Fresh out of high school, my first professional job was in EMS. I started as an EMT and eventually became a Paramedic. When I began my EMS career in the mid-1990s, we weren't very good at dealing with stress. Initially, we were taught to 'suck it up,' so most of us pushed our feelings down or eventually broke under the pressure. We found unhealthy ways to cope, and that was considered the norm. It wasn't until the early 2000s that we began to recognize that our methods of coping with stress were detrimental.

Early Crisis Stress Debriefing classes were helpful, but I was one of those who helped others through stress as a debriefer, and I didn’t have anyone to turn to for support. So, I started writing when I was feeling stressed. This became a way for me to vent my anger and deal with the emotions I was suppressing. I would sit down and write for 30 minutes to an hour each day. This experience motivated me to pursue my college education and earn my degree in communications. Some of my creative writing classes were enjoyable, while others were less so, but I persisted in writing.

When I became involved in Freemasonry, I continued writing short talks for lodges to help with education. Sometimes, I would choose a topic that interested me, do research, and write about it. Initially, I never thought I would publish any of these works.

A few years ago, I began reaching out to various publishers to explore the possibility of getting published, but the application process proved daunting. I eventually gave up on that idea until I heard some brethren discussing their own publishing experiences. This encouraged me to muster the courage to pursue publishing again. That's when I discovered self-publishing on Amazon and decided to take the plunge.

I'm not particularly artistic, so I was fortunate to find that platforms like ChatGPT offer a good image generator that met my needs. Now, I have books available. Most of these contain writings that I’ve had for years or topics I decided to update and refresh. I hope these works are enjoyable and educational for all who read them. Thank you for your support!