I was born and raised in California’s Salinas Valley. I was selected as an AFS high school exchange student to South Africa and spent a second year in South Africa attending the University of Natal, Durban. I earned a BA in English from Stanford University where I studied Creative Writing under the tutelage of Wallace Stegner and Nancy Packer.

I did post-graduated work at UCLA's film school and dropped out in 1971 when my comedic screenplay Doc placed first in the Samuel Goldwyn Creative Writing Competition. I then spent two years at Wolper Productions, developing documentaries.

For thirty years I have been a freelance writer, scripting nine movies for television, including Proud Men starring Charlton Heston and Peter Strauss, and Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story. I was a writer on the award-winning animation series, The Kids' Ten Commandments, and wroted the theatrical film adaptation of The Jeweler's Shop from a play by the late Pope John-Paul II.

I have consulted on numerous projects to bring stories from conception to the screen. I have edited and ghostwritten a variety of articles and books, fiction and non-fiction, and have authored three crime novels.