Background

I've been a writer for most of my life. I started selling fiction in the mid-1980s, placing dozens of sci-fi, horror and fantasy yarns with literary and professional magazines here and abroad. I penned a good deal of non-fiction as well, and worked as a columnist for several desktop publications. Some of the best work I produced during this period was reprinted in small press and commercial anthologies late in the decade.

I segued into fulltime freelancing in 1995 after spending nearly 25 years working as a inside sales executive. The two and a half decades I spent peddling on the phone turned out to be surprisingly useful in my new career. Sales taught me the value of prospecting for new assignments and schooled me in the art of cold-calling for interviews, both of which should be but rarely are standard practice in a career of freelance business writing.