I grew up in a small gold mining town in the foothills of California. How did it affect my writing? I’m not sure if I can accurately answer the question. We lived a far slower and basic lifestyle in the 40’s and 50’s in many respects a sheltered life. I look back on the early days of my youth and young adulthood with nostalgic memories. I believe most creative writing is influenced by the writers past personal experiences.

That is a simple answer. Life! I firmly believe today is the beginning of the rest of your life and yesterday is history and only a memory. Life is an incredible adventure. We are here for a very short time and I'm not going to waste the time I have.

I wrote a autobiography when I was a Junior in High School. It was the only homework assignment that I enjoyed completing. During my college days, I did some writing as a part of a creative writing class. However as much as I enjoyed writing I never saved any of the short stories I wrote. The years after college I focused on my family and a career in civil engineering. After retirement I had time to write a autobiography for the grandchildren to read someday after I'm gone. Then I wrote a biography of my father as he also led a very interesting life. It has only recently I returned to writing fiction.