Who am I?

I was born in Santa Monica, CA. As a child of seven, I went to work in the movie industry as a stand-in for Robert Blake in the Thin Man series, starring William Powell and Myrna Loy. My one on-screen appearance was in an adaptation of Ring Lardner’s Butch Minds the Baby (1942) with Virginia Bruce and Broderick Crawford (look fast and you’ll see a cute little Italian kid amid a bunch of other cute little Italian kids). 

I'm the little kid to the far right (closest).

At the age of 10, I changed careers and went into sales, hawking soft drinks and peanuts on Santa Monica Beach. By high school, I had advanced to washing dishes in a Pacific Palisades malt shop. With all that stellar life-experience behind me, I entered the Roman Catholic priesthood, in which I served for 18 years.

 
This life and career change triggered my professional writing life. My first three nonfiction books sold immediately to Winston Press, Minneapolis, MN. Convinced that getting published was easy, I undertook writing my first novel, A Love Forbidden. After eight years, the book was finally published in Canada. 

In 2020, I published my ninth novel, Bishop Myriel: In His Own Words. 

In between my first novel and this most recent book, I have written free-lance features for the Contra Costa Times and Total Health Magazine. 

I've also been a writer-for-hire in the mail-order/online education industry (Ashworth College, Norcross, GA), and reviewed books for US Catholic Magazine (print and online). I have written screenplay adaptations of my novels, The Saint of Florenville and There’s More.

I've  served two 2-year terms as president of the Mt. Diablo Branch of the California Writers Club and currently serve on its board of directors.