Unlike my last site, I’m going to eschew the third-person style here (Mark Cantrell is a...etc.), for a couple of reasons. First, I’m the one writing this, and it seems a bit disingenuous to refer to myself that way. Second, I have no staff with the exception of two cats, and neither of them are helpful to my writing in any appreciable way. In fact, it’s often just the opposite.

So since this is strictly a one-person operation, I’ll just tell you that writing is the best job I’ve ever had, period. Before joining the ranks of ink-stained wretches, I toiled at a Florida hospital for 25 years in positions from switchboard operator to IT manager, and when that facility went bankrupt, I worked at an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center for a year. That job was the most stressful and emotionally exhausting experience of my life, but it did make me much more appreciative of what was to come.

When I got married in 1999 and moved to North Carolina, my new wife Maryanne suggested I should try my hand at freelancing as it was something I had always talked about doing. My writer pal Don Vaughan (www.donaldvaughan.net) said he’d help me get started, and with the horrible previous job experience still fresh in my mind, I agreed. It was like jumping off a cliff.

Still, before long I had my first few assignments, and then a few more. I sent a proposal for a book on the weather to Adams Media, and to my great surprise, it was accepted. Since then I’ve co-written two more books with Don Vaughan, and more magazine articles than I can count. And I’ve enjoyed every moment.

The best part of the job is learning so much about so many different subjects, then being able to impart that knowledge to others. In school, I thought learning was a chore.. Now I know it’s one of the great joys of life.