In1980, Norton took a B.A. degree in psychology and political science from the University of Texas at Tyler; and after completing a semester of graduate work in the social sciences at UT Tyler, he successfully finished one year of law school at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, in San Diego, California, in 1982.  After leaving law school, he spent three years working as a litigation paralegal for a prominent San Diego County attorney and Pro-Tem County judge.   

In 1985, Norton was appointed as a deputy sheriff for the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, and graduated from the 660 clock-hour 73rd San Diego County Sheriff's Academy, at Southwestern College, in Chula Vista, California in June 1985.  After spending a successful year with the San Diego County Sheriff's Department, Norton decided to return to graduate school at UT Tyler, and began his experiences as a classroom teacher.  In 1992, he took an M.A. degree in political science and psychology from UT Tyler in addition to a Texas Teaching Certification in political science, psychology, composite social studies, government, and generic special education. From 1992 until 2001, Norton accumulated 7 years of classroom teaching experience in public and private schools in Texas and Washington State. 

In 2004, Norton took a post-baccalaurate ABA-approved advanced paralegal certification, from Edmonds Community College, in Lynnwood, Washington.  Later,  in 2006, he was hired by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, where he works presently for the Veterans Health administration in Washington, DC.   From 1977 until the present day, Norton R. Nowlin has published over 70 widely-read essays (many on the Internet) on a diverse array of interdisciplinary topics, over 100 poems, 6 regular opinion-editorial guest columns for the Seattle Times publication, "The Times of Snohomish County," and several short stories.  Norton is presently working on a book and continually writing essays and commentaries in Northern Virginia, where he resides with his wife, the eminent math and physics tutor, and writer, Diane C. Nowlin, and their two very intelligent cats.             

Norton R. Nowlin was raised in a small rural East Texas community where he became intimately acquainted with his natural surroundings. Norton's father, Dalton, was a self-educated welder, born in 1906, the son of an illiterate sharecropper, who had only 6 years of formal schooling. His mother, Dessie, born in 1910, had only seven years of formal schooling, the daughter of an illiterate Southeast Texas farmer. Yet, by the time Norton was born, Dessie had attained the ability to read, write, and do math on a level well above that of high school.

Norton was taught to read by his mother at the age of four.   When he was six, his mother  purchased for him a set of World Book Encyclopedias and a complete set of paperback Airmont classics, which Norton eagerly devoured by the time he was twelve. At the age of thirteen, Norton became involved with the Civil Air Patrol, an auxiliary of the U.S. Air Force, in which he spent nearly seven years as a cadet, eventually attainining the coveted Amelia Earhart Award. This experience whetted Norton's desire for a stint in the military service.

A voracious reader, interested mainly in literature, social science, and the humanities, Norton completed high school in 1970 and enrolled at the Tyler Junior College shortly thereafter. In 1971, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, after completing one year of college, wanting to spend time in Vietnam. 

Six years later, Norton was discharged honorably from the Marine Corps as a sergeant. Then with a wife, and three beautiful children, he began his writing career in 1979. First experimenting with poetry, Norton progressed on to write several short stories before finishing undergraduate, and graduate, work at the University of Texas at Tyler.  Taking a B.A. degree, in psychology and political science, in 1980, Norton applied, and was accepted at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, in San Diego, California, where he successfully completed his first, and only, year of law study. Unable to continue because of personal finances, he became a paralegal to a prominent Southern California attorney, where he worked for nearly four years. 

Later, in 1992, Norton took an M.A. degree at the University of Texas at Tyler, in political science and psychology,  and, during the same year, completed educational requirements for Texas teaching certification.  Later, in 2004, he completed a post-baccalaurate ABA-approved advanced paralegal certification from Edmonds Community College, in Lynnwood, Washington.  In 2005, Norton was retained by the Seattle Times Co. as a regular guest columnist for "The Times of Snohomish County" publication.  A published writer, poet, certified educator and paralegal, Norton now lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, Diane C. Nowlin, the imminent math and physics tutor, and works as a paralegal in Washington, D.C. 

The aggregate sum of Norton's educational and cultural experiences has shaped him into the type of poet, essayist, and fiction writer he is today. His deep love of nature, of all of God's creatures, accentuates his firm belief in a deity of good, who is solely responsible for maintaining the precarious ecological balance on this fragile planet earth that humanity, through an unreasonable exercise of free will, is negligently destroying.