ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Photo taken at The Second Story Bookstore in Laramie, WY. Photo credit: Cheyenne Davidson.

MEET JOHN

The first book I really fell in love with was one I received when I was seven years old. 

We had just moved from Korea to Singapore and my mother bought me a large book on mammals to help me learn English. On each page, there was a full color photo of the animal, a small world map of their habitat, and a short description. I loved looking at the photos and reading about each of the creatures. Books became a lifelong friend. 

While I grew up traveling all over the world, we eventually settled in the United States. I went to high school in Pennsylvania, then on to Franklin and Marshall College, University of Pennsylvania for Graduate School, and Cardozo Law School. 

My career path has included being a teacher, a firefighter and owning a real estate business. I also worked for the US government for a short period of time, and was elected to serve on my local school board for over ten years. 

After college and working for the government, I was burnt out and went to live in Paris for a few years. There I took classes in English and French through Boston University. 

During this time, I was fortunate enough to witness the fall of the Berlin Wall and I began to think about writing stories. Inspired, I actually wrote my first novel on a typewriter while I was there. The book was a science fiction story based on the Cold War and the collapse of the USSR. While I submitted it to several agents, it didn’t get picked up. 

I turned away from writing, focused on law school and shelved the idea of becoming a writer.

Following my varied career path, I was fortunate enough to retire early. Since the rise of COVID-19, my interest in writing stories was reignited. I researched the current state of the publishing industry, found writing software that was easy to use and sat down and began writing my latest novel. The first draft is nearing completion as I write this. 

It’s been nearly thirty years since my first unpublished novel, but I’m back and hope to publish this book by the end of 2022. Since beginning again, I have met so many supportive people in the writing community. This community has me confident I will get my newest book published and I want to offer this support to other aspiring writers as well. 

For those who want to write:

If you’re serious and it’s not an idle whim, you will return to it. 

Follow my own journey to publication on the blog here!