My Philosophy
I have a time honoroed definition of a writer, to wit, we wrte. During that process, we transform ourselves to other places, explore ideas, get in touch iwth our innermost thoughts, dreams, aspiratoins, picadillos, aggravations, loves, hates and observations. I don't think a person has to be published to be a writer, but I do think it requires that one have at least one reader. I think that there is a chemistry that exists between writers and their readers,wherein the reader supplies a necessary and often predictable reaction. I remember taking acting lessons and hearing over and over again, "Acitng is reacting." Without at least one reactor, I don't think we can have a writer. I liken creating a work of fictoin or poetry as to droppoing a chemical linto a jar of water. If it's a dye, the water will change color. If it's sodium, the water will crackle and possibly even explode. Wrting, then, in my mind is that vat of water after the writer has dropped the chemical and the readers have reacted, not all in symmetry, but with interest.
I don't htink the purpose of fiction is to portray a theme, as one of my early editors insisted. Instead, I think it's to stir up thought and controversy. The author should never have a specific conclusion in mind that he or she prefers the reader to reach. That would be underestimating the readers. To be effetive, I think it's only necessary for the novelist to provoke them. The worth of a novel is not how many copies are sold, or how long yoru work is in print, but, rather, "Did you connect with your readers, how deeply and with what relevance?"
Autobiography
In the photo to the right, I am standing in front of my early boyhood home in Lancaster, Ohio, where I attended St. Mary's Elementary School. At the age of ten (fifth grade), my family moved to Kenton, Ohio, where I attended high school. From there, I went on to attend Miami University, where i majored for a time in architecture, followed by government. I joined the U.S. Air Force and served at Malmstrom Air Force Base in Great Falls as a missile launch officer and got a Master's in Business Administration by taking concurrent classes at the University of Montana in Missoula. After that, I went on to attend law school at The Ohio State University.
My professonal career began as a tax accountant in San Francisco with what is now KPMG. A few years later, I began my own law practice and have been gainfully employed by my own law firm ever since. All the while, I have aspired to become an accomplished writer, both as a drafter of legal documents, court pleadings and briefs, but also as both a poet and a novelist.
In 1995, I concurrently began my writing career by writing the first draft of a novel (never published) from start to finish and attending the Stanford [University] Professional Publishing Course in 1996. In my developmental phases, I have been blessed to have had the opportunity to study., practice and develop my writing skills with a number of distinguished mentors. They are listed in the credits section of this website and have greatly influenced my writing style and professional competence as a writer.
In addition to my own imagination, my writing content has been influenced by the circumstances I've lived through, the people I've known and a love for the physical universe (setting.) Before I began to write seriously, I would have described my childhood as bizarre. With further insight gained from my readers and critics,, I have come to recognize that growing up in the home of two mentally ill parents was abusive. Although I seldome have an agenda of touching on comestic abuse, whether physical, mental or sexual, it has a way of working its way into most of my stories in some way to some extent. I am also influenced by the intrigue and drama of my legal career in terms of learning about human nature in the context of a judicial system that overestimates its own ability to fairly and reliably mete out justice with one big example being the death penalty. So far, I have three published novels, which you can reference and purchase on this site.
My hobbies are golf, flying airplanes, wherein I hold a commercial pilot's license and instrument rating, and travel. My purpose in writing is to make a difference.