I was born in a small New Jersey town — a suburb of New York City. My parents ran Lustig’s Dress Store, located on the corner of Front Street and Watchung Avenues.
I was sports editor of my high school paper.
After my sophomore year of college, I shipped on a Norwegian tanker, the S.S. Astarte, and served as an engine boy, traveling to South America (we passed through the Panama Canal twice) and then on to England, eventually shipping off in Falmouth. I toured Europe that summer.
After graduating from Rutgers University I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Colombia, South America — in a village called Manaure. While training for the Peace Corps in Mexico, I was exposed to dire poverty for the first time and started to become grateful for what I have. I became fluent in Spanish, got a lot of practice riding horses, and met a lot of interesting people.
I attended the Writers’ Workshop at the University of Iowa, and, after graduating with an M.F.A., stayed on in Iowa City and wrote short stories and novels.
Someone told me I could put together a portfolio and get a job as an advertising copywriter. That’s what I did. I worked at large advertising agencies in New York City for eight years, writing mainly TV commercials for package goods products — Arrid Extra Dry, Halls Mentholyptus, Arm & Hammer Dental Care and many others. I mastered a highly disciplined, marketing-oriented approach to copy.
I taught storyboard and script design for multimedia, radio, video and TV at Collin County Community College (Spring Creek campus) for three years.
