Robert loves writing. He even enjoyed writing research papers in college. Now he does some freelance work in addition to his job as a librarian. Robert began writing about age 11 when he tried to write a mystery in the vein of the Hardy Boys Mysteries.
He would have become a full-time freelancer shortly after college, if he had been aware of a freelance existence. Robert enthusiastically sent an article and photographs to his favorite magazine without knowing anything about queries, or if the magazine accepted articles over-the-transom (or, what "over-the-transom" meant). The nice magazine sent the article and photos back with a courteous rejection letter. A few years later he spied The Writers Market in his library and began scheming about getting paid for writing.
Robert was born in Wichita, Kansas in the mid 1960s. He lived in Tulsa, OK, St. Louis, MO, Atlanta, GA, Duluth, MN, and Chicago, IL, before kindergarten. His folks finally settled down and moved back to Tulsa for his elementary school years, and then Independence, KS, for junior and high schools. After graduation, Robert drove trucks and diesel Blazers for the U.S. Army in Germany.
The Army was nice enough to pay for Robert to attend Emporia State University (ESU), in Emporia, KS, where he met the perfect woman. He married her (which still amazes him) and they now have 4 boys. At ESU Robert got his Bachelor of Science in Education (BSE) for middle and high school Social Sciences, 1993, and then a Masters in Library Science (MLS), 1997.
After getting his Masters, Robert was a librarian at Hannibal-LaGrange College in Hannibal, MO. He loved his job and if he could have moved the college closer to Kansas and his extended family he might have stayed there. Eventually a library job at Pittsburg State University, Pittsburg, KS, opened up and Robert loves this job as well.