More Jim’s History

Jim has been writing most of his life in one form or another. In his teens, he began a neighborhood newspaper. With the lack of adequate technology, though, that didn’t last very long. He tried to write novels and short stories. Admittedly, they weren’t very good (actually rather poor, looking back on it), but it showed his passion for writing.

After a disagreement with his father about what career path to follow, he left home and began working his way through college.  It wasn’t easy. Going to school and working was a difficult path.  There were times he couldn’t afford the rent for a simple room, so he lived out of his old car for several months at one point.  He thought about giving up a few times but was determined to succeed at getting a degree.

Once when he paused his schooling to work as a technician and save some money to go back, the federal government interrupted his plans.  It seemed they had a war going on in Vietnam, and they wanted him.  After passing his draft physical, he considered his options.  He found a Navy Reserve program which would allow those without a degree to become a Navy pilot.  Having a strong interest in aviation and space, he joined for that.  The next year, though, the Navy changed the program requirements.  You could then only become a pilot if you had a college degree.  He served his active duty time and returned to school afterward.

Grateful for the GI Bill and finding a part-time job, he finally obtained his bachelor’s degree from Cal State University, Los Angeles.  While doing so, he began to consider graduate school.  He applied to several Ph.D. programs, received offers of fellowships at two schools, chose the University of Houston, and got his Ph.D.

He taught for three years at Texas A&M university.  Then he obtained a NASA contractor position at the Johnson Space Center to supervise a new laboratory.  After a few years there, he found a different contractor position as a support engineer in NASA”s Astronaut Office where he was able to work directly with the astronauts and helped develop parts of the International Space Station.  His ability to recognize problems, innovate, and find solutions earned him two of NASA’s highest awards as well as other commendations.

In these two NASA positions he wrote a variety of items, including technical and research reports, requirements documents, white papers, manuals, procedures, and presentations.  Independently, he wrote and had accepted for publication a technical reference book, The Dictionary for Human Factors/Ergonomics.  This was the first major book of its type in the field.

While working full-time at NASA, Jim briefly led yet another life.  He developed and ran a successful campaign for a City Council position and was re-elected twice before deciding not to run again. He learned something about politics while there.

After leaving NASA, he turned his sights back to his first love: Writing.

To further enhance his marketing skills, he took several professional development courses from the American Writers and Artists (AWAI). He’s had copywriting training from some of the most successful copywriters in the US.

To improve his screenwriting ability, he took seminars from well-known Hollywood writers and consultants.  In this world, he wrote several scripts – one feature film, three TV pilots, and other shorts.  His feature made it to the quarter finals of one contest, but he hasn’t managed to break in to that difficult market yet.

In the prose world, he has completed novels and other shorter works. He had contracts with a publisher for two of those novels – one a scifi-romance, the other a young adult (YA) . Unfortunately, the publisher didn’t survive Covid impacts.  He’s looking for other publishers.

Clavis, the European publisher of his inspiring children’s picture book titled Sara and the Lonely Horse, printed it in the spring of 2023 – initially in Dutch. The English edition will be published in spring, 2024.

 

Back to Who or What is he

Home

To Jim’s older site