I’ve been a writer since I was old enough to hold a pencil, and I learned to write and edit professionally more than two decades ago.

My wonderful mentors spent years teaching me the craft, what acquisition editors are looking for, what triggers the dreaded rejection slip, and how to hold a reader’s attention without giving them the slightest excuse to abandon a story.

For more than twenty years now, I’ve been writing and editing full time as a novelist, journalist, and book editor in the media, traditional publishing, hybrid publishing, and various communications shops. So far I’ve written ten books. My first, The Road to Fatima Gate, won the Washington Institute Book Prize, my novel Resurrection has been optioned for film, and I share what I’ve learned over the years with my fellow writers in my most recent book, Write, Edit, Publish: What Every Writer Needs to Know but Only an Editor Will Tell You.

My articles have appeared in The Atlantic, The New Republic, and numerous other publications, and my book reviews have appeared in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere.

I live in Oregon in a restored historic home with my wife and two cats. Even though I’m immersed in books when I’m working, I still like to read in my spare time, even when I’m at the beach or in the mountains. If there’s nothing else around, I’ll read a cereal box (and edit it in my head).