About
My Vision as a Writer
The essence of writing is to tell a compelling story. That takes entering the mindset of the intended audience. What will engage the reader? Make him or her read to the end? Remember what you’ve written? Learn something new? Develop empathy for the topic at hand?
I have always strived to put this approach into my work, starting with my college career in Kansas, where I sent myself through school by writing and editing news, in later writing positions with the renowned University of Kansas Bureau of Child Research, as city editor of a daily paper in Missouri, as a reporter with the Associated Press and now, as a busy, Northern Michigan-based freelance writer.
Education
B.A. English and Journalism, Zwischenprufung Universitat Goettingen (Political Science), M.L.S. (Academic Libraries) and M.S. (Social Studies/Am. History)
Topics I’ve Tackled
ADHD treatment, overcrowding in state prisons, autism, poverty in Appalachia, forest fires, self-help skills for mentally handicapped children, NY Times bestselling fiction and non-fiction writers, music, the world’s first 3D-printed electric car, food trucks, volunteers who make it possible for physically handicapped children to ski, Michigan football, lobbyists, car dealers, real estate, the “snowbird” lifestyle, tugboats on the Missouri River, farming, rail-to-trail projects, academic exchange at German universities, testosterone, vineyards, the tiny house movement, WWII prisoner of war camps in the U.S., the Great Flu Epidemic of 1918, Oak Ridge National Lab’s advanced materials and biofuels research.
Special Skills
I have helped governors, farmers, U.S. senators, psychologists, writers, prisoners, truck drivers, chefs, realtors and academicians publicly tell their stories in plain English. I let my subjects’ knowledge and passion inform my writing. My goal is to serve as a conduit and organizer of information, with the end goal being to create an understandable and interesting narrative.
Life Outside of Writing
I’m a professional musician with (poorly-paid) experience in Europe and the U.S. I’m also a kayaker, biker, German-speaker, amateur photographer and traveler. I am married to Cathy Dodge Miller, assistant vice-president for advancement at Interlochen Academy for the Arts. We have two grown children, Cecilia (a cellist and Music Therapist) and Max (a computer programmer and cyber-security expert at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee).
