Dear Readers

My first short story was about the end of the world.

No, it was not science fiction. It was the story of children who scanned the sky one April morning for bombers. I was a child of the Cold War; we lived in fear of air raid sirens, and war seemed inevitable.

I finished only one page of that story. As a child, I did not have the discipline or the courage to expose my imagination to critics.

But I knew it was all I ever wanted to do.

In high school, I wrote three short stories assigned by an encouraging teacher. But one of my stories was too personal and wounded my mother. I did not write another story for decades.

As it turned out, I am the luckiest person in the world. I spent my professional life as a reporter and then an editor for daily newspapers. I learned my craft by writing every day on deadline about people and events, as so many other authors have. And I loved every minute; I still miss the smell of the ink on the presses and the clatter of the wire service ticker tape.

Then in 1999, a group of friends, all with ambitions like mine, created the Northwest Writers Group. I wrote my first short story in years (“A Shooting in Bedford”). It was far from effortless, but it was exhilarating.

I continue to write short stories about relationships and obsessions, religion and love. I have opened this web site to post my stories online. And hopefully one day soon I will post the chapters of my first novel.

I am excited to share them and hope you enjoy reading them.