting, but it was also added pressure that the book wasn’t good enough and that he had to do even better. He got a job at Gannet and met another love named Eva Garcia, but she spoke very little English and he realized that he had a challenge. It’s always hard to start new relationships, but when the girl doesn’t know how to speak English then it adds to the pressure and the relationship disintegrated after a few months. He received a lot of negative input from his mother about his choice in women, which made him angry and was wondering why he was trying to please anybody. All of this added pressure from his parents took its toll from the beginning of graduation to this day was becoming more than he could handle. He left home for good in 2008 and learned that the people he knew for years turned their back on him.
In 2008 Ryan’s poem got published “Strip Me of My Gold” for Immortal Versus and he received an Editor’s choice Award. He also joined a program that allowed him to take advantage of the internet for his book and work with Amazon Google and Ebay to place media. 2009 Ryan got an agent for his new book “Lion Ascend” and is seeking a publisher. The Novella got published on Triond.com and is also published on http://lionascend.blogspot.com. He also wrote more short stories like “The Prince and the Cursed Daughter” “She Says”, which was about his grandma. He wrote a trilogy of short stories about “The Flesh Beast” and a trilogy of short stories about his feelings towards high school called “The Fire Starter.”
In conclusion Ryan Keith Johnson will continue to write for himself and Jesus. He is in the process of typing his novels that he wrote his high school. These books are part of two separate novels that are to be complete as two separate trilogies. He is also putting together a compilation book of widget short stories, music, poems and illustrations.
Sometimes getting published is like looking for a job. You have to start somewhere and you have to keep doing it so that there is a history and because we have the internet where 87% of the world plugs into the computer does all their shopping is the opportunity for success.
Thanks for reading,
Ryan Keith Johnson
