I started my writing career in the 1970s while still a teenager. Don’t cringe. Yes, it was a long time ago now. Back then, I had a large manual typewriter loaned to me by a neighbor. Writing on a typewriter was always a painful process. I doubt I even have the finger strength needed to make the keys strike the ribbon hard enough to leave an imprint on the paper any more.

That’s not the painful part though. Try revising a page. Simple typo corrections involved the use of a liquid called White Out. Once it dried, you had to reposition the page in the typewriter and type over the correction, although editors would usually accept a handwritten correction. But, if you decide paragraph six should be paragraph three, you were screwed and had to write the entire thing over. I don’t know how anyone did it. That being said, I used to have a folder of rejection slips, so apparently I did do it on occasion.

These days I use an excellent, computer-based tool for writers called Scrivener. Despite the fact they’ve missed four or five deadlines for the next Windows version over the last two years, I love it.

I went to college part-time for twelve years, graduated, and went on to get an MBA. With a Masters Degree in Information Systems, I served time in the technical industry for nearly thirty years. I gave that up in 2019 to write full-time. I had been writing part-time, mostly to amuse myself, for about five years before that.

I write because I enjoy it. While my fan base may be small, the people who are reading my books seem to like them. I’m very pleased with that. Considering the number of readers I have, and since I’m still a new author, I continue hoping for more reviews. I expect I’m doomed to disappointment.

I think one of the predominate authors who shaped, and still shapes, my writing is E. E. “Doc” Smith. I don’t know if his books are even still available although I still have yellowed paperbacks in my basement. His genre was space opera. A more modern author whom I’m very impressed with is Lindsay Buroker. You can find her books on Amazon, Kobe, and numerous other sites. You know what? Hard as I try, she’s still a better writer than I am.

I try not to produce books with a “to be continued” type of ending. Sure, a series is always going to be continued but it doesn’t need to end with a cliff hanger.

I like my characters to be personable, people you’d enjoy sitting with at your breakfast table with a mug of coffee or in your living room with a glass of wine.

When romance is involved, unless it is a “cozy mystery” situation, we don’t tend to beat around the bush. I hate it when I get the feeling in a story of, “Sheesh! Just get to it already.”

One of the things that worries me about my writing is that I’m afraid I might be making things too easy for my characters. Take Lexi Stevens, for instance. She is intended to be a character who grows, evolves even, throughout the series. It starts in episode one when she bonds with the Rose of Light. When she gets in trouble, you know she going to figure something out. So, I find I have to come up with ways to more or less sideline her.

So that’s me, in brief. I hope you enjoy my storytelling.