GET TO KNOW ME

Thanks for visiting my site. I'm John.  That's me, above.  Hi!  

So, to meet your expectations upon visiting an "ABOUT ME" page I will share a little about myself.  I don't want to tell you too much in case you are only here to steal my identity.  It's a fine line I need to walk here. 

I was born in Western Pennsylvania. (Too vague?  Okay, Sharpsville. That's a real town.  Not to be confused with Sharpsburg, PA which is south of Pittsburgh.  Sharpsville is north of Pittsburgh.)  I was the fourth of five children in the family.  (A middle child . . . make all the assumptions you want.  I should add that my younger brother was born only 15 months after me. Psycholanalize away!)  I'm a Scorpio. (I am not into astrology, but whenever I mention I am a Scorpio to people who are, they typically react with the same concerned expression as those in the wizarding world of Harry Potter upon hearing the name Voldemort.)  

I was raised Catholic.

I am a graduate of Grove City College.

My first job out of college was as a claims examiner at Prudential's AARP Medicare supplement operation near Philadelphia.  I lasted four years, though I am not sure how.  I think they were glad to see me go.  I think that because on my last day, my manager said, "we are glad to see you go."

I went to work for Montgomery Newspapers, a group of community weeklies in the Philly suburbs.  I started out selling advertising to local businesses and kept moving up until I was the  Advertising Director.  Everyone who had been ahead of me in line for the position had either died or disappeared mysteriously.  

After 11 years there, I left for Lancaster Newspapers (now LNP | LancasterOnline) to be their Retail Advertising Manager.  By my 10th year with LNP, I was the VP of Sales & Marketing.  Again, the more qualified people ahead of me, and even outside candidates, met untimely, unexplained ends. About 8 years later, LNP made me disappear.  I was out on my ass and unemployed for the first time since college.

I was fortunate that my lack of gainful employment lasted only a month.  I was hired by the Chestnut Hill Local, a weekly newspaper in Northwest Philadelphia, to be their publisher. The previous publisher . . . yep . . . had just disappeared without so much as a note of explanation. 

In October of 2023, after five years with the Local, I left for a position at the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association.  This time the person I replaced did not curiously disappear or slip these surly bonds shrouded in mystery. No. This time there was a typed letter expressing his reasons for his sudden and immediate move to the Arctic to live among the Inuit people. It was a bucket list thing, as I understand. 

At the end of 2021, in the throes of the pandemic, I finished my first novel and then I thought, "wouldn't it be fun to try to write one!?"   Actually, I had started writing "Another Christmas Carol" a couple of years earlier.  

I am married.  I have 4 children.  We have a dog.  We live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

I hope  you will be a regular visitor to this site and that you'll look for my book.