Raised in the rural Oregon county that provided the setting for The Shack (which Wallowa Countians know is fiction because there's no stoplight in Joseph or anywhere else in the county,) I set out to discover new things in California, Seattle, Honolulu, and other places, getting somewhat of a college and life education along the way. Vocationally, I've primarily been a journalist, owning a newspaper at one juncture, and a maintenance gardener. Because my passion long has been the writing of fiction, for decades I wrote fiction in the pre-dawn hours, then went to work to pay the bills.  About two years ago I became a full-time freelancer, writing for magazines such as Horizon Air and Alaskan Airlines magazines, and in January had my first novel, SHARENE  Death: A Prerequisite for Life, published. Two other novels are written, one already at the publisher's, which I hope will be out soon. My favorite book is the King James, and my favorite author D.H. Lawrence because of his complete mastery of the language and precision with the written word.

I've won national, regional, and state awards for journalism writing, and a state photography award.