While primarily an artist, I discovered a love for writing in my teenage years.  However, I didn't start writing seriously until my 21st birthday….doing it the hard way.  Meaning, I ran the gamut of unfulfilling jobs ranging from Administrative Assistant to Security Officer while writing my first novel; Love's Legacy, in every minute of my spare time.  I won’t go into how long it took me, doing it this way, but I'll say it was a valuable learning experience.  I once read in a writers’ magazine that the more unpleasant the job, the better it is for a writer as it is what propels him or her to persevere with his/her craft and never surrender their dreams. However, on a more positive front working in different locations as a temp certainly provided me the opportunity to observe the way people interact with one another; an experience that was invaluable for allowing me to create believable characters in my books.  Some of my earliest writing influences included Anya Seaton, Barbara Erskine, T.S. Eliot and Shakespare.   The spiritual overtones and references to reincarnation mentioned in my stories came about from my own experiences as a seeker of spiritual truths, having been an Evangelical Christian who soon found that I could no longer be at peace living my life within the parameters of church dogma. I am still an artist, participating as frequently as possible in Studio Tours, as well as various Arts related activities in my community in the east end of Toronto, Canada, where I currently live.  You may visit my site at www.clublighthousestudio.co.uk   In 2006 I launched Club Lighthouse Publishing as a means to give many a talented author who might yet be diamonds in the rough, a chance at having their work noticed, and them the satisfaction of seeing that their literary efforts were not in vain.  My primary goal was to help ease some of the hurdle that many a new author experiences in trying to get that first book published.  Having been there myself, I'm totally empathetic to their situation, but that does not in any way mean that work that is not of the highest quality with a tremendous show of promise will be accepted.  Earlier this years (2008) W. Richard St. James who is also a CLP author (The Eden series) became my business partner and handles the technical and promtional end of the business..