An incomplete bio…

Recommended Writing Fuel: Wine – Scotch – Coffee

Specific usages and specific quantities have varied dependent upon deadlines, time of day, day of week, the season, and, most importantly, my creative mood.

I freely endorse it is always 5:00 PM somewhere! Shouldn’t you, too?

All Things Creative

Writing, creating, and crafting stories makes me feel happy and it helps me fulfill a primal need. Life is short enough, and being happy is an important aspect of life, wouldn’t you agree?

Here are some fast facts:

• I write short stories.
• I write novellas.
• I write novels.
• I write blogs.
• I play guitar, and I have written a few songs, too.
• I hold Masters and Bachelor Degrees in Communications.
• For nearly 40 years, before retiring, I sold complex enterprise software to some of the world’s largest companies.
• I’ve been married for over 45 years.
• Sadly, I am an average golfer, but, I am working to improve.
• Happily, I am an above average single-malt Scotch enthusiast but I am working to be discriminate.
• Spending time to grill and to cook for my grown children and my six grandchildren is something I enjoy.
• I observe my world (and galaxies far beyond) from my home near Kansas City (specifically Kansas City on the Missouri side), which I share with my wife and my rescued dog.

From where do thoughts originate?

There is no such thing as one state of mind fits all.

• Right brain or left brain?
• Creative or logical?
• Imaginative or analytical?
• Daydreamer or computational?
• Outliner or pantser?

Why not all? To some degree, all terms are applicable as I am a complex dichotomy of thoughts and varied interests. I acknowledge that every subject can require a different degree of focus and attention.

“Write about what you know and feel, and you’ll have a better chance of being believable”

For 40 years, I authored, edited, and published corporate business and marketing content, which allowed me to be successful in all aspects of my professional sales and marketing career. My creative output ranged from writing and crafting product brochures/presentations and white papers, to graphically designing advertising/marketing materials, and the formulation of comprehensive executive board-level briefing materials.

Specifically, this included press releases, annual reports, newsletters, executive speeches, and much more. My business content and output has been distributed worldwide.

Early Business Career

After graduate school, I ventured into full-time broadcasting. In radio, I loved being an on-air personality as an announcer, news broadcaster, and as a reporter/journalist – all in the same workday in smaller markets. There are lots of perks in broadcasting – free concerts, meeting famous artists and newsmakers. Unfortunately, it is exceptionally difficult to make a living or to raise a family in an industry where low wages is the norm, where fickle ratings can cause incredible job stresses, and where changing market demographics can derail career plans without warning or recourse.

Later, I became a Director of Corporate Communications for a publicly traded retail chain headquartered in Kansas City. I learned how to work within the constraints of a financial budget and tight timelines to create a variety of corporate publications, including mandatory regulatory materials (corporate press releases, quarterly financial reports, annual financial reports, proxy statements, and more), employee communications (newsletters, promotional events, sales announcements, and employee training materials), and, for special events (new store openings, corporate office relocation, and fund-raising campaigns (United Way)).

Most importantly, I learned how to advance corporate initiatives and messaging that were important to publicize the company’s goal attainments to corporate stakeholders and business investors.

Later Business Career

In 1984, I jumped at a unique opportunity to ride the first significant wave of personal computer and software technology when I became a member of the first national sales team formed by Apple Computer to introduce the Macintosh 128K – a novel desktop personal computer “appliance” with an integrated single-button mouse. This was before the widespread adoption of the World Wide Web (Internet), which wouldn’t be popularized until the early 1990’s. Mobile technology hardly existed then with smart phones not being popularized until the mid-late 2000’s (Apple iPhone was introduced in 2007).

As my expertise grew and technology evolved, I sold and marketed complex software for enterprise resource planning (ERP) and supply-chain management for industry giants Oracle, Infor, and SAP. I retired from IBM in 2023.

I’ve traveled internationally and the entire United States successfully presenting business proposals and strategies to Fortune 500 companies for large scale multi-national expansion projects.

Technology has been a wild career choice and I have been fortunate to have met and known many of industry titans, like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Bill Campbell, and many more!

Alternative Career Endeavors

Since college, I’ve been a creative writer with a day job.

I’ve taken advantage of long business flights to whip out my laptop and write for a few hours at 30,000 feet. Being that close to space may have influenced my ideas for science fiction adventures as my writing thoughts usually took me far beyond this tiny blue planet.

Over 20 years ago, I became a member of Summit Scribes, a local Kansas City-based writing group, where I have shared my work with author peers for feedback, comments, edits, and reviews. Many in our group have become successful published authors. Collectively they greatly influenced, improved, and inspired my writing efforts. If you can find a local writing group, I highly encourage you to join. You’ll be amazed at what you learn and experience. I’ve made life-long friends, and you will, too.

This web site is a place where I will show some of my work, and I will expand this site as additional stories come along. As always, I welcome constructive reader feedback and comments.

I can write, more or less, full-time, as I am now retired after a long business career.

Jerry