Robert Dias Jr

Robert Dias, Jr. didn't aspire to be a writer until he was around eleven years old. When his parents got a divorce, it threw him into a three year depression. During that time, he found poetry, and song writing as a way to get out his frustrations. Those first pieces were dark and demented, but eventually a peace began to come over him.

Once he hit high school, Robert would fall in love with writing through the help of an awesome teacher. His first real short story was written as a school assignment. The Hidden Meadow is a story about a boy and a dragon.

For many years he planned to be a rock star, and had an entire album of music ready to go, complete with the record cover design drawn out. There were even designs drawn out for a custom guitar. Then he got married and took on four children, and that dream began to fade. Fast forward a few years and you'll find Robert driving a School Bus.

A few of the teachers encouraged him to get his teaching credential, and he even had the opportunity to teach creative writing for a semester. It was a great experience. The final assignment the kids were given was to write a 500 word story. The class created several characters together and everyone had to use the same characters, except for one that they could make up for themselves. It was awesome to see the different stories they came up with.

Fast forward again, and he would ambitiously begin a Star Wars novel called “Birth of the Dark Side.” It was after the first chapter was written and the outline for most of the rest of the book was complete that he realized how vast the Star Wars comic books and universe really were and that his story probably didn't fit into what was already out there, so that dream faded into the past.

After watching “Night At The Museum”, he started thinking, what if an artist found a pen that brought things to life? Larry was soon to be born. While on a school field trip to Catalina, sitting in the hotel room on standby for three days straight, “Like The Pen To Paper” came to life. It was an interesting experience as he wrote the book. It was almost as if he could watch it in his head like a movie, as he typed it out as fast as his poor typing skills allowed.

It would be ten years before he touched it again. He met one of the students he used to drive, who was all grown up, and a published author, and then decided that maybe he had a chance. He would take that same trip again shortly after that, and the book was proofread, expanded upon, and edited.

It would still be another six months before he would brave the world of self publishing and put it out there to the world. He gave a copy of that book to another student that he drove and she said she couldn’t wait to read the next book. That began the thinking process and within the next two months, a sequel was born. Again, it was as if he could see the book playing out in his mind as it came out on the paper.

As he prepares for retirement as a School Bus Driver, he is looking forward to this new chapter in his life. He hopes that you will enjoy each new chapter as well.