Keith Hernandez

I love to read, and I've always loved to write.

I love baseball.

I like to write, and I try to be positive and optimistic.

When I was little, my older brother, Gary, was forced to read a book a week in fourth grade. The books he liked he threw on my bed when he was finished with them. This continued throughout my childhood and made me a reader for life.

My father was a San Francisco firefighter. He also was an amateur artist. Art ran deep on his side of the family, which originated in Spain. He painted our portraits. My mom, Jacqueline, was Scots-Irish. They met in 1947 when dad played for the Houston Buffalos, a minor league baseball team affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals.

I have a natural tendency to resist conformity.

I am a human being. I have anxiety. I have doubts. And I'm not afraid to put it out there.

I went through a lot of hard times. I went through a lot of struggle. A few times, I was in tears. It brought me to my knees just about.

I always got good grades in creative writing from elementary school on up.