Paul Campbell

Paul D Q Campbell

Biography

Realistically, all writers have a certain amount of vanity, but writing one's biography is, on average, awkward, because none of us want to appear vain. A biography is however something of a necessity. You have come to this page because you want to know more.

There is relatively little interesting or exciting about the actual routine of being a writer. In a nutshell here is my life: I sit in a little room, alone, and I type. That's pretty much it. Below you will find the more standard third-person account of my accomplishments, which sounds a lot more exciting that is really is. However, for those that might be interested in more about me personally, I do have a life, of sorts.

I enjoy my writing, and I strive to write more substantive materials with the passage of years. I don't have a particular affinity for fiction over non-fiction, or non-fiction over fiction. They both have their place and both are equally fun to write. If you have the image that writers are great typists and spell great you are sadly mistaken. A writer's expertise is in rhetoric, in the higher mechanics of language construction, not in the physical mechanics of getting that material on the page. I actually enjoy mentally constructing sentences and paragraphs; far more than actually typing them.

Outside of my writing I enjoy gardening, on a relatively large scale, reading of course, and I read quite a lot, and I enjoy the communications I have with friends and relatives. Recently I became involved in an organization that exchanges postcards (Postcrossing) in a slightly similar fashion to pen-pals. It is a great way to connect with and learn about people from all over the world. So between postcards, and emails, and letters, and the occasional phone or personal conversation, I spend a significant portion of my life doing what I love: communicating.

Above all that though, my first joy is the time I spend with my wife. Doesn't matter what we may be doing. We garden together, watch television and movies, and do a wide variety of other projects, and we love to cook together! She is also my personal editor, my first line of defense between me and the outside world, the one who on most occasions keeps me from looking like an idiot. It is no small task. She is the one who sifts through tens of thousands of words of technical jargon to save me when the page says "on" when it should have said "no" or when it says "if" when it should have been "is." She's also the one tasked when I've written a humor piece with firing something back at my head and the less-than-well-received statement, "Try again. It isn't funny." It's a thankless job, but she does it well.

I don't have any pets currently, but I do have children and grandchildren, which are sort of like pets I suppose. My daughter and son are both avid readers, but the grandchildren are at that age where reading and writing are still painful exercises, and what grandpa does for a living is slightly more mysterious than the origins of the universe. So that's me on the personal level, which only leaves to official version:

Paul D Q Campbell is the author of seven books and hundreds of magazine, newspaper and online articles covering a wide range of topics including engineering, industry, boating, technology, public works, economy and finance, and even humor and fiction. He has published widely in the United States, but has also published works in Europe and Asia. Mr. Campbell holds degrees in Engineering, Arts, and Finance. He has been a regular columnist for several nationally circulated trade journals, and served as Contributing Editor for Concrete Producer Magazine. He has been a member of The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Society of Professional Journalists.

Currently Mr. Campbell is working on a psychological thriller novel.