Typewriter Dreams

445
December 13th, 2017
Back Typewriter Dreams

I love intriguing letters like this one that came from Reno, NV.:

'Dear Geno, my husband and I really enjoy your stories. We plaly games on line and often dine at some of the casinos in Reno where we live. You have written about being a newspaper reporter, magazine writer and gambler, especially poker player. We would like to know how you became a writer and which is more important to you -- writing or gambling Jan. B., Reno, NV.'

Jan and her husband happen to live in one of my favorite cities in the world. The scenery in northern Nevada is spectacular, the people are colorful, and if you get tired of people watching, you can always search for the wild horses that dot the Nevada landscape.

inner_typewriter_dreams"

How did I become a writer?

At a class reunion several years ago, my first grade teacher Miss Tremont told me I wrote an essay on communism for one of her classes. She said she was so impressed she showed it to the other teachers and kept it for years. I offered to buy it from her but she said time took its toll and she no longer had the paper.

When I turned 13, my family moved to the top of Sutersville Hill in Westmoreland County, 19 miles south of Pittsburgh, PA. Just up the road from our house lived a young woman named Olive. She often sat by herself on a porch swing and I began walking by her house and talking to her.

She asked me my future ambition and I told her I wanted to be a writer. I had read a book, 'I Ring Doorbells' by Russell Birdwell, a former newspaper reporter. The life he described as a journalist was so appealing to me that I decided to become a reporter.

'I have a typewriter that you can borrow if you like,' she said. 'I rarely use it. Maybe having a typewriter will help move your career along.'

I couldn't believe her generosity. When I returned home that day, the typewriter went with me and I kept it busy all summer churning out short stories, articles and poetry. I even started a novel that I failed to finish.

One of my school pals, Alvin Kearns, told me about a short story contest that HICALL MAGAZINE, published by the Assemblies of God Church, was holding. All and I decided to enter it and we wrote a 1,500-word short story called 'Greater Than Mohammad.' Two months later a letter arrived containing a check and congratulations from the editor telling us we had won the contest.

It took more than a year before I sold a second story. My high school English teacher encouraged me to write and told me not to let rejection slips discourage me. She said John Steinbeck received hundreds of rejection slips before 'Grapes of Wrath' was accepted for publication. It was made into an award-winning movie starring 'Henry Fonda.'

After two years of studying journalism and pre-law at Pittsburgh's Duquesne University, I moved to Tucumcari, N.M. to work as sports editor of the Tucumcari Daily News. I also began betting on quarter horse races at Ruidoso Downs and Sunland Park. And when I learned about a poker game being held weekly at a ranch near Tucumcari, I wrangled myself an invitation into the game and began playing poker for cash. The other players included cowboys, ranchers, two attorneys, the local police chief and a judge.

To date I have published an estimated 3,000 articles and short stories to 200 magazines and newspapers. I have written three books, two as a ghostwriter, and am currently at work on a novel.

As a poker player, I have won more than a dozen tournaments, including a World Poker Open tournament in Tunica, MS. Yes, they gave me a bracelet.

Jan asked me which is more important to me, writing or gambling. Writing is my life's profession and gambling, especially poker and dice, are my passions. I hope that answers her question. Thanks for writing. And thanks to Olive for lending me her typewriter. It helped make my dreams come true.

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