1. My own take on one who weaves writing, photography and painting as part of an expressive process.  

At the age of seven, I loved to draw imaginary elaborately structured worlds over and over again with crayons and show them to my parents.   One day, I told my parents I was leaving for a magical city in the clouds.  "It's real!," I said as I showed them my drawing.  They smiled and watched as I packed my lunchbox and sat in the front lawn waiting for the escalator to appear.  It never did and I went silently back into the house.  I think this is probably the earliest memory I have of coming to terms with my imagination and the limitations of physical world in which I live.  As I grew older, I remember having to remind myself that I was just imagining, re-interpreting the lines of my own reality.  

By the age of eleven, I discovered that photography was an excellent medium that kept me somewhat grounded, but still allowed me to have the freedom of a lens and frame.  The Rocky Mountains were my first subject.  I had never seen a mountain until I went on a middle school trip to the West Coast of the United States.  In addition to the amazing natural forms of Pike's Peak and the Garden of the Gods, I also photographed signs to these monuments.  I'm sure the other students thought I was crazy, but the signs served a different purpose for me.  They were my breadcrumbs, my imaginary line that kept me grounded and guided me out of the woods if I ever ventured too far off course.

I write because my mother wanted to be a writer and I'm somehow compelled to finish what she started.  From as early as grade school, she often dreamt of crafting mystery novels and traveling the world as a foreign correspondent.  Unfortunately, she never got that opportunity, but she did get a chance to leave her small Texas town and live with her pen-pal of twelve years, my father.  I hope to honor their memory with a novel that tells the story of their first meeting (on pen and paper), what transpired during their long-distance relationship and how they eventually arranged to meet in Cairo, Egypt and marry within one week of finally seeing each other face to face.

My Parents - Cairo, Egypt - 1965