A short Biography...
Thanks for visiting my website. Like everything in my life, it's a work in progress.
After a career in engineering, using the left side of my brain almost exclusively, I am just getting used to exercising my right hemisphere. It's a scary world living without rules or any sort of organization. But it's so much fun! I decided to write simply because I had a storyline in my head for several years, and I had to let it out. I had no desire to become an author back then. I just sat down at my computer (while traveling in our 30' sailboat, Summer Breeze up the Inside Passage), and let the story flow. When planning to write a novel, my former self would have outlined everything and made sure all my characters and timelines were consistent and all the loose ends were tied up neatly. But I didn't do any of that. I just started writing. I found it fascinating to see where the story goes all by itself with minimal guidance. I've now written four novels and one second edition to the first novel. I have a whole bunch of snippets of stories in my mind, But I decided to get the first batch published before I write more. Editing is tedious when you don't plan your work!
I spent 22 years in the Coast Guard, half enlisted, and half commissioned. While I had a great career and wouldn't change a thing if I could, I get bored when I look back on my career. I enlisted in order to save lives. But as an electronics technician, then a project manager, I was on the support team that kept the heroes saving people. I never got a chance to save anyone personally. So that became the impetus for my book, Search and Rescue. I created my heroic alter ego and performed all sorts of daring rescues vicariously.
Racing sailboats has been a passion of mine since I was about ten years old. I learned to sail on my father's Cal-28 racing on the Wilmington River on Savannah, GA. Since then, I've raced a variety of dinghies and yachts up to 40' all over the county.
In 2016, I competed in the infamous Race to Alaska. This is a 750-mile race from Port Townsend, WA to Ketchikan, AK up the Inside Passage. No motors are allowed on board, and outside assistance is forbidden. I raced on a 38' catamaran with four other guys. That experience plus my experience building a small dinghy became the impetus for North to Alaska.
Growing up in Savannah, GA, I am a product of southern hospitality. Even though I don't live there today, I'll always love the laid-back and friendly lifestyle there. I found a little of that in Sequim, WA where I now reside, but without the heat and humidity. I graduated from Armstrong State College (now part of Georgia Southern University) before I left Savannah to see the world. Later, I graduated from Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA with a BS in Electrical Engineering Technology, and upgraded that to a master's degree in Electrical Engineering at the Naval Post Graduate School in Monterey, CA.
