I did my first play when I was 12 years old, playing a supporting role in Lincoln Junior High School's internationally-renowned production of "Little Miss Christie". It was a mystery about...oh, never mind what it was about. It had a big scary house and a bunch of intrepid kid detectives and, depending on your point of view, was a step above or a step below "Scooby Doo". The interesting thing, looking back some 35 years, is how theatre and mysteries were tied together right at the beginning of my creative endeavors. And I've come to the conclusion that it's time to break those ties.

Theatre is tough for me to give up. I can safely say that I would not be the writer I am today (for good or ill) if I had never participated in theatre. It has influenced me in myriad ways. The entirety of my narrative voice and the ability to write dialogue comes from my time in theatre. When writing first person narrative (my preferred style), I tend to think of it as a long monologue; one that not only addresses the readers, but engages them in conversation. My ear for dialogue has been developed through actually saying lines. Over time, actors develop a keen sense of dialogue that is enjoyable to say and rings true to the ear. If I have any ability with dialogue, it's due to 35 years of performing plays.

Theatre has also influenced the structural elements of my work. The traditional two and three act structures of plays translate very well to mysteries. Performing in front of an audience gives you an idea of how long a scene should play out, how to provide a maximum amount of information in a short amount of time and how to drop clues into the narrative that will pay off later on. All of my storytelling instincts have been honed on stage.

On top of that, I get to actually inhabit the characters and, for a time, live in their world. That's been invaluable with writing. It's helped me constantly get into a character, even when switching from one point of view to another. I can reach a level of empathy that I truly believe I would not have reached otherwise. And if I have any ability to distinguish characters through physical characteristics, it comes from having to do that same thing as a performer. I don't just write my characters and scenes, I really feel like I live them. It's made writing a very rewarding experience.

And the biggest influence, I truly believe, are the incredibly funny and talented people I've run across in my time in theatre. I can cite people like Dave Berry and David Letterman as influences on my sense of comedy, but really, being around my theatre friends has been my biggest influence. I've known so many witty and brilliant people who have given me what feels like a master class in comedy. I can't tell you how grateful I am to have run across the people I've known. And without theatre, I would have never known them.

Which is one of the difficult things to give up. I met my wife doing a play. I've met all of my closest friends while doing theatre. It's been more than a hobby. More than a vocation. It's been my entire social life and a key part of my identity for as long as I can remember. Even in a world where you can stay connected on social media, it's not an easy thing to walk away from.

And I can honestly say that, even after doing it for so many years, I'm more fascinated with the craft of acting than I have ever been. Writing, directing and acting were always things I was interested in. But the first two appealed to me far more than the last. Acting was a thing I could do and I wanted to be good at it. But I don't know if I felt as passionately about it. That's changed in the last several years, as age has allowed me to become more comfortable with myself, less self-conscious and more willing to take chances on stage. Commensurately, my fascination with the craft of acting is greater now than at any other time in my life. And I've discovered that with age comes more interesting roles. Of the three-and-a-half decades I've been acting, this past half-decade has been my favorite.

But aging is among the reasons I'm ready to walk away. On a social level, younger actors don't gravitate toward older ones. A sort of unconscious segregation takes place by which younger actors stick with people their own age. And I can understand it. When you're young and only have your hopes and dreams to fuel you, you don't want to see someone who's older and still doing theatre as a hobby. That person is the living embodiment of what you don't want to become. So I understand being mildly ostracized. But I don't have to like it.

The biggest issue, though, is simply deciding my priorities in life. Since publishing DEATH IS A CLINGY EX, I've been trying to keep one foot in two different worlds. I've imagined I can dedicate myself to writing and marketing AND still do theatre on the side. (And funneling the bits of money I make doing shows into my publishing company has helped fuel that.) But I've had to come to the reluctant realization that I can't keep doing this. Theatre, done properly, takes too much of my time and mental energy away from my writing. And the writing has the same effect on theatre. Something has to give.

So it's time to give up theatre and focus on the thing I've really wanted to do all of my life: be a writer. I will be forever grateful to the experiences I've had and the people I've met. But there comes a time to choose your priorities. And sadly, it's time to be done with theatre.