I write what people tell me is humorous, literary fiction, using the American vernacular, and composing with an ear for cadences appropriate to theme of the road.
My background is in military journalism, newspaper feature writing, a brief stint in institutional PR, public affairs copywriting and political consulting. For the last several years I've been teaching English composition to foreign students.
Writing was something my second grade teacher saw I had a talent for, though my stories at that time were pretty elementary boys adventure tales, of the wish fulfillment variety. I always loved to read, especially the classics, and I struggled for years to find an appropriate voice for myself and keep my unstable emotions out of my writing.
It was when I was working in PR some twenty years ago that a little voice began telling me "You're not writing your novel." I did my best to ignore it until it got to the level of shouting. It took a serious depression, and big a boost from my employer, to finally make me to listen to it. I spent the next seven or eight years living the bohemian life and completing several projects that remain unsold. Of these, I saved only the novel that I'm excerpting here. It is largely about surviving hard times and being an appropriate theme for the times, I decided I ought to rewrite it.
Richard Powers is one whose work I always look forward to and pre-order on Amazon. I have all of his books. Edward Dahlberg was a favorite of mine in my college years, but he has, sadly, passed from the scene. Others I like are Ivan Doig, Steve Erickson, Joseph Campbell, Arthur Koestler, and many more.
