Secret Life of ... Shawn Rohrbach
The SDSU information technology consultant has a novel second job.
A lifelong love of writing
While technology is Rohrbach’s first love, his second love – writing – hit him in high school.
“I started publishing material when I was in high school,” Rohrbach said.
“I wrote a sports column; I also wrote a lot of local stuff. The sports column was for a small-town newspaper—not the school newspaper—and I was actually paid to do that. And that just kept going all my life.”
Following his graduation from college, Rohrbach was able to travel throughout Europe as a freelance travel writer for a Seattle-based rock climbing magazine. While he eventually went on to obtain his MFA from a writing program founded by Jack Kerouac at Naropa University in Boulder, Colo., it was his experience as a cyclist that eventually led to his first award-winning book.
Through his 20s and 30s, Rohrbach was an amateur racing cyclist, and that led to his collection of personal essays on cycling, “Open Your Heart to Bicycling, Mastering Life Through Love of the Road.”
An award-winning writer
“It won the Indie Book Award for sports and fitness, and it also won an award for motivation, as well, that same year,” Rohrbach said. “I’m thrilled by that. I didn’t expect to write a book; I’d just been writing some essays on cycling for my own personal edification.”
Besides his recognition from the Indie Book Awards, Rohrbach was selected as Author of the Year 2008 by his publisher, CaCoethes Publishing, and was an honorable mention at the London Book Festival in 2007.
Other books and more
Since then, Rohrbach has written several books, including two thrillers, “Playing the Game,” and the recently published “Feast Days of the Saints.” “Feast Days of the Saints” is available in bookstores, including the SDSU Bookstore, and online.
Rohrbach is also in final edits for his collection of short stories, “Strays and Other Stories,” which should be published in November.
This article is the first a series of new profiles for SDSUniverse. Are you, or do you know, an SDSU or auxiliary employee with an interesting passion or hobby? Then nominate them for a “Secret Life of…” profile by e-mailing [email protected].
