Those of you who know me (and you're not very many, but I love all y'all), know me as that one guy with the novel. The Destiny one. The Halo one. I'm that one guy with the novel(s). I'm an author, if not a published one. I love the craft. I love writing stories which involve and inspire people---I love it so much, that I want to remove one of the barriers to making this a real career. Yes, I realize a degree is not needed to write a novel. But over the years, I've come to understand that my love for storytelling comes from an immense respect for how stories have been told to our generation in particular. The interactive medium of games is incredible. I want to contribute. I feel that I can, even if it's just being an editor for years before getting a crack at anything original---I want to contribute. The culture of gaming has been immensely important to me for most of my life. I want to give back. I can't get in the door without a degree. On a personal level, it's... a long story. But they stories can't really be drawn from one another. That kid who dove into the stories in games and books was the same kid trying to avoid the reality of how much real life sucked. Everyone's got problems---don't I know it. My problem just so happens to be that for most of my adolescence, I didn't have a home. It happens. Shit happens. This isn't a sob story. That kid who sometimes just wanted to run away, but didn't have anywhere to run away from, became this young man (24 now) who can't imagine where he'd have run to if the fantastic stories of challenge and survival and heroism weren't there. I want to help someone else keep moving. I want to inspire someone else, and to do that I need to start taking my talent seriously. Why am I just continuing college now? I've spent the past six years working for the University of Pittburgh's Child Welfare Resource Center as a trainer, a speaker, and a project manager for community organizations helping out kids coming from the same straits as me. It's an even [b]longer[/b] story, to tell you how I got there. It's been a journey. If I've learned anything, it's that I'm either the luckiest man alive, or I have this strange ability to make something from nothing. I'm going back. I've given back directly, but my calling is writing. I can't rebuild the world, but I can contribute to one that people will want to go to when they're weary of the real one. That I can do, and I can't rest until I've done it. But I need help. The situation is simple; I made 35k a year (this is a full disclosure sort of chat with the community) where I worked before. Not great. But considering I should have been dead or in jail, pretty good. Considering I had no degree, pretty good. I left the stability of where I worked, because I was accepted to Cabrini College. Having spoken for/worked with the school, I'd made some connections which really pulled for me. The last hurdle? I need the funds to make this leap. Yes, this is asking for help. No, I am not ashamed. Click the link. Please consider helping out. There [i]are[/i] reward tiers, which reflect at this point all I have to give. If I think of something better, contributors will be the first to know. Right now though, I have nothing. I have this keyboard, and the ability to make change, and the ability to tell one hell of a story. For what it's worth. Thanks, all. Thanks in advance for showing up. Who knows, you could be helping launch someone who'll create the story for something you'll love in the future. The odds are... well, they are what they are. But we're the community still running Nightfalls hoping for that Gjallarhorn drop, right? I'm a better bet than that. Thanks again and stay brave, ~Chris (Ricochet) Nobles