I have been writing stories most of my life and spent 35 years as a freelance photojournalist and sports public relations expert in Hawaii, California and Washington. The one thing missing from my curriculum vitae was a writing degree. A few years after I retired I returned to college to get the degree and that is where I am now. After slogging through required university entrance courses I am about one year from graduation, and finally enjoying advanced writing classes. I'm told I inspire others to always think young, but I think it's the craft of writing that inspires me.

I've never written a book; I'm doing that now. But I have over a dozen notebooks full of newspaper columns and feature stories that reflect my writing life.

Because I am pursuing a college degree at the end of my career, before I graduated from Whatcom Community College,in Bellingham, Washington, I worked in the Whatcom Community College writing center for several years, helping all kinds of students as they struggled with their writing. Of particular interest to me were the English As A Second Language (ESL) students. I even helped an older Afghani student with reading comprehension so he could study and pass his citizenship tests. At the moment, I am making myself available to students in my classes to encourage them with their writing and answer questions about what its like to be a professional writer.