Born and raised in Regina, I made my way to Ottawa, fresh out of university in the mid ‘90s to join the Government of Canada as a Foreign Service Officer, and had the opportunity to live in Caracas, Venezuela for several years. The Embassy burnt down right before I arrived and my job included meeting the challenges of everything from imprisoned cocaine smugglers to the tangled web of bureaucracy, to tourists stranded by catastrophic mudslides. It was truly a trial by fire (and water). I quickly realized that administration was not for me, despite the lure of retirement after 25 years with a decent pension. Seeking something vastly more creative, I moved back to Canada and made a false start at a Master of Architecture, somehow thinking the 80-100 hour weeks would be manageable with an infant. A glutton for punishment, I eventually did return to complete what I had begun and became a licensed Architect, first in Alberta, then in British Columbia. Ironically, once that goal was checked off, I realized I was much happier putting pen to paper than doing anything else. What can I say, but that it took a long time to believe in the writer that I knew I was at the age of twelve.Read more about this authorRead less about this author