I was born in Glasgow on December 22, 1951, but started travelling with my folks almost immediately. In fact, according to my calculations, I stayed in no less than 30 places before the age of fifty. Maybe that's what fired my imagination to write, I don't know, but, for as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a writer.
          I left school in Edinburgh in 1969 and spent the next 10 years in the Merchant Navy as a ship's navigating officer. This was one, big, long world-wide adventure. I worked on oil tankers, ore carriers, gas tankers, oil-rig supply boats in the North Sea, a fishing boat out of Lewis and tugs on the River Clyde. My claim to fame at sea was that I managed to be directly involved in two collisions at sea (not my fault!), where one of the proud vessels actually sank. This proved to be an almost inerasable blot on my record for ever more.
          However, I managed to get work with an international charity where my travels abroad continued. I demonstrated against the Berlin wall a year or so before it was torn down and spent some time working in Eastern Europe in Communist countries.
          I somehow found the time to do an Honours degree in Geology and Chemistry, half a Master's in Theology and Philosophy, and a Master's in Information Technology, after which I set up my own business in Web Site Design and Internet Marketing - nobody else would employ me.
          In the autumn of 2002, I decided that enough was enough and now was the time to get down to fulfilling my childhood dream. I started writing a novel, which became Whispers of Ghosts - now available at www.bewrite.net and also from Amazon.. - click on link to go directly to the right page at Amazon. Since then, I have written four novels, more than thirty short stories, and some sixty poems.

In January of 2005, I started a two year course leading to a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing at Fairleigh-Dickinson University in New Jersey, USA. In The summer of that year, I travelled to Arizona to receive an award for a short story, A Rose for Sally, from the Arizona Literary Society. You can read more about my travels here, in articles and news.

I recall reading somewhere that somebody - I think it was Hemmingway - had said the hardest part about writing is 'lifting the elephant off the typewriter' and I can certainly relate to that. But the thing that surprised me most, when I started, was that I actually really enjoyed the process of writing, whether novels, short stories or poetry. After all the years of wandering and searching, that was where I finally found myself. I felt as if I had come home.