John D. Wolf
The adventure of writing fantastic tales has become my third career and a fulfillment of an internal need. I started my vocational life as an engineer, because I found life's forces so fascinating. That is, science, especially chemistry . I learned how to make gunpowder as a child. I was amazed the local drugstore sold the materials. I made great fountains of colored sparks - who wouldn't be in wonder. In college I was sent around the edge of Oceana to work as a student engineer, but to me it was just another adventure. I got used to following my own bliss. Engineering was now my chosen vocation, but I was held back by ominous events coming over the horizon. Mankind's incessant marching off to wars, lead me to my second career - that of an Air Force Navigator.
Once again, the organization looked at my job as a duty, I looked at it as an adventure. Flying through the skies of Vietnam was a beautiful thing. I chose to fly in cargo planes instead of war planes. Everyone thought less of me for doing it, but I couldn't be involved in all that destruction when I had a choice not to. Then back to engineering - out the escape hatch from military life. I turned each minute that I could into things that maintained my bliss. When designing cruise missile guidance sets, I saw the wonder of a machine navigating across the earth, not a bomb hungry for a target. The job paid the bills, but it didn't fill the soul. Music maintained my sanity. Now I have achieved exit velocity and am my own agent. What ever will I do? I never thought writing would be the next adventure, but it has become a conduit to continue my search for internal bliss. It has become my Nirvana. If personal bliss is a confusing term to you, check out the works of Joseph Campbell.