Today we’d like to introduce you to Jared Quan.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
When I was growing up I struggled with a learning disability. By the time I reached fourth grade, there was a sizable gap in my reading and writing compared to my peers. Recognizing this my fourth-grade teacher Mrs. Farrier came up with a game plan with my parents. I got extra classroom time with my teacher and my parents worked diligently with me at home. As a part of the lesson plan, my teacher read “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe” by CS Lewis. As my reading and writing skills improved I passionately embarrassed writing stories to share my imagination. This was the same time that my school received a classroom of Apple IIEs. The mixture revolutionized my ability to communicate nearly overnight. Seeing how the stories I would write impacted teachers and peers, I knew that I wanted to write books. During my childhood, I struggled with being bullied for my weight, ethnicity, being in special education classes, and religion. Growing up it was a constant struggle. Reading books, writing stories, and playing video games were some of the tools I used to cope with everyday situations.
Throughout my life, I was fortunate to find creative people that encouraged me to further explore and develop my talents. My good friend Roger Whiting, who I grew up with, and today is one of Utah’s top muralists. His visual flare and video game passion both challenged me to create better writing as well as let me know that my works were good enough. Dr. O’Hop the journalism teacher from my senior year, helped raise the technical side of my writing and be more aware of the simple mistakes. I was the editor-in-chief of the school newspaper under the direction of Dr. O’Hop and as such, she help me understand that what I wrote represents the team. Mr. Stuart my college art teacher extended me an art scholarship to help further my talent by looking at things from other perspectives and directions. In addition, Mr. Stuart always recommended before starting to work on an assignment to step back and take a very distant view to ensure I understood the big picture.
I was blessed to marry my wife Lisa, a most creative and talented woman who always encouraged and supported my talents. Oftentimes, both our talents and ambitions were sidelined due to the various medical situations with our children. From our oldest being born with his esophagus not attached to his stomach, or our second child being born with only two chambers in his heart, both required near-immediate surgeries. Combine medical with challenges like raising autistic children. We were lucky to have the support of family and friends to help us through some of the toughest times. Recently this included the time when our second oldest was called to get a heart transplant in the middle of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The non-profit volunteer side I started when I was at FanX nine years ago with my good friends, JC Thompson, Jo Ann Schneider, and Berin Stephens. The four of us were also united by the same publisher BigWorldNetwork. At the FanX conference, the number one question I was asked was how I was able to get published. I wondered if there was something I could do to help people get to where I was. My wife and I had an amazing discussion and decided that if I volunteered more in the community I could have a big impact. Unsure of where to start I asked my friend and co-worker Kylie Rolf if I could ask her father, then Mayor of West Jordan if he could suggest some things. Mayor Rolf recommended that I reach out to the West Jordan Arts Council. Within a week I met award-winning author Johnny Worthen who recommended I look into the 80-year-old non-profit League of Utah Writers.
I ended up joining the West Jordan Arts Council as the second assistant to the Literary Chair under the direction of Chair John Pulver. I also volunteered as Vice President of the League of Utah Writers Oquirrh Chapter under Chapter President Eliza Crosby. I learned a great deal in these positions thanks to strong mentorships from Johnny Worthen and John Pulver as well as many remarkable volunteers. I was able to assist in putting on events and projects, as well as lead some large projects myself. I quickly caught the attention of the President of the League of Utah Writers Amanda Luzzader and President-Elect Chris Miller. The same events garnered attention from the West Jordan Arts Council as well. I was invited to have the opportunity to become the next President-Elect of the League of Utah Writers. I was moved from second assistant to the Literary Arts Chair, to Literary Arts Chair, and shortly after, I became Chair of the West Jordan Arts Council.
When I became President of the League of Utah Writers, I instituted a free Friday, where anyone could come and participate in a professional writing conference for one day. This was so popular and pivotal for the organization that the Board of Directors voted to change the rules to allow for me to serve a second year as President. During this time I volunteered and presented at events like Storymakers, LTUE, the Wasatch Writers Fellowship, the Book Marketing Event, Library events, and more.
My efforts in the community continued to be noticed by more people in Utah. I would go on to be invited to be on the board for Storymakers, LTUE, TEDxSaltLakeCity, Teen Authors Boot Camp, The Eagle Mountain Arts Alliance, the Cultural Arts Society of West Jordan, and other organizations. After I was no longer President of the League, I moved into a board position as the Outreach Chair. As I volunteered more in the community, I would receive awards from Utah’s Lieutenant Governor Spenser Cox, Utah’s Governor Gary Herbert, President Obama, and President Trump.
While I was doing all of this volunteer work. I worked a full-time job and often worked one or more side jobs, as well as writing. Most importantly, I was able to go to my kids’ plays, and soccer games, play video games with them, take them to the movies, and spend quality time with my wife.
