Gary Paulsen (Born 17, May, 1939) is an American writer who writes wilderness themed stories for young adults. He has also written magazine articles, short stories and several plays for young adults (Wikipedia.)
Gary was born in Minnesota raised by his grandmother and aunts. The grandmother and aunts had raised him cause his father was an soldier in the war and his mother was working in the army too. He started reading in a very early age and enjoyed all kinds of tales and stories. He ran away from home when he was 14 looking for an adventure and joined a carnival that he travelled with. (Gary's Homepage.)
When he was young he had many different jobs. He was an engineer, construction worker, ranch hand, soldier, sailor and even a truck driver. After many hard years of work, Gary became a satellite technician for a Californian aerospace firm. When doing this job, he suddenly realized that he would like to become a writer. One day, he made his decision and quit. (Gary's Homepage, Learning About Gary Paulsen.)
When he had quit, he went to Hollywood and got a job as a magazine proof reader. After working in Hollywood for a while, he left to the northern part of Minnesota and rented a small cabin nearby a lake. He spent much time in the cabin and by the end of winter, he had written his first novel ever that though has never been published. (Gary's Homepage.)
Living in the woods of Minnesota, Paulsen started the sport of dog racing. Soon after he had started dog racing, he entered the The Great Trail Sled Dog Race in Iditarod 1983.In the year 1985, after he had run the Iditarod for his second time, he suffered an attack of angina. After the attacked, he was told that he had very serious heart problems and that is what made him give up his dogs. (Gary's Homepage, Learning About Gary Paulsen.)
Gary describes this change in his life as the following "I started to focus on writing the same energies and efforts that I was using with dogs. So we're talking 18-, 19-, 20-hour days completely committed to work. Totally, viciously, obsessively committed to work, the way I'd run dogs....I still work that way, completely, all the time. I just work. I don't drink, I don't fool around, I'm just this way....The end result is there's a lot of books out there." (Gary's Homepage.)
In Minnesota, he started to write books for money. The money was used for food and clothing so there was no extra money left. After writing a few books, he went to New York to write a big novel, but instead of writing an big novel he became an alcoholic. The next years, he spent his life writing and drinking and also ruined his marrige. (Author Profile: Gary Paulsen.)
1973 he quit drinking, and with his new wife returned to Minnesota where he started actively writing again. After written a few books, his books started to get better and better and after a few years, he made 3,000$ a year with his books. (Author Profile: Gary Paulsen.)
In 1987, he published the book ''Hatchet'' that became his best known book around the world. With the book he made a big amount of money and the same year, the book got the Newbery Honor Book Award. Also, two of his other popular books, Dogsong and The Winter Room have won the Newbery Honor Book Award. (Wikipedia)
These days Paulsen lives in La Luz in New Mexico with Ruth Wright Paulsen, his wife. He is still writing books and is adventuring all around the world. He is at the moment exploring Alaska where there is over 4 feet snow at the moment. His best survival tip is ""Stop. Don't panic. Breathe deeply and make yourself think slowly.'' (Gary's Homepage) that he has followed his whole life. (Wikipedia, Gary's Homepage.)
