If you need to know, I'm a 58 year old male who currently lives in the state of Colorado. I'm a person of large stature, 6'3" and #230, bald on the top and my red hair has mostly turned white. I'm quite an imposing figure but my gentle nature offsets that nicely.

I've tried my hand at writing many times but this is the first time I've been writing with passion. Story ideas abound so it's only my time and typing skills that thwart me. (I'm no Wade Load, but then again, who is?)

I prefer to write an entire story before posting. A good idea one day may be thrown out the next (or a week later) by something that changes the whole story and new spins on a storyline will cause changes to chapters already written. My initial outline, if there is one (I usually don't concern myself with an outline,) rarely jives with the end product so I've thrown out the concept of writing from a outline. All of my stories are written on the fly. I start with an idea and then dialogue drives my writing, then I'll add the descriptive later on while cleaning up and editing the story. Even then new ideas arise and add to or change the story.

The characters in the books I read and shows I watch must have a positive message. As an example: I was drawn (pun intended) to Kim Possible because she is a positive roll model for young girls. She says she can do anything and she does. She has good manners, good grades and is very active with extracurricular activities, plus she has an active life outside of school. She also sees the good in most everyone. (Except the villain... and maybe Bonnie.)

I also must admit that I see a lot of myself in Ron. I was the proverbial bottom-of-the-Food-Chain/out-of-step dude who didn't care that he was on the damnedable Food Chain or out of step in the first place. If you need to catagorize what I was, I was a nerdy jock. My grades were just shy of perfect and I lettered in three sports. (Volleyball, basketball and golf. I could've gone pro in golf but that would've only spoil the game if I had to play it for money.) Even with all that, I was an outcast, totally off the Food Chain. I didn't care though, because I never wanted to be normal. Ron could've taken lessons from me.

I will never add chapters to any of my stories once I mark them as complete but I may edit them a bit since I believe no story is ever perfect. I read and respond to all signed reviews. Flames are also welcome; how else can one learn but by learning from one's faux pas. (Tho it might be flamable, I might've had my reasons for doing something a certain way.) So Read and Enjoy, or Flame On!

Here's my RANT section concerning reviews:

I've read a lot of stories here and am appalled whenever a writer (I won't call them an author because a real author would never stoop to something like this) begs for reviews or holds their story hostage until they receive X number of reviews. That's pathetic! They are only looking for validation of their lives and I find that disgusting. When I come across that I'll immediately stop reading the story, even if it's good. I won't debase my own self to validate someone else's existence. I don't think they even need a PM to tell them they're doing something wrong.

A TRUE author writes for themselves, to get the tale off their minds and out there for people to enjoy, not for the audience to sing its praise. If you need validation of your life then go out and stop hunger or cure a disease; Do something positive for the world. If you accomplish something that huge, the and only then do you deserve our praise.

It's my belief that this site, and others like it, are the perfect place to learn and hone one's writing skills. I know I've come a long way since I first put pen to paper (or is it fingers to keyboard now?) some 10 or 12 years ago. I've learned a lot but I only learned because some reviewers actually told me what I was doing wrong, instead of writing "I love this, another chapter please."

We only learn by doing and then by someone telling us what we did right, and wrong. We learn from our mistakes.

So please, I challenge all my readers, please tell me what you like and don't like about my stories. Tell me about spelling errors, about holes in the plot, about how I should use a semicolon instead of a comma. (It's been over 40 years since I was in any kind of English Composition class, and sometimes it shows.) It'll only make my writing better and your reading easier and more enjoyable.

Oh, and never take anything I write in a story as fact. I do a lot of research but I'm a fiction writer so don't believe a word of my prolific prose!