When I was younger, I recall a writer being asked why he chose writing as the thing he most wanted to do. I liked his answer. He said something like, "Everyone writes when they are children in school. It's just that at some point in time, most people stop." That is so true; most people do stop writing, in terms of developing their skills and taking their writing to different levels and other places.

I majored in college in sociology / anthropology, and I received my degree in those two areas. In graduate school, I studied about children with learning problems, and for a living, I was a special education teacher with the Chicago Public Schools. In my spare time, I studied philosophy and literature, reading heavily in those areas.

I think these efforts gave me the perfect background for being a writer. Writers are concerned foremost with people, and sociology and anthropology teaches you a lot about they way people behave in certain places and different cultures. It sort of rips you out of the perspective you were raised with, and opens your mind to a whole range of new possibilities about human behavior. It gives you what I call an ironic distance on what one sees and observes all around you.

I have always been a very observant person, watching for tiny details and meanings that many people overlook. As a child I remember always asking my parents, "What's dat? What's dat?" The nuances in my observations allowed me to learn from people what's important to them, what makes them happy, what makes them sad, what causes them to feel depression or anger, and why some individuals, under any circumstances, enjoy their lives and live them to the fullest. People are at the heart of fiction, and you have to study and observe them like you were taking a course at school.

I was born and raised in Chicago, but my parents kept a small summer place in southern Wisconsin, so I had the benefit of being raised in two worlds: the country and the city. As might be expected, this perspective gave me a true love of nature and the city, and a balanced view of city and rural life.

My favorite sporting event is the Indianapolis 500, which I see as a drama or play slowly unfolding before you as you watch. Plus there is that huge amount of power and energy, sometimes hard to believe when you see it, that human beings are able to build, and then control.

It would make my life complete if the Chicago Cubs were to win a World Series, and I begin each spring with high hopes. When the Chicago Bulls were on their championship-winning streak, it all looked so easy to accomplish. I guess it's really not though, but perhaps someday the Cubs will get the job done. I am a Chicago person and a Chicago fan, so I am pleased that the White Sox went all the way, along with that magnificent Bulls team. But the Cubs are always the missing link in the chain.

One of the things that I love to do is to take extended road trips all over America. I generally stay on the road for two or three weeks at a time, exploring wilderness areas that are far, far, from the maddening crowd. The mountains of Colorado have won my heart, as have the deserts and canyons of the Southwest. Certain places, like Chaco Canyon, in New Mexico, and Monument Valley, in Utah, are very sacrosanct locations for me. I feel my driving to these almost shrine-like areas to be more a spiritual pilgrimage than a vacation or a simple driving trip. Being in places like these washes you clean of any angst or troubles you may have had before you arrived there. I think its nature's way of restoring the harmony inside of us, if we take the time to do it and realize what power getting in touch with the earth is capable of having.

I have now retired from teaching and am devoting much of my free time to writing. However, I still enjoy playing the guitar, building wooden replicas of old sailing ships, putting together some wonderful gardens in my yards, and collecting Depression glass and other things from days gone by.

Writing for me is not a hobby; it has become in my life what Joyce Carol Oates calls, "The habit of art." It's as much a part of who I am, as wanting to see that one, magical hit that will bring the world baseball championship back to Chicago.

I am really happy that you took the time to visit my site. I hope you find my books measure up to your expectations.