I was born in Oakland, California, and grew up in nearby Newark. When I was five years old, I began making my own books by tracing pictures and inventing stories to go with them. My first publication came three years later: an essay about baseball that appeared in the Oakland Tribune when I was eight.

I started my technical writing and editing career at Atari, where I wrote game manuals. That experience taught me how to explain anything to anyone—quickly and clearly. Since then, I've written short stories for young readers, poetry, magazine articles, music reviews, technical documentation, and more. I'm currently working toward publishing several novels, and I especially love writing for kids. My fiction is represented by Tsunami Literary Ink.

Today, I work at Adobe, where I manage an international team of technical writers. I'm also on the staff of the Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers Conference, where I enjoy helping aspiring authors develop their craft.

I've lived in Austria and Germany and now make my home in Utah with my wonderful wife, two daughters, four sons, four grandchildren, and five cats, including one who is almost completely blind. When I'm not writing, or picking cat hair off my clothes, you'll often find me playing and writing songs on one of my many guitars or ukuleles.