As I begin to write this bio, I find myself faced with a technical dilemma, and a minor case of writer's block.  Should I write this thing in first-person or third?  If I write it in third, will it sound too stiff and impersonal?  If I write it in first, will it come off as overly casual, or like I'm tooting my own horn?

I know from experience that blocks can be stifling on every level—from the technical, to the personal, even to the existential.  At the University of Colorado, where I taught creative writing and earned my MA, I saw students, peers and professors (some of them internationally known!) fall victim to limiting thoughts, beliefs and behaviors that inhibited their writing and other areas of their lives.  The technical and creative blocks associated with writing are one thing; the personal and existential blocks associated with living are another—but they almost always feed and inform each other.

Blocks started to develop in my own life during my years as a freelance travel writer, editor and copywriter.  Halfway through my novel Mosquito, a thriller that takes place on a cross-country adventure tour, the blocks became debilitating.  My interior monologue was unkind, my marriage hit the skids, my creativity bottomed out, and my health began to deteriorate.  Next thing I knew, I couldn't cough up a sentence to save my life.  My writer's block and life blocks were one and the same, and eventually I realized I couldn't fix them in separation.

To get myself functioning again, I tried everything from acupuncture to group therapy to applied kinesiology—but ultimately it was a coaching mindset and support from a lot of talented people that restored me to balance and got me writing again.  Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to coaching other writers and creative types through their own blocks, I've been certified by the Coach Training Alliance and I've launched Write Life Coaching.  Mosquito has hit bookstore shelves, and my next novel, Hunter's Island, is due to be finished sometime in 2009.  I also teach writing and skill-building workshops in Colorado (at Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Colorado Free University and privately)--and hope soon to offer them internationally and over the Internet.

Coaching is an incredibly powerful process for writers, regardless of their level of experience or the type of writing they do.  It can be applied with great success to any challenge a writer might face, inside the text or out.  I work with clients on technique, structuring, brainstorming, problem solving, revision, etc.  I also coach on issues such as procrastination, scheduling, motivation, inspiration, limiting thinking and other challenges that tend to spill over into the larger arena of life.  My mission is to help writers find the inspiration, motivation and tools they need to move dynamically forward, and coaching is the best means I’ve found to that end.

When I'm not coaching or writing, I'm outside skiing, backpacking, or mountain biking with my golden retriever, Mackay--or I'm traveling to pursue one of the aforementioned activities.  Last summer I got my paraglider pilot license (Aerial Paragliding), and lately flying seems to be trumping all other recreation.  Other pastimes include reading and cooking--mostly my own creations but also the occasional foray into Asia--and riding my motorcycle around Boulder, Colorado, where I live with my wife, Cat, and my soon-to-arrive baby boy.  I play a little electric guitar, too, but not even Mackay can stand my licks.

Hey, technical dilemma solved!  Looks like first-person won out in the end.  Even in the opening paragraph, when the question of point-of-view came up, I knew somehow that first-person was the right choice, I just couldn't see it then.  Experience has taught me that the answers we need to overcome the challenges we face are almost always waiting inside us; sometimes to find them we just have to shut up and write.