I grew up on an ancestral farm two miles west of the bleak, wind-swept (bleak at least in the month of January) prairie village of Crystal, North Dakota. It is hard to divine background influences, but certainly there is a vibrant, creative streak that runs through the generations of Reillys (on my paternal grandmother's side), and that blood and spark are strong in me. I could have been a writer, or have gone to prison, or have been a warrior in Viet Nam, but due to the restraining direction from a firm and fiery mother, I have manged to stay out of trouble, for the most part. The debt that I owe her cannot be repaid.

Dad was half Reilly so the same inventive, artistic temperament flowed through his veins, But his English, Ramsey side gave him from tempering, sensible perspective, so he too lived a pretty regular life.

Mom was an O'Sullivan whose Mother, Margeurite, was a McAndress. These O'Sullivan women were extroverts, loud, aggressive, fiery, (they could be vengeful) and imposing. They were pioneers and matriarchs; they were forces to be reckoned with. Their men suffered badly from alcoholism, so most of the women were fanatically anti-booze. Their Roman Catholicism was the center of their world, and I am deeply ingrained with its psychology and worldview. Their men were rural, macho, patriarchal pioneers. My Grandfather O'Sullivan was powerfully built man who took sauce off of no one, and everybody knew and stepped aside. From the O'Sullivans, I received work ethic, passion, love of life, large appetites, macho outlook and stubbornness.
Deep down, it is less important who were our influences, but, because all are blessed with great talent and potential. Antecedents in no way prevent the ambitious from doing whatever they desire to achieve. Where we came from just flavors how we act, react and perform as we venture along in life. The rest is up to us.

I was writing poetry back in 1972 and 1973. I wrote a series of novels, or started on them, called Somard of Lufe, about a hero/savant leading his people in a hidden retreat, where a small band of elite humans lived in a managed paradise in some northern realm like Iceland. I decided that it was so heavy on didactic content that I might as well just turn to philosophical writing openly. I had made that decision by 1975, and Volume I and Volume II of my first book grew out of those early efforts.

More On The Maverick Way is my continuing struggle to get my message out about the need to lead the extraordinary life while existing as a regular person. If, in this latest book, I am a little more clear, a little more concrete, then I have succeeded in communicating my vision for the future.

I enjoy the freedom of writing how I want to, what I want to, when I want to.

Smashwords has treated me very well. It has provided a platform to share my ideas with the world.

Writing is an interactive act, not quite explainable, whereby the writer uses words and the laptop keyboard to package feelings, insights, and concepts in written form, and that message is relayed to the world out there in cyberspace. Through this arduous but pleasurable undertaking, the writer contributes written content to the world's collection of written messages, and these products are very personal.

I am glad to have followers and hope for many more.

I have three projects going. First, I write almost every day now for my blog site: philosophyfromaworkingman.blogspot.com. I am considering shaping that into a fourth book.

I am working on a book that will review and reinterpret any of the remaining books by Eric Hoffer that I have not yet reviewed and commented on. This brilliant philosopher has not yet truly been understood, and I believe I am unique in getting what it is that he had so say. Much of my philosophy grows out of his writing and thinking. I am a disciple of his, and yet am a writer with my own ideas too.

I am working a 6th book, Farther Along The Maverick Way; I am 40 pages into that book.

Agatha Christie
Louis Lamour
Eric Hoffer

God has chosen me as His prophet to write and write and write, to share De's good news with the world. That is my mission in life until the end comes. That fires me up each day, and I will not veer from the righteous path.

I am a passionate gardener. I would have preferred to be farming 1,000 acres in North Dakota. I am a farmer at heart that had to move to the city for economic reasons. If my books ever made enough money, I would buy a 400 acre dairy farm north of town and go farming. We like to shoot guns, read, hunt and enjoy our children.

My wife is technologically far ahead of me, and through her I have entered this world.