I got it into my head early on that I could write fiction when I won prizes for it in seventh grade at the Englewood School for Boys and three years later at the Phillips Exeter Academy. A novella I submitted for a prize in college did not win.
I did go on to write. A lot. But it was local newspaper work -- and, in addition to writing, there was the horror of editing endless piles of news copy under deadline for 35 years.
I'm a picky reader and writer, easily distracted unless I'm totally sold on a book or story (someone else's or my own).
I have managed to write several novels over the years, none published except by myself ("The Consequences of Longing" in 2009 and "Thomas Jefferson, Rachel & Me, " e-book and paperback, 2010).
As much as my wife of 32 years, Barbara, and our funky farmhouse in Vermont, and our Westie Harry (RIP) and our new Westie Stuie (Stuart Little), I profoundly love to fly. I soloed at age 16 and I'm a certified flight instructor.