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| About the Author |
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KIDS/PARENTS seeking reading adventures -- Click here. |
  WHY
DO I WRITE?I started writing textbooks on developmental reading and writing at a time when there were not many books for high school and college students who had difficulty with those skills. It saddened me to learn some students had reached college never having read anything but textbooks. I wrote exercises for use in my classes and by the end of a course, I'd have enough material for a book. Now I write stories for younger readers hoping they will learn to enjoy reading at an early age and never have to read my college textbooks. For me, writing stories is magical, but unlike a magician who knows how his tricks are going to turn out, I'm never sure what tricks a story is going to play on me. Once I get started on a story idea, it seems to take over. I'm constantly amazed at what comes out on the page. It's as though these made-up people are actually in my head, and all I'm doing is recording what happens into my computer. The story seems to write itself. When I stop and read what's on the screen, I often have no idea where any of it came from. Well, that's not entirely true. Then comes the hard part -- revising and rewriting. That's the point where writing becomes challenging. Sometimes I hate what I've written, so I put it aside and hope that maybe some day down the line I'll be able to work with it. Sometimes I love the story so much I immediately want to send it off to some publication or other. I've learned not to do that. There is always something to work on to make it better -- sometimes even after the book has come out.  SOME
BORING FACTS AND STUFFI'm an Emeritus Professor of English, Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, California, where I taught for twenty-three years. Before that I taught for seven years at South High School, Torrance, California. Before that I spent three years, five months, and five days in the navy. I earned degrees from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, and California State University, Long Beach. During my thirty-year teaching career, I published twenty-two college textbooks, primarily in the areas of developmental reading, writing and study skills. I've published several adult short stories, several of which appear in my short story collection, Teacher, Teacher, I Declare! I'm a past-president of the College Reading and Learning Association, a member of the Author's Guild, the International Reading Association, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, The Association of Booksellers for Children, and the Rockford Writers Guild. I live in Santa Barbara, California, with my wife, Jane Brody, daughter Kate, and black lab, Zena. If you have any questions or comments about any Rairarubia Books, please send your email to raira@cox.net or send a fax to 805-966-4697. Both Kate and I would like to hear from you. |
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Awards Received.
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