Jeff is a newspaper journalist by day, but he considers the writing he does outside the newsroom his life's work. He constantly searches for ways and exepriments with techniques that blur the line between writing and visual art.
     Jeff is involved in several creative writing projects, each one extremely different from the other. He has plans to turn each one of these ongoing projects into books some day. Jeff is inspired by family, friends, nature, music, art and the freedom and spontenaiety exuded iin the writing of Jack Kerouac.
     Between his freshman and sophomore years of college, Jeff enrolled in a biology class that spent the summer camping, hiking and exploring the mountains of Wyoming. It marked the first time Jeff truly spent an extended period of time in the wilderness and the first time he reached the top of a mountain. He also kept a journal - which has since been lost - during that trip. And it changed his view of writing forever.
     Then, Jeff was paired up with Tsuneo Matsuura of Tokyo, Japan as a roomate during his senior year at Columbia College Chicago. Tsuneo - a writer himself - and Jeff spent many a late night talking about writing, creativity and life. Having the opportunity to witness Tsuneo's "real" approach to writing further motivated Jeff to keep writing and pushing boundaries. It was through his friendship with Tsuneo that the tiny details in life became a centerpiece in Jeff's writing.
     Another individual who had a major impact on Jeff's writing was Skip Myslenski, who taught one of Jeff's journalism classes at Columbia College. Myslenski, a former Chicago Tribune reporter, made his mark immediately. After all, on the third day of class, Myslenski decided to abandon the classrom setting and take the students to a nearby bar to discuss writing over a few pitchers of beer. Myslenski was the first writer Jeff had ever come across who he truly felt was more of an artist than a writer. There was a certain soul to his writing. Countless times, Myslenski put his hand on Jeff's shoulder and said, "Just forget every rule you've ever learned about journalism and writing and paint a picture. The writer who has the balls to challenge the rules is the writer who finds his own voice."
     That statement runs through Jeff's mind every time he is inspired to write.
    One of Jeff's ongoing writing projects is titled "Tides and Moonbeams."  It's biographical in a sense, as it involves the most influential people in Jeff's life. But rather than focusing on telling the story by way of traditional methods, Jeff focuses on developing scenes and characters through a blurred form of poetry. The story flashes back and forth on a number of occasions and is developed in a way that encourages the reader to make sense of it as he or she would sort through an abstract painting. Rather than analyzing the meaning of every paragraph and line, the reader is encouraged to simply go with the feeling brought out through the words to develop his or her own unique scene. "Tides and Moonbeams" is an attempt to lure the reader inside the unique mind and vision of an abstract artist.  To take the experiment one step further, Jeff is writing some sections of this book to the beat of a predetermined soundtrack of music that relates to each character and moment recounted in the story.
      Since 2002, Jeff has been building a collection of spontaneous prose called "Shine." This project is completely inspired by travel. So far, those travels include a three-week, cross-country RV trip from Chicago to the upper East Coast, with time spent exploring the Adirondacks, Niagara Falls, Cape Cod, Providence, Acadia National Park (Maine) and more. Additional abstract writing has been inspired by a hiking and camping trip along the Ford Canyon Trail in the White Tanks of Arizona, as well as trips to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado and Wyoming, Boundary Waters in northern Minnesota, Miami and Key West in Florida, and Zihuatenajo, Calica and Playa Del Carmen in Mexico. Jeff will soon begin writing about his new surroundings in the Ozarks of northern and central Arkansas, and will explore St. Louis in the summer of 2007. It's Jeff's intent to compile this evolving piece of prose into a book that pushes the boundaries of the creative writing process. Other destinations on Jeff's radar include: Tokyo, Japan; Indonesia; Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa; New Mexico; a return trip to the deserts of Arizona; and the Cascade Mountains (Washington state).
     Jeff has always been inspired to write, but never more so than after the birth of his daughter Maya Star, which is also the title of his latest project. Shortly before Maya's first birthday, Jeff started keeping a regular journal about watching Maya grow up and viewing life through the eyes of a father. It's not so much a journal to record everything Maya ever does, but rather an exploration of fatherhood and of watching the most precious and important gift anyone could ever be given grow - and watching himself grow as a result. It's been an amazing journey with some definite ups and downs. Jeff can't wait to give this journal to Maya Star in the form of a book some day, when she's all grown up and the time is right.
     In addition, Jeff countinues to fill countless notebooks with his poetry, dating back to his senior year of high school. His poetry is often times as raw and colorful as his abstract paintings. But he has also been known to slip into a more meditative state of being.  His poetry has bene published in several journals in the Midwest and across the country. The two collections of poetry jeff's holds as his highest accomplishements are titled "Girard" and "Atomic Jazz." Both of those projects were inspired during his time living in Minneapolis.