The long and short of it...
Noah's desire for new experiences has driven him since birth.
He lived a latch-key adolescent life, watching his mother work two full-time jobs to support three kids after his dad left them for another family. He discovered early on that the vast Mojave Desert was a refuge and playground for a boy on a bike, a place where new and better realities could be created by an unburdened imagination.
He broke rules growing up, shed his 70s bellbottoms and long hair for 80s new wave, rockabilly, and ska, had girlfriends and lost girlfriends, and he learned how to be alone.
He spent so much time along the California coast in his teens and twenties that America's iconic song "Ventura Highway" never fails to take him back.
He's lived in two countries and six states, traversed the US more times than he can count, been homeless, lived on a sailboat, surfed, sailed, skied, snowboarded, and a whole lot of other things that don't begin with S. He's hiked the backcountry and survived a bear encounter in his tent late at night (or just a big squirrel, he's still not sure).
He's done white collar and blue collar, cleaned toilets and mopped floors, drove big rigs and small rigs, built buildings, crushed rock, waited tables, and even survived a few years in Hollywood.
He's taken risks and succeeded, taken risks and failed. He's seen death and he's seen rebirth. He's laughed and cried, lost his temper and found it again (more than once). He's made friends and pissed some people off.
Through it all, through all the heartbreak and pain, through all the broken and healed relationships, through all the melancholy and all the joy, through all the adventure and challenge, Noah's learned some things about life - some things about himself.
He's learned that discovery invigorates the soul, and that taking that first step onto uncharted ground shows us what it means to hope. He's learned that God - the Maker of Heaven and Earth - is for him, not against him, and that grace is more effective at winning souls than a punch in the nose (usually).
He's learned that "Talk does not cook rice" (Chinese proverb), that dreams are better chased than left for dead, and that to give up the chase is to give up on yourself, that the shame isn't in trying and failing, the shame is in succeeding at not trying.
He's learned that a good dog and a fly rod make the world bearable.
And he's learned that if you want to know what evil looks like, look at the faces of those who take pleasure in hurting others, in seeing others suffer.
Most of all, he's learned that just one devoted friend and a supportive spouse are more valuable than Van Gogh's "Irises," and that every person we meet on our journey has a story that can either inspire us, leave us flat, or break our hearts.
What's all of this got to do with writing?
Like London, Kerouac, Dickens and Twain, Hemingway, Faulkner and Lee, Capote and Conrad, Poe, Frost and Wells, Noah's stories are anchored in experience - and the lessons learned discovering.