After retirement I looked around for something to do. John was a professor at a very good liberal arts college in Missouri. The college had a good tuition remission program for staff and families, from the groundskeepers on up. So I thought: I always wanted to study music. So I worked at that for a few years and have almost a full degree in church music I lack only one conducting course and a recital. Two of the courses I was required to take were what they called “writing courses.” I took to those like a duck to water. I discovered that I was a better at writer than I was a musician. So I switched tracks and found a Master’s program in Creative Writing at the University of Missouri in Kansas City and I only had a couple of undergraduate courses in English to complete. So away I went, full steam ahead and graduated with a Master’s degree in English with a Professional Writing Emphasis in Prose and Poetry in ’96. So here I am, 25 years later, still writing and still loving it. I have nine novels, one book of essays and short stories, two books of poetry and one children’s book published. I will soon have another novel out and I’m casting around in my mind for another children’s book.
