A California native, I was born in Santa Barbara and grew up in San Clemente in south Orange County where surfing and the ocean were my athletic pastimes. After high school I hitchhiked around the US, to New York City, worked odd jobs and took a freighter to Europe, where I traveled around for several months. Returning from Europe, I attended local community colleges and surfed until the US Army drafted me. The GI Bill helped me further my education.

- MFA in Creative Writing/English, University of California, Irvine, member of the Graduate Writer   Workshop in Fiction.
- BA in Creative Writing/Literature, University of California, Santa Cruz

My first writing job was a newspaper reporter, then on to copywriter for an advertising and public relations firms. Writing for business provided immediate gratification (and a paycheck) for young, unpublished authors. A very interesting career evolved, beginning as a copywriter and moving through the account executive positions to supervisor, vice-president, director and eventually an owner/partner in my own firm. I was involved with developing the corporate, marketing, and financial communications materials for companies in high-technology, computer peripherals and software, consumer electronics, real estate and land development, architecture and land planning, and many other businesses.

In 1995 I left my business partnership and simplified my life, started writing another novel and did independent consulting for a few businesses. In fall of 1997, a friend asked me to cover a business writing class for him one night at Saddleback College. I’d never been in front of a classroom before that evening. I reviewed and critiqued the student’s persuasive letters in front of the class. The three hour class whizzed by as I went through the letters and pointed out what I felt was good and what could be improved – all based on my experience as a professional writer.

The next day my friend called me exclaiming, “What did you do last night? Can you come in here to talk with my dean and assistant dean this afternoon?” I met with them and they said there had been a few complaints about my classroom demeanor and there were also many positive comments, and they hired me. Soon after, I was teaching business writing at community colleges part-time. I taught my first Buad 301 class in fall of 1998. Since then I’ve taught three or four sections per semester. It’s very gratifying work.