: About Me

I am a self-employed individual who provides freelance project support across multiple professional disciplines. I have owned my own business since 1997, while also working in a variety of challenging positions with American-based businesses and organizations. My education is grounded in criminal justice and administrative support services. For the last seven years I have volunteered as a CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) advocating for the rights of abused and neglected children in juvenile court. Above everything that I have done, I consider that work, though it is strictly voluntary, to be of the greatest reward.

While there is diversity and challenge involved in my day-to-day life now, I also enjoy stretching my creative abilities to their limits, and freelance writing is one area where those skills are best challenged. In past years I have reviewed many books, contributing reviews to sites like Curled Up With a Good Book at www.curledup.comand Midwest Book Review. For a time I had my own publication locally, Creative Copy, which provided creative works of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by new and emerging writers. I currently have a review blog called Show-Me Reviews at www.show-me-reviews.blogspot.com.

I have had two short stories published to date, my first love is nonfiction writing, particularly personal essays in the style of E.B. White, and others. During the middle and late 1990s I had several vignette-style articles published in The Fence Post, www.thefencepost.com, a magazine targeted toward the farming and ranching communities in Colorado and Nebraska.

My passion is ...

Writing

My parents always told me ...

There isn't anything you can't do, only things you shouldn't. If it's immoral, illegal, or unethical, avoid it. Otherwise, your success is only limited by your willingness to learn and the effort you invest in being successful.

My childhood ambition ...

To be a writer.

Why I write ...

To answer questions about life and to force myself to look at things from more than one perspective.

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

Book: Telling True Stories, mulitiple contributors; Rereading: Write Away by Elizabeth George

My first job ...

Cooking in a county jail (age 11)

My inspiration ...

Life.

Creative Writing > Short Stories Short stories: Deceit

7 of 15

The Pitch: A New Millennium Tragedy The pitcher walked confidently to the computer and tapped the "on" button. The disk drives began to whir and the processor purred to life. He held a cup of coffee in one hand and a fist full of mouse in the other, clicked the big E on the computer screen, and stepped onto the cyber mound. A quick check of his email inbox told him how many rookies he had hooked in the last 24 hours. The count climbed into the hundreds immediately, and at $39.95 each his daily take would be high. The hundreds of ads he cross posted to the job boards were going to pay big d...

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