I have no formal background except in the manner of getting a college degree so I could get a "real" job. I always wanted to freelance write and photograph "on the side" like a condiment, while the "real" job, like a hamburger, paid the bills. Some how this all turned out backwards. My condiment is the main course. It's hard for me to pinpoint my main influences in my writing. Some writers who quickly come to mind are Isabelle Allende, because I love to roll around in her magical realism. It is really freeing to me. And I like Ernest Hemingway's Moveable Feast, because I live to travel; I love Paris. Some other writers I've recently read who have novels set in old and new Venice: Sarah Dunant and Donna Leon. Their writing takes me there again. I learn from everyone I read.   

I have a college degree certifying I can do some things.