In the past, my creative writing skills were limited to composing and directing children's plays for church and later on to writing fairy tale spoofs for friends.  I really enjoyed writing the spoofs and could write them relatively quickly.

Since my retirement, I have begun writing a number of books and articles, both fiction and nonfiction, but so far I have only stuck with one fiction book that I'm writing for my sister who is paraplegic.  I recently read parts of the book to her and she loved it.  I think the fact that I put myself in ridiculous situations and also used family members, whose names were changed to protect the innocent characters, made it so appealing to her.  My sister had had severe rheumatoid arthritis for a long time and I used to drive her to a larger city for infusions.  Along the way, we would talk about traveling and things that I should write about when I retired.  After the horrible traffic accident that left her severely paraplegic almost five years ago, we abandoned all hopes of ever traveling and I began to write a book based loosely on what we talked about.  The book now seems to have grown a mind of its own and threatens to consume me, but I must complete it somehow.  Wish me luck!

I also have a blog in which I critique books I've read.  I abandoned it a few years ago but hope to revive it soon.