Me, The Writer...

Me, the Writer
I’ve traveled many unexpected roads as an artist and musician. The same has been abundantly true for me as a writer.
In high school I enjoyed writing as much as I enjoyed music, and with the help of teachers here and there I began to believe in my competence as a writer. As a college undergraduate I studied music formally and earned a degree in music with a performance emphasis, but continued to read and read in subjects far beyond the realm of music.
Occasionally I found opportunities other than in the classroom to express myself in words. By the time I was a sophomore in college, I had declared a minor in English and American literature while continuing to study the flute as a performance major. For this decision to study writing more formally, I had my music scholarships taken away from me – the first time I realized I could actually be punished for refusing to be a specialist in a world dominated by specialists.
So strong was my desire to read extensively and increase my competence as a writer, that instead of entering graduate school as a music major I became a graduate teaching fellow and earned a Master of Arts degree in English literature while continuing private, graduate-level instruction on the flute at the same university.
Since graduate school I’ve taught creative writing in three colleges. I’ve written tens of thousands of words in many different genres, demonstrating that I cannot be pinned down as a writer any more than I can be compartmentalized as an artist or musician. I’ve published magazine articles and poetry, reviewed plays, concerts and art exhibits for the Portsmouth Herald in New Hampshire, written and published essays, and written, produced and directed eight musical comedies and the more than 60 songs that went with them. I’ve also written columns for local newspapers, business proposals for creative people, thousands of press releases, and Arts-related documents too numerous and too varied to describe here. For me, writing in one genre or another – meeting all challenges as a writer as they present themselves – has been the happiest of compulsions.