Hi. I'm an old dude attempting to become an old published dude. Here's a little bit about me. I started work at age twelve. Got married at the ripe old age of 19, immediately proceeded to produce three great sons, who in turn produced 13 grand kids. I've sold items on street corners, over the phone, worked at route sales jobs, and spent a few years in real estate sales. But most of my working life ( some 30 years ) was in the most grueling of all construction jobs - namely, drywall - that's sheetrock for you who don't know. ( Be glad you don't. ) In the last ten years or so I decided to see if I still had a brain and if I could put some words to paper which made sense. On strictly a part time basis ( when I wasn't licking my wounds ) I managed to complete 5 book length manuscripts, with another 3 at about 100 pages each, 3 picture books for very young kids, and a collection of poetry and short stories. My "Judson Coolidge Mystery Series" for kids of all ages, is occult free. No blood, gore, or witchcraft, and I'm hoping that there is still an audience of young readers out there who would actually enjoy reading good old fashioned mysteries with a cast of great characters. My biggest project ( "Paradise County ) finished off at about 600+ pages. About a year ago I signed with The New York Literary Agency. The person who influenced my writing the most is the great, John Steinbeck, who, in my humble opinon, was probably the best American writer who ever lived. I was also influenced by Erskine Caldwell's style of writing and choice of subject matter. For "modern" writers I like John Grisham - one of those rare authors who manages to craft great novels with practically no use of four letter words. Ridley Pearson is a master story teller, and I like Mary Higgins Clark. My immediate goals are to publish some of the work I've already written, but I would also like to learn screenplay writing and how to go about getting that sold.

Completed The Institue of Children's Literature writing course, as well as their book writing course.
Self published my first novel ( The Secret of Vanderhagan's Gold ) under the pen name Hollister King. The book is posted at authorhouse.com