Look and Listen

Biography

I have a wide range of interests such as linguistics and the athletic realm. I do confess that the spiritual realm is wanting, but progressing. My interests include competitive swimming and martial arts. I've written for myself and for the public since the age of twelve. I'm a little older than those years. Writing is my true love and while it might say "no" once in awhile, with a little coaxing it can return to being my one true friend in life. I can brag that I have two of Ray Bradbury's autographs, forty-three years apart, the first when I met the kind gentleman when I was a freshman in college. These days, I must communicate with the world and mostly with myself. How does one do that with astronomy, writing, reading five books at a time, travel, exercise, magic clubs, and a lot more activities that escape me at the moment. Oh, yeah, paying bills. I wish to communicate with writers who are not interested solely in the computer, but who are interested in writing for its own sake--a dying art, I concede,

Inspiration

When in summer camp at the age of ten or twelve, another camper read Chad Oliver's "Mists of Dawn," to us. After that book struck home, I read it in the school library, and another friend in school gave me Edmond Hamilton's "The Star Kings." After that,the gate opened and a Tsumani of creative effort flooded my being. My teachers always embarrassed me by making me read what I had written before the class. One teacher gave me an "F" on my book report because she didn't believe that I had not copied the book jacket for the review. I had not. I was just in love with the book. She hurt me, but I could never come to love her for it. Eventually, I wrote for school papers and my writing and reading grew to an expanse that I had never dreamed of; yet, never touched what was out there. My sense of insecurity is still a driving force. This is according to my own account, because I always wrote for myself and as a "professional" I always self published. Why? There are several reasons. It was too costly to go mainstream. My writing needed to improve. I didn't want to be tied down to a contract if I "hit it big" because I had too many things going on in life to be tied down. And finally, my writing was for myself and not for others. Selfish? Yes. That is a brief summary of my story.