Background

I was born in Bangor (ME) in June 1977. My parents carried me a few miles up the road to the quaint mill town of Bucksport, into the house my mother's father built. If you have visited Bar Harbor and/or Acadia National Park, you drove through five minutes of my home town, though you would not have realized it at the time.

From a young age, however, I fell in love with the bustle of urban life. Every other year, when we visited my father's family in Houston (TX), I marveled at the traffic and the notion that one could eat at a different restaurant every day and never have to repeat... For whatever inexplicable reason, that unusual observation struck me hard.

I graduated from Bucksport High School in 1995 (Go Bucks!) and have lived in Boston since September of that year. I remain a city boy with a country upbringing.

College Years

When I was six years old, my favorite book was The Book of Presidents, which featured detailed biographic data on each of the presidents (through Nixon), and more detail than you would ever want on what happened during each administration. At first, I used tracing paper to copy the images, but later I could sketch Thomas Jefferson or William Henry Harrison free-hand. (I'm blushing as I admit this to the world.)

One day, I noticed Harvard College was listed on six biographies. "I'm going to Harvard," I informed my puzzled parents. Fifteen years later, I graduated magna cum laude.

Vital Stats:

  • Concentration: Social Studies (and no, it's not what you studied in 5th grade!)
  • Thesis: Labor and Management Relations in Two Maine Paper Mills
  • House: Pforzheimer
  • Activities: Phillips Brooks House Association (Fundraiser, Officer, Senior Counselor)
  • Pages of Fiction Written: 0.25

Fifth Grade

Fifth grade was a very important year for me. Two marquee events shaped that year:

  • I wrote my first short story--a science fiction tale set in 2238. It was even selected into a big anthology, which remains the highlight of my publshing resume...
  • A new girl moved into town, and I fell head over heels. Twenty years later, we got hitched at Sebasco Harbor on the coast of Maine before jetting off for two weeeks in Europe!

Catching the Writing Bug

Soon after writing "Tai-Ka" in Mrs. Smith's class, Dad bought a computer. I spent hours upon hours in my bedroom, banging away. When all was said and done, I'd written about 1200 pages of unpublishable trash. At an age where I didn't have a dollar to call my own, I presented short stories in lieu of real gifts to my friends. If I ever make it big, I fully expect them to blackmail me with those tawdry and sordid tales...

Through my teens, I attended the Breadloaf Young Writer's Conference (teen version of the adult conference) and the Haystack Writers Symposium (on Deer Isle, Maine). My future held bestsellers and readings, I was sure of it.

But then I arrived at Harvard. I wrote dozens of papers about Karl Marx, Max Weber, and John Stuart Mill, but exactly one lousy paragraph of fiction. I should have seen the writing on the walls when I scoured the professors' comments on my term papers "Great writing, but the fundamental argument is weak - B+".

August 1st, 2001. I'm crossing the street, heading for the Government Center MBTA station. A random sentence overwhelms me. I must write again. Within hours I have a blank hard-cover notebook labeled "musings" and jot page after page of jagged prose.

Back to January 2007--I have finished my first novel. A prior attempt (started in 2001, scrapped in 2003) sits in a drawer. Several dozen short stories lie in varying stages of polish. Three flash pieces are available on Web 'Zines. I maintain two blogs, and am trying to make it a daily habit to update them... I've published four album reviews. A dozen freelance pitches are going out next week.

You get the picture. I'm a writer.

Professional Experience

From February 2000 to September 2006 and again from June 2007 to June 2008, I was a Consultant at a boutique professional services firm based in Cambridge, Mass. My primary expertise there was implementing various enteprise resource planning solutions and student information systems in higher education. My clients included: University of Arizona, University of Chicago, the Johns Hopkins University, University of Iowa, and the University of Puerto Rico.

In September 2006, I made a much needed departure to meet two objectives: 1.) Pursue my fledgling writing career on a more dedicated basis, 2.) End the "traveling consultant" lifestyle, which had put me in Puerto Rico for 200+ nights in 2005. I'm happy to report that I managed to finish that first novel (even if it isn't going to end up getting published in its current form) and settled comfortably into actually living in Boston more than two days each week!

After nine months writing and working part-time for the Johns Hopkins University as a Senior Systems Analyst I returned briefly to consulting before rejoining my alma mater as a Program Director for the Enterprise Budget and Planning System project.