the writer's journey
I was lucky enough to grow up in College Point, New York, at a time when kids could still be kids and sometimes were for too long. Today I still reside just outside The City; Close enough for day trips, far enough to get some sleep. I graduated from Wagner College in 1989, but not before finally winning the coveted Jack J. Boies Award for Creative Writing with a Science Fiction story called Guns.
Growing up, my friends and I played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, so you can imagine how elated I was when my first published work, a mini-adventure called Mayhem at Midnight, appeared in the pages of DUNGEON Magazine (Issue #43).
Writers need stories to tell. They also have to pay the bills, so I joined the NYPD in 1992. Ten years later, on the strength of a work sample that became the foundation for No Regrets (THTH Chapter 10), I was transferred to the Department's in house magazine: SPRING 3100.
After "collecting" lots of great stories (and hopefully writing a few too), earning a Certificate in Journalism from NYU, meeting lots of interesting people, and quite a few memorable Christmas parties, Detective Stratton retired to fill an urgent opening in a newly created position at home: Mr. Mom. I work harder than ever now, but I also laugh much more and get to do it in "civilian clothes" all day!
In addition to working full time, getting engaged at the Empire State Building, getting married, buying a house, coping with 9/11, and becoming a father, it took some time but I finally self-published To Have and To Hold. Set just before the advent of the digital age, it's a heartwarming walk through yesterday, a time not too long ago when your neighborhood really could be your whole world. I'm proud of it, and like the way it turned out. If you enjoy family sagas, mysteries and happy endings I think you will too.
For more on To Have and To Hold check out the BOOKS tab.
Last summer I released Book I of the Tamm Chronicles. Thunder Peak is a YA Fantasy-Western centered around forbidden bloodlines, hidden portals, unicorns, and other magical creatures.
For a sneak peak at three of the stars of the Tamm Chronicles check out the BOOKS tab.
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