Today, Allen Eskens is an attorney and an award-winning author. But on Thursday night, he looked back on his path from daydreamer to poor student to a energized college and law student to lawyer to best-selling writer.

Eskens visited the Austin Public Library Thursday to talk about his debut novel, “The Life We Bury,” and to cap off the 15th annual citywide read through the Austin Page Turners.

“This is a terrific honor to be here,” he said. “I feel very privileged to be invited to Austin.”

After pausing for a quick selfie with a large crowd that saw library staff have to put out several more chairs, Eskens chronicled his path to becoming a writer.

He traced his writing roots back to his middle-class upbringing in Missouri, where his dad laid sheetrock. On a trip home, he found his first-grade report card and a note from his teacher saying he daydreamed too much.

“Allen dreams too much when work is to be done in school,” Eskens read from his report card.

Eskens called daydreaming the start of his writing life, even if it made him the bane of his teachers. He admitted to not trying for much of his early schooling, noting his lone goal was to get good enough grades to avoid being held back.

“I paid very little attention in school,” he said.

Then the second seed toward his writing life was planted. In fifth grade, his teacher urged him to audition for a play, even though roles were typically reserved for students in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.

He landed a key role as a prisoner and, more importantly, the only character in the play who swore.

The play saw a priest trying to convince his character to confess his sins before the inmate was hanged. Despite an embarrassing costume consisting of long johns and electrical tape for stripes, the experience moved him.

“The priest says his line: ‘Are you sure you don’t want to confess your sins?’ And I say, ‘Yes I’m sure, dammit, go away.’ And I said that. Those kids, their eyes popped, their jaws dropped and I became a celebrity,” Eskens said to a roaring laugh from the crowd. “And I said, ‘I like this acting thing.’”

However, Eskens continued as a mediocre student through much of high school, but then he remembered his first play and became involved with theater.

That gave him a creative outlet for his daydreaming and he started writing skits and eventually wrote a short story for a class, which he turned in late because he couldn’t stop writing.

He got an A on the assignment, and his teacher pulled him aside and asked if he’d thought of writing to be published. He hadn’t. At the time, Eskens still thought he’d seek a blue collar job after high school.

But late in high school, Eskens committed himself more to his studies and was accepted to the University of Iowa, where he planned to study theater and eventually move to New York to pursue an acting career.

But after injuring his ankle and hampering his dancing abilities, he transferred to the University of Minnesota and majored in journalism.

After realizing he got good grades when he tried, he went on to law school and thrived, even if that meant losing a little too much weight.

“I was studying instead of eating in law school,” he joked.

In his third year of law school at Hamline University, he and three other students wrote two appellate briefs for the Jessup International Moot Court competition. Their brief won the region, then the nation and the world.

When his professor told him they’d won, Eskens had a distinct revelation: “My first thought was, ‘I bet I could write a novel,’” Eskens said.

“That day I knew: If if lived long enough, I was going to be a novelist,” he added.

While working as a criminal defense attorney in Mankato, Eskens continued to study writing and took several classes.

He worked on a manuscript for many years that he eventually set aside to write “The Life We Bury.”

His debut novel follows Austin native and college student Joe Talbert as he interviews Carl Iverson, a man dying from cancer who is the convicted murderer of a teen girl. As the story goes on, Joe gets deeper into a mystery surround the murder and also returns many times to his hometown of Austin to protect his younger brother from a bipolar, alcoholic mother and her abusive boyfriend.

Since Eskens finished “The Life We Bury,” it’s been a bit of a roller coaster. In the year it took to find a literary agent, he started work on his second book, “The Guise of Another.”

Then he found an agent, a publisher and “The Life We Bury” was published to strong reviews, several award nominations and much buzz among readers.

Eskens said he’s been living the dream of a debut author, and he was thankful for people talking about his book, which has kept it on several best sellers lists.

He was even nominated for an Edgar Award, which finally brought him the New York City and to a reception with the likes of Stephen King and Mary Higgins Clark. He described it as a great experience, even though the soles started peeling off his dress shoes during the award ceremony.

“I have been living the dream,” he said. “I have just been enjoying this ride so much.”

Much is still ahead for Eskens. He will publish his third book in October, he sold the movie rights to “The Life We Bury,” and he has ideas for three more books.

One book will be a sequel to “The Life We Bury,” while the others follow characters who appear in the novel.

When asked if he feels pressure for his next books after his success, Eskens said he’s excited for his new books to get out and promised they’ll remain character driven like “The Life We Bury.”

“I think I’m confident in my abilities, and I think they’ll do well,” he said.