When I told my high school English teacher, Mrs. Ruby Allen, that I wanted to go to college, get an English degree, and become a writer, she gave me some great advice. If I really wanted to write, she said, I should absolutely NOT get an English degree; if I did that, I would just end up being another frustrated English teacher who was too busy teaching to write anything worth reading. Instead, she said, I should take up an occupation which paid well and start writing when I had money in the bank.
The good news:
I followed Mrs. Allen’s advice. I joined the Army, and was the first person in my immediate family to graduate college. I became a CPA and received an MBA from Vanderbilt University.
The bad news: she gave me that advice in 1975.

I am now quickly approaching my much-anticipated retirement from the corporate business world. My first short story, The Vegans of England County, was published in High Shelf Press in April 2020, and I have another story forthcoming in Stardust Review.

My story “Uncle Polly and the Three Megans” is included in The Saturday Evening Post 2021 Great American Fiction Contest Anthology. (Click here for the story)

Stay tuned!