Growing up in a loving, hardworking immigrant family in Youngstown, Ohio, Michael was a natural athlete gravitating to competitive team sports at an early age. When an injury put the brakes on a potential career in football he found that one passion never left him: story-telling. Armed with both the love of reading and creating stories and the support of strong mentors, Michael decided to strike out on his own as a writer. Taking lessons from the collaborative nature of the sports he loved to play, Michael now marries those experiences with his need to dip into the “unconscious well of cerebration” for the stories he creates with his team. We learn how important it is for him to write about the things that terrify him in order to strive to be in a position to invent – and make art.