I've wanted to be a writer ever since I learned to read.  Having to earn a living kept me from it, but in retirement I cut loose.  I think my main reason for writing now is to get readers to see things the way I see them. 

My major influences, I suppose, are my favorite authors: Henry Fielding, Mark Twain, and Miguel de Cervantes.  As a young man I was mentored by Ray Bradbury and Henry Kuttner.