At this moment I have been married for 23 years, and my five children are doing well. I work a full-time job. I serve as the Outreach and Grants Chair of the League of Utah Writers, The Fundraising and Grants Chair for TEDxSaltLakeCity, the Instructions Chair for the Storymakers Conference, LTUE Board Member, and Board Member for Writers Cubed. Inc., Director for Teen Author Boot Camp and Grant Writer for the Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund. I am working on a massive project with the Lightweaver Foundation and 47 other partners to help teens in low-income areas of Salt Lake City get access to professional writing conferences. I still volunteer with the Utah Film Center, the Kindness Project, and FanX. I have five books published, three of which have come out in the last six months.
I have accomplished more than some in my life already, but I feel like I have a lot left to give.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I struggled with many things along the way. The learning disability that I struggled with most in my youth. The bullying carried on even into some portions of my adult life. Dealing with unexpected medical complications with my two oldest was really hard, but thankfully we had the support of such amazing friends and family. The most ridiculous struggle that my wife and I have had to deal with was raising autistic children in the school systems that thought they had the resources to work with those on the spectrum but were woefully unprepared. On one occasion while I was at work, I was called by my son’s school to let me know that they had called the cops on my fourth-grade son. I arrived to discover that he had been asking to use the restroom and kept getting refused.
He grew frustrated and tipped over his desk. That was what prompted the specialty-trained teachers to evacuate the classroom and call the cops. My fourth-grade son was handcuffed and placed into the back of a police car because the specialty-trained teacher didn’t know how to work with an autistic child. My wife and I complained to the school Principal that said they backed up the teacher, then complained to the Tooele Superintendent who sided with the principal and teacher. The charges of property damage of one stapler were dropped and an apology was issued by the County Attorney.
Immediately after this experience, we moved our two oldest to be homeschooled. Upon moving to West Jordan, we tried the traditional school system again. Though the resources were far superior to Tooele, and policies and practices were up to date, the attempt ultimately failed. It happened when we were called into a special meeting with a dozen members of the Special Education and Autistic Specialist, and they all asked my wife and me what the best way to work with our children was. In the same meeting, the Autism Specialist for the school district said that they didn’t think our son showed signs of Autism. This is well after he was diagnosed and teachers made many remarks to the contrary. Once again we home-schooled our children.
For the record, our three daughters are in the traditional school system today and are doing well. We had struggled through job changes and weathered
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I fell in love with writing when I discovered it in the fourth grade. The creation of new and exciting material is beyond anything. I entered countless writing contests and wrote hundreds of stories. I would use them to express myself, and help people understand me a little better. During my teen years, my good friend Roger Whiting wrote a masterpiece. It wasn’t just my opinion, it won awards and contests. Though his passions were more visual arts, he managed to accomplish something I was after. His creation became an unintended challenge for me to go after.
I wrote for my school newspaper in High School, when I move from Phoenix, Arizona, to Snowflake, Arizona. As editor-in-chief my senior year, I asked big questions, and I wrote stories on the answers behind them. My teacher Dr. O’Hop encouraged me to find the boundaries and explore the truth of things.
Unfortunately, Snowflake wasn’t ready for that kind of journalism. After I graduated, they closed down the school newspaper for four years. This just stoked my passion for writing. I wrote my first book “Ezekiel’s Gun”. When that book did not sell well, I ended up writing for Fannation for the 49ers for Si.com for a season, and the Utah Jazz for a season. At the same time, I was a contributor to Yahoo.com. After two years of writing sports, I decided to move back to writing fiction. I produced my most popular title a Fantasy/Comedy called “Changing Wax”. This is the book that I was selling at FanX when I was inspired to start volunteering.
I had a collection of short stories published that spans from Horror to Futuristic Steampunk Romance, called “Shattered Worlds”. Then I wrote a non-fiction book about some of the real-life adventures I had as a Lyft driver for three years. I had completed nearly 2,000 rides before I was stopped by the pandemic. My Lyft adventures are published under the name “Lifted”. Due to the high demand for my skillset on boards and organizations, people would often ask me for best practices on networking. After teaching classes at conferences about networking, my most recent book was published “Networking: An Honest and Genuine Connection”.
I have been published in several other anthologies. I have won a Quills award for my short story “Prepped” and my poem “Waiting”. My writing earned me a spot on the Utah Artist Teaching Roster with the Utah Department of Arts and Museums. I have interviewed on podcasts like Artifice and Joseph Batzel. I have been a guest on Writing Excuses Podcast.
Are there any books, apps, podcasts, or blogs that help you do your best?
I highly recommend the website Trello for managing goals and projects. As far as podcasts go, I highly recommend Writing Excuses, Your Mom Writes Books, and Hidden Brain. When it comes to books, there is the staple of Stephen King’s “On Writing”. Reading a Terry Pratchett or Charlie N. Holmberg book typically really helps me get into the mindset for my style of writing.
However, when I am looking to understand perspective, I enjoy reading a series of three books – Grant & Sherman, Team of Rivals, and Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase for Lincoln’s Killer.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.JaredQuan.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaredaquan/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jared.quan.3
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaredquan/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaredAQuan
- Other: https://www.twitch.tv/resadur164
