I grew up on a working cattle ranch in the Arizona desert in the '60s and '70s. But if you're thinking that sounds romantic - ooh, a real cowboy! - let me stop you right there. Replace those thoughts of 10-gallon hats and six-shooters with old, rusted trucks, sagging, barbed-wire fences, sway-backed horses and unending work. Nights, weekends, holidays - it was all work. Except when I got to "escape" to school.
Which probably has a lot to do with why I became a writer. I've got some sitting down to catch up on. I think I'm still tired, 30+ years later.
I graduated from the University of Arizona's Creative Writing program in 1989 and I've been writing novels ever since. It's possible I've even gotten kind of good at it. Some think so anyway.
I had the travel bug pretty bad before the kids came along, going as far as I could with my backpack and whatever change I could scrounge up. While backpacking in Australia I had the great good fortune to meet a wonderful Swiss woman who didn't call the police when I chased her back to her home country. We've been married over 20 years now, with two almost-grown sons (I hear the travel bug calling again) and a lot of interesting forks in the roads we've taken.
