Defining what makes a writer and what should be shared as such is a challenge. There are many valid reasons for writing beyond what is expected to interact in society. I have many motivations for writing. I will share some here, along with some of the publishing work I have done.

When I was 13 years old, my mother gave each of us kids a notebook and a pencil with an expectation we would start journaling. I have generally stuck with that over the years. Much of what I share in other parts of this website related to my life are reviewed from journal entries.

I have always loved books thanks to parents who instilled that love in me. My father worked for the library in Florida when I was born. I made the newspaper as my father was selected to be the driver of the city’s first bookmobile. The bookmobile and I arrived on the same day. I have joked my twin is a bookmobile. Clearly, I am meant to be attached to books.

Publishing

As I was completing my bachelor’s degree in Community Development at Portland State University, I became acquainted with the publishing program there, founded and led by the legendary Dennis Stovall. The graduate program included working with Ooligan Press. At the time, Ooligan Press and the publishing program were only a few years old and did not have the focus it has today, being more open to getting projects for students to work on with limited resources.

I fell in love with the program and found Dennis to be an amazing mentor. I started the program on a contingency basis even before officially completing my bachelor’s degree. During my time in the program and with Ooligan Press, I had the chance to work in a variety of roles. Below are most of the books I worked with and a bit about them.

This was one of the most magical times of my life. It seemed anything was possible, and it almost was.

While still working with Ooligan Press, I started working on my publishing company. Initially, I started with Sofa Ink. Then I added Gray Sunshine. Later, I founded the Ink & Paper Group with others from Ooligan Press. Here is some of that work.

Ooligan Press Books

Ooligan Press has definitely matured as a press since my days. Back when I started, the press had two rooms, really one room with a half divider. Dennis had the far side with the window and the rest of us were in the front part with a computer station, large bookcases, and limited seating.

Like many early stage endeavors, especially involving students, it was a place of magic and chaos. I loved that environment for the incubation of ideas.

Sofa Ink

Sofa Ink started in my basement. I have a deep love of books, the physical object. I love the feel of a book in my hands, the texture of the paper, the words on pages, the smell. There is a special thrill to curling up on a couch with a blanket, hot cocoa, popcorn, and a book (thus the name Sofa Ink).

At this time, more and more books and media were becoming intense, perhaps vulgar. I personally felt there a reliance on swearing increasingly replaced skill with language and extreme trauma, particularly rape, became a commonplace tool for creating a motivation, weakness, or hook into a character. At the time, I was a working street cop and I recall working a couple of sexual assault cases, one that shift, before going to a writing critique class where a couple of the short stories we read involved the main female characters being sexually assaulted. I felt emotion pain listening to the stories. I also felt others in the class accepted it as almost normal. I recognize sexual abuse is far more common than we admit, however, it is also absolutely horrific and should be held that way in our writing. I’m not suggesting it’s not a topic to include, I just feel it should be handled carefully and not used as a simple plot device.

Between that idea and an acute awareness of violence from the military and law enforcement, I decided to start an imprint that would focus on stories and other content that avoided swearing, taking the name of a deity in vain, gratuitous violence, and explicit sex. I would like to say this is because I’m a goody-two shoes prude, but that would be dishonest. I aspire to be much more than I am, but I have had my own potty mouth in the past and plenty of other flaws. Still, I believe with language it is possible, and desireable, to create great stories using the power of language combined with the power of our imaginations that do not drag our minds or spirits into the mud.

Gray Sunshine

My undergraduate degree is in community development. This exceptional degree from Portland State University’s highly rated urban studies department had two primary foci: NGO management and urban planning. Being Portland, NGO management was strongly oriented towards social justice ideals. In addition, as a police officer and from my experiences in other countries as a missionary and soldier, I have had exposure to injustice that many people do not have and plenty of opinions. I created the Gray Sunshine imprint to help address those social justice ideas.

It’s important to note my idea with this imprint is oriented around giving information and seeking the best possible solutions. Everything has a cost. In today’s highly divisive world, it seems to me many positions suggest their side has no cost while the other side is absolute evil. That doesn’t match my experience or thought. I think the world is more nuanced and requires deeper consideration of issues. I support publication of content that gives challenging, honest, perceptive information while acknowledging gaps and biases to help people make better decisions. Any truth of value should be able to face scrutiny.

Gray Sunshine comes from my love of rain. The Pacific Northwest is, for me, the perfect environment. And I love the rain there. Gray days of mist and light rain brighten my heart.

Ink & Paper Group

As things were progressing with my little publishing endeavor, I met with some fellow graduate students in the publishing program about starting our own larger business. Ink & Paper Group, LLC was the result. When a dream becomes reality it is a magical moment. Ink & Paper Group was that for me. The four others who joined me were exceptional in publishing skills, work ethic, and vision. In the end, I departed and they stayed together a time longer, not because I didn’t love the company or them. The loss of that relationship with them and the eventual closure of the company still stings. Yet, for that time, it is hard to describe it to you in a way you will believe I’m not making it up.

We rented a converted old home in Portland. It was old enough it had plaster walls to photos were hung on cords from hooks. Out back, the enclosed garden space included a wide porch and a fountain. The architecture itself lent power to our creative efforts. Many classes and launch events were held there.

Ink & Paper Group did not focus on publishing under that specifically, instead, we had my two imprints (Sofa Ink and Gray Sunshine) while adding three others: Dame Rocket Press, .

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National Novel Writing Month – NaNoWriMo

In 2002, I read an article in the local newspaper about National Novel Writing Month. The idea was to write a novella (50,000 words) in the 30 days of the month of November. In those early days, the rules were to write from scratch. You could plan all you wanted in advance, but you could not write anything of the actual story in advance.

I read the article on the 7th of November and decided to go for it. I successfully completed the challenge that year with Thunder of the Deaf. I was completely hooked. I loved the chaos, the pressure, the freedom to write as crazy as I wanted, the online forums, the word count checker, all of it. In later years, I served as a local organizer and I often helped in the forums in the early years before the organization went a path different from what I started with.

I did not always succeed, but I only completely skipped NaNoWriMo twice. Every other year, I at least started and tried to figure out something. I ended up succeeding about half of the time, which I’m happy with. I was very sad to find in 2024 NaNoWriMo closed down.

Before you go further, the key to success in NaNoWriMo is a willingness to write crap. The books are nothing more than vanity books I published for myself to remember what I did. Every book has a warning to potential readers. They are not meant to be read by others. They have plot holes, continuity errors, major editing problems, and every other issue you can have with a book. However, each one represents a time of real joy and satisfaction in my life, including the covers and typesetting. I think adding them here gives some insight into me and what makes me tick.