After serving as a pastor I went into the Army as a chaplain. Now retired from the military, I am a teaching pastor at Friendship church in Lakeland, FL, and an adjunct professor in the College of Christian Ministries and Religion at Southeastern University, also in Lakeland. My wife (Linda) is a literature professor at Southeastern University, and chair of the Department of English and Foreign Languages. We have three sons, three daughters

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in

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law, and eight grandchildren. We love dogs, and currently have a tri

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color beagle. Personal interests include movies and plays, music, travel, sports, and games. And reading, of course!When I was a kid, my brothers and sister and I would tell stories, making them up on the fly. We wrote poetry

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well, more like silly rhymes

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and produced plays and skits. As an adult, I told stories to my children and wrote poems for family events such as reunions, birthdays, and holiday get

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togethers. I

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ve published a half dozen or so articles in religious and military magazines.Knowing that I wanted to start writing seriously after getting out of the Army, I started reading books on writing by Stephen King, Ray Bradbury, and Elizabeth George. I read William Zinsser, Francine Prose, PD James, and many others. Each writer taught me something.In 2006, My wife and I were at a Barnes & Noble on a Friday night in Atlanta. After getting a Frappuccino and Chai Tea Latte, we separated to browse. That

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s when I discovered Josip Novakovich

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s book, Writing Fiction Step By Step. I bought it, read it, then went back to get his Fiction Writer

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s Workshop. After reading the second book, I prayed that someday I would meet the man and study writing under his tutelage. Seven years later, living in Florida, I inquired about the MFA at the University of Tampa and discovered that he was one of the fly

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in teachers for the program. Josip has been my writing mentor the past two years

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a literal answer to prayer. I had a dual focus of Fiction and Non

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Fiction because I hope to write multiple genres. Two other key mentors were Don Morrill and John Capouya. John was my guide in the writing of the thesis.The MFA thesis was a book about my military ministry experience in Iraq. My doctoral dissertation, which I hope to put into book form, was on the Biblical Principles of Marriage