戴夫·康尼斯11岁

混乱中的创造力

During his senior year at Covenant, 戴夫·康尼斯11岁 was facing a severe bout of “senioritis,” and, instead of studying for exams, picked up the Harry Potter books for the first time. 他笑着说，他不会向在读学生推荐这种方法； however, he credits the “book hangover” after finishing the books as instrumental to his decision to pursue writing. The best way to cure the book hangover, he determined, would be to write his own book. From 2011 to 2015, Dave began to consider what it would look like to become an author, and, in 2015, he secured an agent to begin sending his manuscript to publishers. His first two novels, 亚当的诱惑 (2017) and 建议阅读 (2019), were poignant and successful young adult novels, and his trajectory as an author seemed clear.

然而，在2017年，戴夫的写作进度因父亲去世而暂停。 He felt like he had lost both his passion for the creative process, as well as his desire to write. By 2021, Dave’s creative process began to return, and, with it, a new model and focus for his writing: he wanted to write “stories of wonder, whimsy, and worth.”

戴夫重新开始写作后，这三个字概括了他的故事。 He would write stories of wonder that inspired readers with their intricate worlds and characters; stories of whimsy, which offered a funny, lighthearted, and unexpected take on the world; and stories of worth, which highlighted the value of every person as an individual made in the image of God. 在这里，他的信仰与他的作者身份愉快地交织在一起。

Dave’s passion for stories that reflect his faith is evidenced by his foray into picture books. In 2021, after reading a host of picture books with his three children, Dave started hunting for books that were fun and silly, but also talked about Jesus. He discovered that these books were difficult to find—so he started writing his own. With input from his friends Matt Brown ‘05, Professor Scott Jones, John-Michael Forman ‘10, and Andrew Alms ‘10, Dave wrote a fun, sweet, and theologically accurate picture book. 上帝的发明（和伊娃） and 上帝的故事（和琪琪） were published in 2021 and 2022, respectively, after Dave found a publisher who was excited about his mission.

Today, Dave splits his time between his work as a remote UX Designer at Out Systems, a web application company, and his current book, a historical fantasy set in 18th-century Italy. Despite the chaos of work, family, and writing, he focuses on writing for an hour daily, and he notes how thankful he is for the flexibility in his job, which allows him time to write and time to balance family life. “The most important thing,” he notes, “is that you continue to show up–persistence is the most important.” Dave’s stories offer a valuable reminder that our creativity and stories matter, and that wonder, whimsy, and worth can describe both the things that we read and the way that we perceive the world.