I have been writing for over twenty years and have amassed a large collection of works, which I am currently cleaning up for publication.  While working as an engineer for various software and hardware firms, I found I needed a way to express my more creative side.  Writing proved to be the perfect means to do so.  I have written numerous poems, songs, and short stories during this period. I enjoy writing so much that I lose myself in the process and only surface after days of intense concentration.  I derive inspiration from C.S Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Orson Scott Card, and Heinlein.  I also find deep satisfaction in reading the Greek and Roman tragedies as well as accounts of early civilization.  One of my favorite modern writers has always been Dean Koontz who manages to mix suspense with believable fiction. I most enjoy developing the character – their personality, motivations, and inner failings.  In my latest novel, I wrote about a young girl who cannot feel fear or panic under ordinary circumstances.  This is not by choice, but due to the conditions of her birth.  These sorts of anomalies can lead to interesting tales with startling results, where the ordinary becomes extraordinary and the mundane, peculiar. During the last decade I have become progressively less able to live a normal life due to illness.  My current physical state is precarious, yet I still hold out hope in healing, because I am after all an optimist.  I spend my days in a darkenned room because the light is painful to me.  I try to write a little each week when I have the energy, for that is all that is left to me.  My oldest son Alexander has been quite helpful with much of my work and I see him someday becoming a great writer.  While my own future appaers grim due to my disability there is always faith. So when you read what I have written, remember what effort and energy it costs me to put pen to paper. I write because I must, because I will, and because I love to.