A BRIEF HISTORY
I used to tell people that I was a recovered academic. That was a shorthanded way of saying I spent too many years in graduate school, first getting an M.A. in history from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, followed by a Ph.D. in history from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.
Part of that “recovery” was discovering how much I love to write and throwing myself into that passion. I also moved to the West Coast and settled in Laguna Beach, California, with my family (we even got a dog) and set about finding others who shared my interest in writing. After taking some classes at the local Community Center, I was surrounded by a group of people with whom I wanted to continue a relationship. That meeting led to the creation of Third Street Writers. I am proud to be a founding member of this group, former Vice President, and current Board member. As a non-profit, we host weekly writing workshops, guest instructors, open mic, and other reading events as part of our mission to support the literary arts in Laguna Beach and beyond.
As part of our mission, we had an anthology series, Beach Reads, that curated fiction, non-fiction, poetry, art, and photography around an annual theme. It was an inspiring project to be a part of and led to the creation of a quarterly online literary journal, Third Street Review, of which I am Editor-in-Chief. It is a beautiful and exhilarating experience, and I am chuffed that I get the chance to do it.
First and foremost, however, I am a writer. So, I mostly write stuff that I hope other people want to read. I wish I had a pithy quote to share that could sum up all that being a writer means, but I don’t, at least not now, but watch this space -RP.
Here’s the link to THIRD STREET WRITERS:
https://www.thirdstreetwriters.org/
And here is the link for the current issue of THIRD STREET REVIEW:
