I've been making my living as a writer since I got out of college. Over the years, I've worked in journalism, PR, advertising, marketing and corporate communications.

I recently self-published a book about managing a freelance writing business, called "Talking to My Cats: A Small Business Journal." This is a compilation of the "best of" a series of monthly episodes I have been publishing on my website since 2000.

My passion is ...

getting better as a writer.

I know too much about ...

obeying my cats.

My parents always told me ...

to sit up straight, and eat my vegetables.

My childhood ambition ...

was to become a novelist.

My favorite memory ...

taking a hot air balloon ride.

Why I write ...

I don't know how to do anything else.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

a book on blogging. The Office. The Sopranos soundtrack.

My first job ...

working in a garden label factory.

My best moment ...

is still to come.

My inspiration ...

Mark Twain, who wrote the great American novel: Huck Finn

Health & Fitness > Nicotine Dependence Testimonies: Health scares that lead you to give up smoking

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I doubt very much that I would have ever quit smoking if I hadn't spent a night in intensive care after being unable to breathe. It started at dinner time when I was having a lot of trouble catching my breath. So, I went to the emergency room and was admitted to the hospital's ICU.

I'd had trouble breathing before, but that was usually associated with the presence of a dog. I was very allergic to dogs. Exposure to a canine usually required going outside and taking a few hits of a Bronkaid inhaler - something that smokers use to open up the airways in the lungs.

The inhaler wasn't cutt...

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