Here's the dirt on me, as short as I can get it: I was born in 1974, on Elvis's birthday, in the ridiculously flat cornfields of Illinois. There wasn't much to do and the sky was far too large. When I was six, I planted an evergreen tree in our back yard. I thought of it as my spirit tree. By the time I left for college, it was about twenty feet high and round as a dinner plate at the base. One night, a tornado touched down in our back yard and tore my tree away. I took this as a sign that I wasn't meant to live in Illinois. Since then, I've lived all over the place, including Galway, Ireland, Oberlin, Ohio (where I went to college), Minneapolis, Seattle, New Orleans and Portland, Oregon. I've also worked a bunch of odd jobs 'digging ditches, feeding wolves, teaching high school English, teaching poetry to children, slinging coffee, and four miserable days of cleaning out the fryer at KFC. Currently, I live in Fort Collins, Colorado, where I teach creative writing and literature at Colorado State University. I live with a hyper dog, extremely cool wife, and two wild daughters who rule us all. I enjoy whitewater kayaking, mountain biking, dog wrestling and surfing. I think squirrels are incredibly amazing. I dream of the ocean at least once a week. I think happiness in life comes from giving back more than you take away. I believe in the power of stories to change the way we think and act. And I spend a big chunk of every day alone in my office writing. Okay, enough about me. If you want to tell me about yourself, or if you'd like to learn more about my books, upcoming events, or just want to see a big freaky bunny, please visit http://www.toddmitchellbooks.com.