A major influence on my writing career are the works of the great novelists of the past; Hemingway, Steinbeck, and Tolstoy. Another strong influence on my writing, being a film buff, are great movies of the past with strong characterization, dialogue, and story lines such as Gone with the Wind, The Grapes of Wrath, and The Godfather. As for my background I've always been a writer going back to my school days. I distinctly remember how I excited I was at around 12 years old when I saw my name in 'Letters to the Editor' in "Hot Rod Magazine". I also remember how much I enjoyed short stories, poems, and essays in a Creative Writing class back when I was a junior in high school. As for more professional pursuits, besides "Fifi" I have had a poem "Fight" recently published in "A Treasury of American Poetry II" and a scholarly publication, Reliability, Evaluation, and Analysis of Fixed Film Capacitors for my Master's Thesis in Electrical Engineering. After all writing is writing and I firmly believe the more you do it the more better you get at it.