About Me
I once applied for a position, and a requirement in the application was to provide a list of one hundred things I had done in my life. I was dismayed and certain I would need to go back to potty-training to come up with a list like that. I didn't fill out the application.
Since then, I have made a list, and it is now well beyond one hundred things. I keep adding to it. I would encourage you to do the same. Just jot things down once in a while, and you will find that many of them have stories attached. I have always believed that everyone's story, if turned into a book, would be interesting.
I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota; then we moved to Helena, Montana. I have no memories of either of those places. When I was two years old, we moved to Minot, North Dakota, and that is where I grew up, except for a short sojourn between second and third grades to northeastern North Dakota and northeastern Minnesota, after which we returned to Minot.
Events in my young life caused me to withdraw in my Jr. high school years. That had some negative effects, but some positive as well. It was during those years that I started reading a lot. So much that my mother said I had told her I would never be lonely because I had books!
A couple of other things happened during that time that have shaped my life since:
First, my father worked for the communications department (think telephone, and telegraph, and Teletype) of a railroad for nearly all of his working life. That meant that I was exposed to electronics at a young age. He encouraged my curiosity by bringing home outdated devices from his work. My father never discouraged from experimenting with those devices or even taking them apart. (The only time I got into trouble was when I took my dad's tape measure apart and couldn't put it back together.)
—He inspired a drive for learning and exploration, and an absence of apprehension towards physical tasks. (Although, once when I was a young man, I tore his lawnmower down and found the part that needed to be replaced to have it run again, I heard him say to my mother, "I didn't think he could do stuff like that.")
— He instilled a curiosity, a desire to learn, and a lack of fear of tackling physical stuff.
Second, my mother read a lot, and she took me to what are now classical musical movies (South Pacific, My Fair Lady, etc.). She also listened to classical and pop instrumental music of that time.
— She is the source of my artistic aspirations.
I had both right and left brain influences in my life, and I believe that has helped in my writing and my other life endeavors.
My next blog post will be in about a month.
Please let me know if you have comments or questions about this, or my books, at:
Comments