TELLING STORIES

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

Photo courtesy of Mike Griffin

     Long time buddy, Mike Griffin was on hand and with his camera and captured "action" shots as I addressed the Cambria Newcomers Club.  It has been a while since I appeared to a SRO group, but the crowd was attentive and kind.

Photo courtesy of Mike Griffin

     We covered a long path from being a stringer and copyboy in a Pulitzer winning metropolitan daily, the early days as a cub reporter, being bound and firebombed as an investigative reporter, high light reporting assignments-major votes in congress, the White House, presidential campaigns, inaugurals, Africa, Nicaragua during the Contra War, Israel, 

the Caribbean, being spider bit in the jungles of the Dominican Republic, experiences in Cuba, Turkey, standing on the rim of volcanos, six weeks of following US Army Snipers in training, following the 16 week training program of FBI agents, hours and thousands of miles in the air, plus the days of being a CEO of a television company including a dozen trips to Cannes and the south of France to sell program ideas to world networks. Looking back I am lucky to have had decades of experiences to jam into a short set of remarks.  I'm pleased to note, no one one fell asleep.

Photo Courtesy of Mike Griffin

    We spent a few minutes talking about moving from Fact to Fiction, making the transition from journalism to writing novels. I spoke of the two historical mystery/thrillers  THE SANIBEL ARCANUM  and THE SANIBEL CAYMAN-DISC featuring the exploits of Tim Calvin. 

Photo Courtesy of Mike Griffin

       Afterwards, the club was kind enough to permit us a book signing.  Though I've done a lot of public speaking over the years, this was the first to a "hometown" crowd since our move to the Central Coast.  I've heard a quite a few "Well, I never knew that about you..." comments.  Guess I need to go back to work on my "false modesty eh?"