a book in the works:

 This project started when the editor of a small local magazine in California found some of my writing online and sought permission to publish a couple of stories. Along the way, she talked me into writing this.  

Building: A Life is a science memoir, aimed at the upmarket reader. I've taken care to keep things from getting too “literary,” or so scientific that it's over the lay reader's head. The book focuses on the trials of a rule-breaker with a checkered academic past who follows his passion, making it all work out in the end. 

It's about a kid who just wanted to build things. After a difficult time in public education he drops out of a prestigious art school and overcomes obstacles to become an engineer in the aerospace industry despite not having a degree (full honesty, of course). He goes to work on science projects in fields such as bio physics, high energy lasers, space telescopes, and others – the jobs we encourage school kids to dream about. I’ve pasted just the first ten pages below, but a little deeper in the book there are years building wooden boats, assembling satellites, helping fix the Hubble Space Telescope, and designing science instruments.

Like many memoirs, it started out as a collection of stories, but an early beta reader/editor (a therapist, not mine) steered me toward bringing out the greater meaning it holds and suggested it could have important significance for others figuring out what they want to do when they grow up. In some places it’s unavoidably funny.

With the help of The Lighthouse Writers Workshop in Denver, consultants in several technical specialties, two wonderful editors, and a lot of encouragement, I have a complete manuscript, just finished with a major re-write. I’ve been urged to pitch this to mainstream publishing houses rather than self-publishing, and so far I have some positive feedback from several agents in New York. Stay tuned!