I was raised on a farm near a small community in Oregon. There were six, counting me, in my high school graduating class. I was related to half of them, a situation that fostered neither romance, nor privacy or adventure. It tended to keep me in line. I hated it. ~~~~~~~ I fled to the "city", lived in San Francisco, New York and Milano. And I began to write. Though no one I grew up with would ever understand the need to tell “made up” stories, they have become the foundation for a hundred characters. ~~~~~~~~~~I've had "city" careers in business and in human resources (another petri for characters). I am lately working on a project to build a primary school for girls and boys in turbulent Helmand province, Afghanistan. ~~~~~~~ Writing requires focus, something I have always struggled with. Art's where I can let go. And it's happily all over the place. For a living, I struggle and write. And at the end of a day, I grab a brush and I dab it and dot it and let the colors go where they want.