Friday, June 14, 2013

My Story

When I was a child, I loved learning.  I was happy to learn new words and how to spell them. I competed in the school spelling bee.  I took pride in my school assignments, and I was always willing to please the teacher.  I loved language arts and social studies.  I showed initiative, and excelled at self-paced study.  I was at the top of my classes.

I have wanted to be a writer since I was nine years old.  I started a novel back then:  “The phone rang.”  It was going to tell the story about three buddies who went off to war and came back heroes.  The only professional experience I have had as a writer was a seven-week stint as Poet-in-Residence in the San Antonio Independent School District.  Writing poems or lyrics comes easily to me.  I’ve recently started a new novel called Resistless Day.  It’s about an expat who returns to the U.S. and undergoes major life changes and finds it difficult to face each coming day.

As a teenager I became enraptured with the Christian faith.  I read the Bible daily and believed that I was responsible for the souls of the whole world.  I was very serious and sincere. I went on to study theology at a Bible College and finished with a Biblical Studies degree at a Christian liberal arts college.  After working in a children’s ministry, I became disillusioned.  I left the ministry and never turned back.

Then I tried different things.  I did a stint in the U.S. Air Force as a personnel specialist.  I moved to Tennessee to trace my family roots and ended up working as a juvenile probation officer.  I tried making music in Florida.  I went home to help look after my father when he had heart surgery, and found my career at a standstill.  That’s when I ventured to northern Virginia and found work as a telecommunications engineer.

After a year at Global One, I transferred to the operations in Frankfurt, Germany.  I spent thirteen years based there, mostly as a freelancer, and I had rich and varied experiences during my European adventure.  I finally returned to the U.S. to avoid spending the rest of my life over there.

Now I am back in my own country.  I have worked as a hospital orderly, child evangelist, construction worker, dishwasher, strolling guitarist, singer, telecommunications engineer, juvenile probation officer, database specialist, poet, and housekeeping attendant.  I have visited more than 20 countries.  I speak four languages.  And I have had only the best of intentions.  I wanted to be a good student.  I wanted to tell stories.  I wanted to inspire and encourage people with music. I wanted to save the world.  I wanted to look after my father.  I wanted to open my heart and mind to other cultures.  I wanted to run my own business.  So what’s next?

I still would like to reach my goals.  I would like to be a professional writer.  I would like to sing regularly.  I would like to reach out to the world and inspire and encourage and help others.  I would like to continue my international adventures.  I am a man of the world.  And I have a lot to share.

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