I began my professional life as an actor in RADIO when I was 12. In high school I worked part-time as a broadcaster, and during and after college worked in radio and TV in several states. I migrated to film while still in college, working as a carpenter and set builder, then as cameraman, editor, and eventually scriptwriter and director/producer. An early film series I wrote is taught today at NYU as part of a class in social action films. After 40+ years in film I left the big city (Washington, DC), for a mountain farm in Virginia where I began focusing on fiction. My first novel, "Accidents of Time and Place," was published in 2007. My collection of essays, "Mixed Freight," is the result of reflection about the life I have led, the places I have been and the people I have known in my long life. For years I've wanted to write the kind of story I love to read: a mystery. Now I've done it, and it's available ONLY on Kindle. No mystery there: it's the fastest way, the way that more and more books aer being published, and the way of the future. I know, I know: you love books. So do I. I love the feel of paper, and the smell of ink, and the heft of holding a bound book in my hands. But the reality is, fewer and fewer publishers are open to writers today, regardless of your track record. So I've taken the first step by going directly to digital and Kindle. For one thing, it allows me to sell the book for a whopping 99 cents!

My office wall contains many awards: for service to my country, for films I have written and produced, for service to my community. My first novel, Accidents of Time and Place, was a Library of Virginia Award nominee in 2007, and that is the one that, as a writer, I'm most proud of.