Portfolio

On this page you will find examples of my writing, primarily the books and articles I have written over the last few years. If you would like to see a more eclectic sampling just contact me and I can bore you with everything from poems to community profiles.

Books

Fire from the Sky: A Diary over Japan

Fire from the Sky won silver medal for best military memoir of 2005 awarded by the Military Writer’s Society of America (http://www.militarywriters.com/). It is the story of a radio operator, S/Sgt Herbert L Greer, who flew twenty-eight missions over Japan. Fire from the Sky is written with an immediacy that can only be captured by those who were there. It tells the compelling story of America’s brave B-29 aircrews and captures for posterity the details of their bravery and the dignity of their sacrifice. I was honored to have been able to work with Herbert Greer and his son Ron on this book, and to have had the opportunity of bringing Herb's story to life through his wartime diary, kept when he was just a young man of nineteen, and the many hours I had the pleasure interviewing him in his home in Arkansas a few years before he died.

The Promise Fulfilled

I wrote this book for one of the most eccentric people I have ever met. An American from Ohio, living in Budapest, Professor Bill Nelson aka Desireé Dubounet is, depending on who you talk to, either a genius or a fraud. I spent a week with Bill, and at times Desireé in Budapest interviewing them, and the book turned out to be part fiction, part fact – a little like my client and his alter ego. As such it is an odd book, providing a fascinating insight into a somewhat dubious form of new age medicine, interviews with patients and practitioners and a look at a man many think is a sham. Like to know about Bill or Desireé? Search for either name on YouTube and you will find plenty of video clips.

Professional Corporations

Written with financial adviser Tim Paziuk, Professional Corporations: The Secret to Success explains in simple terms why every professional should probably incorporate and how they can use a professional corporation to keep more of every dollar they make. This book was a challenge in taking masses of 'financial-talk' and turning it into something easy to read and understand for the lay-person.

I'm currently working on a new and completely revised edition of Professional Corporations and also Tim's new book The Financial Navigator due for publication early 2011.

Articles

I have written articles for many magazines on a wide range of subjects, but the two that are closest to my heart are Douglas Magazine, an exceptionally professional business magazine published on the west coast of Canada and WestShore magazine, which was responsible for changing the public’s perception of a whole region.

Douglas Magazine

I have been writing my sales and marketing column for over two years now and enjoy the challenge of coming up with new angles and approaches to this age-old subject for every edition. I also contribute feature articles on a variety of subjects. Click on the links below for samples of my contributions to Douglas magazine.

WestShore Magazine

Download the entire WestShore magazine here.

The WestShore is a region encompassing five municipalities to the west of Victoria, B.C. Canada. In the past this area was thought to be the land of derelict cars in driveways and rusting refrigerators on front lawns; however in recent years the region has undergone a complete makeover and is now a jewel in Greater Victoria’s crown. I conceived the idea of publishing WestShore magazine as a way to change the perceptions of people that had not visited the area recently. My articles for WestShore have been fun to write and well received. Take a look at some of them by clicking the links below.

Promotional Copywriting

From time to time, I really enjoy writing advertorials and promotional pieces, although I really have to believe in what I’m writing about. This type of writing gives me an opportunity to meet people who are totally committed to what they are selling; it's their enthusiasm which helps me to come up with copy that is both honest and resonates powerfully with potential buyers.

Click on the links below and see a few of my favorite promo pieces.

Testimonials

History is so often a cold recounting of facts and figures on a national or international scale. ‘Fire From The Sky’ brings history to life at the personal level. This is a great read! ‘A Diary Over Japan’ is an enlightening revelation of a young man-boy’s experience documented in his personal diary.

Nels Running
Major General, USAF (Ret).

I salute you for your contribution to Pacific WWII history. I was a member of that B-29 team and you’ve rewound history… (Fire From The Sky is an outstanding work that gives you the true heartbeat of that unprecedented time in our history … Nothing beats that diary venue. You are there. It’s fresh and not covered or exaggerated by the pruning knife of time.

Jim B Smith
(B-29 Radio operator of the Boomerang and author of the Last Mission).

I picked up "Fire From The Sky" and was just going to look take a casual stroll through the first few pages to see what it was about--but I got hooked on the reading of the air battles over Japan and of the men who flew these missions. The authors make great use of Herbert Greer's personal diary that he kept during those dangerous and historic flights. You get some wonderful insights and not just facts and data about what happened. You read about the fears and feelings of the real men and what it was like to be a member of a B-29 Bomber crew.

The diary they use to set up the storyline of the book deals with more than just the 28 air combat missions that Greer flew over Japan as a radio operator. We get a little glimpse about his early life before his service; as a youth on the farm and to being involved with the construction of the Grand Coulee Dam. However, it is the riveting stories of those fire-bombing missions of Japan's largest cities that becomes spell binding.

The authors make great use of the actual diary entries along with comments and thoughts from the now much older Greer to make you feel like you are a part of the flight crew. The reader will begin to feel and almost experience their emotions, as the stories of their missions unfold. These men took great risks and put their own personal lives on the line for their country; this book captures this piece of history, preserving it for future generations. Even though these men were all heroes; they were not supermen of any kind but regular flesh and blood men who did some very astonishing things in their young lives. They really did help to end the war with Japan.

This is a book you will not be able to put down until you are done. It is a well told memoir of the men whose missions will live forever in history! Meeting them in this book is a cherished privilege for the reader. It was my honor to have read the book; it felt almost sacred to be allowed to look inside a crew member's personal diary--truly a treasured artifact of historic and sentimental value. This is a book worth reading several times. Great black and white photos as well. I fully recommend buying and reading this wonderful book about aviation and the men who crewed B-29s.

2005 Silver Medal Award for Best Military Memoir!

W. H. McDonald Jr

The American Author Association