In September, 1989, I took Creative Writing I at the College of San Mateo because I thought it might be fun. If anybody had told me that six years later I would have had 4 plays published by Samuel French, I would have thought they were nuts. But they wouldn't have been. Writing plays has completely changed my life.

On the first day of class, our teacher described our final project for the quarter as either three chapters of a novel or thirty pages of pose and poetry. After class I asked him if I could try writing a one-act play instead. His reply was, "Sure, but I don't know anything about writing a play, so you'll basically be on your own. The outcome was my first one-act, "Terminal Terror." The week after I finished writing it, I saw an article in the San Francisco Chronicle about a producer/director. She sounded like a nice person, so I sent her a copy of "Terminal Terror." Six months later, the play premiered in San Francisco as a part of an evening of one-acts. I was thrilled - and hooked! I knew I had to keep writing. Seeing a production of a play I had written was like seeing my baby being born.

A few years after this production, I wrote two other one-acts, "On Hold at 30,000 Feet" and "Identity Crisis" and sent them to Samuel French. In 1996, the three were published as a set called, If God Wanted Us to Fly He Would Have Given Us Wings! These have been produced numerous times around the country, both separately and together.

My first play Samuel French published was, Psycho Night at the Paradise Lounge. This went to print in 1994, the same year of its first production. "Psycho Night" has been produced several times, and in 1997 was translated into Dutch and published in Holland.

I have just finished revising "Psycho Night" with a "fill in the blanks" version. This will soon be published also, and will be advertised as, "the play that can be customized to your theatre."

One thing I love about writing is that you have complete freedom to write about whatever you want. The imagination has no limits. You have your own personal "Twilight Zone."

I love to encourage others to write, and especially not to be discouraged by rejections or setbacks. There are countless theatres in the world, and a market for any style or subject.

I have two other plays, which are being read by Samuel French right now and hopefully will be published by the end of this year. They are "A Slice of the Blarney," which is going to be produced by an Equity company in Burbank later this year, and "The Welcome Wagon," which is most likely going to premiere in Cincinnati, Ohio during the next season.

My advice to other writers is something I'm sure you've all heard a million times - keep writing!...*END

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