bio
Author, musician, media professional — these are the kinds of creative pursuits that lead us to erect these online temples to our own vanity (and hopefully why you’re visiting), but here’s a little background if you like.
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I was born pigeon-toed in Indiana in 1973, baby shoes joined by a corrective metal bar. Life in an airline family saw me growing up in Virginia Beach and eventually the Kansas City area, where I still reside. They labeled me “gifted” as I was giving half-hour multimedia presentations at age 10 and sweeping spelling bees. Thought I was going to be a pro baseball player. Maybe a shrink. Barely able to read a note, I somehow won the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award, then Mr. Platte County 1991 (more for rocking the six-string than that tuxedo). Fame and rehab seemed inevitable, but fortunately neither transpired.
While earning a degree in Broadcasting from Northwest Missouri State, I began my career by producing radio commercials and jocking shows from alt-rock to classical, jazz, and news at an NPR affiliate. Later I would go on to build a home project studio for music and audio production, while playing in a handful of bands over the years, from modern rock to a top regional ’80s tribute group, and more recently a duo called Winebox.
Six years spent at a small video house introduced me to the full range of production, from event videos to TV commercials, multi-cam live events to training. I had to master each phase of production myself, often single-handedly creating videos end-to-end. After many projects proofing ad copy and preflighting print jobs, I took on those tasks myself, splitting time between video work, copy writing, and graphic design. This diversity of skills prepped me for my current position at a Fortune 100 company, where I perform these same roles at a much higher level. My short film “Featurette” screened at several festivals and served as my calling card for years.
When I started reading fiction again around the turn of the century, I got the writing bug. I’d written screenplays before, reams of ad copy, and of course dozens of songs, but I found the power of visceral long-form prose irresistible. So began a tedious four years of crafting and publishing my first novel, Major Inversions, as well as some short stories. During that time I’ve embraced several online writing communities, attended the AWP conference, and participated in a workshop intensive led by author Craig Clevenger (The Contortionist’s Handbook). Look for my next novel, Flashover, in 2012.