When I was five years old I was given a child’s blackboard as a birthday present. It was a miniature version of the kind that used to be at the front of schoolrooms, with the letters of the alphabet ranged across the top and space to write or draw. For me, it was a magical portal to a new and wonderful world, the world of words. I quickly learned to draw the letters in chalk, and was soon putting them together to make words. For me, it was almost effortless. In no time I was reading and by the time I started school I was already proficient.
Over the years words have been the focus of my life. I have been a writer and editor in many roles, a blogger, a novelist, and even a landscape photographer of some success with thousands of my pictures published.
I dropped out of University of Missouri High School after my junior year (yes, I am a high school dropout without even a GED) and went straight to university where I received my degree in magazine journalism at the age of 20. Even at 19 between my junior and senior years at the Missouri School of Journalism I worked a summer job as editor of a small town daily newspaper, the Brookfield (MO) Daily News-Bulletin. It’s been an exciting ride ever since.
This new website and blog is the latest incarnation of my ever-changing career. In this blog I will share thoughts and facts about writing and other subjects. I look forward to building a following of readers and commenters who share my excitement about our good fortune in being the heirs to the unmatched legacy of the English language. Stay tuned.