Writing has always been a theraputic hobby of mine, but I only took it seriously when I got the inspiration for my first published work, "The Good-Luck Child". I got in to reading quite as a result. Influences I've picked up from along the way have been from Dante Alighieri, Mary Stewart, H.P. Lovecraft, and--my personal favorite--Jules Verne. Illustrations one sees in the cover or in my works are all done by me; I use Corel Painter IX, to earn snazziness points for color. When one reads my work, they will see that each main character is an extension of myself. We grow older and wiser together, never ceasing to learn or relearn things. My life experiences--the good, bad, and extremely ugly--tend to show one way or another in my characters. Such must be the natural order of things for writers.