Indy Perro: Writer, Independent Thinker, and Recovering Academic
My Origins
My journey began in a city where, when I wanted to be alone, I went to a public place.
Asking questions, or what I like to call the difficult task of thinking, appeals to me because my life required I support myself. At fifteen, I was forced to leave home. Bouncing through three different high schools, I learned how to get into and out of trouble. At nineteen, I dropped out of a college I couldn’t afford and lived briefly out of my car. I found my way after a year and a half of changing course, saving money, escaping influences, and hiking in the mountains. My future wife encouraged me to return to school. Paying my tuition and bills required three jobs: waiting tables, a paper route, and clerking in a bookstore, which meant sleeping in two- or three-hour shifts. My memories of this time are some of my most cherished, but I don’t feel the need to do it again. I graduated from college in three years with highest honors and was accepted into graduate school.
In graduate school, I studied several languages and earned graduate degrees in religious studies, comparative literature, and education. For twelve years, I taught writing, philosophy, and literature at a few different colleges, worked as a freelance editor and translator, and taught high school English.
After many years gaining education and experience, I’ve dedicated my life to the craft of building worlds and developing character driven stories that question the assumptions we make about how and where we engage meaning in our lives.
Writing means making contemplation an adventure.
My Writing Life
I love to write. I published my first story in high school and won my first writing contest when I was twenty. Notebooks have been my constant companions, and over the years I’ve published articles, scholarly essays, and a few short stories. Central City was my first novel.
My path to becoming a writer has been an adventure that fuels my work, and I hope to share that work and adventure with you.
Contact me
Please feel free to reach out. I love talking to readers and writers. Whether you want to discuss writing, literature, philosophy, publishing, my work, or what you’re reading this week, I’m always happy to connect. I’m open to visiting a writing group, reading group, university club, or simply exchanging an email or two. Writing can be a lonely craft, but we need a feeling of community to feed our sense of purpose.
