Page Turning Writing

"When I answered the call in September 1999 to join an Internet startup team dedicated to bringing the Internet in a completely new form to adults over 55, I did not hesitate to step up to the plate. History and my passion for a neglected population told me that at last my life had a purpose. While the rest of the Internet world struggled around the fountain of youth, our little startup would tell the world that the only thing that mattered was 'gray matter.'
"In addition to 25 years of experience in newspapers, computer magazines and technical writing, I brought with me some keen observations of what could happen to a startup:
"In 1981, while covering operating systems for Computer Systems News, I traveled to Seattle from my post in Silicon Valley to visit a tiny little company that had won the contract to license the operating system for the then-brand new IBM PC. I spent a long time talking to this obscure company of 20 employees and its very young leader, Bill Gates. Yes, Microsoft had 20 employees at the time.
"At the same time, I watched two pioneers, Al Shugart and Finis Conner, express frustration at the amount of time it took a large company like Xerox Corp to react to market conditions. Before the two men eventually went their separate ways, a PC era disk drive giant, known as Seagate Technologies was born in Scott's Valley, California.
"More recently, in 1997, I experienced the fits and starts of a startup from a distance as an independent political humor guide — one of the 180 original guides — at what was then known as the Mining Company. " Today, you know it as About.com."
Finishing a Startup Jobsearch About.com December 2000

"As usual, we seek someone to bear the cross and resurrect our national character. Yet, the answer will not come from the halls of state or national government, or even a tear-soaked PTA meeting. The answer is within all of us who can understand the simple chemistry that causes us to respect a "No Smoking" sign at the gasoline pump."
Tragedy in Springfield and Parental Responsibility HomeParents About.com June 1998

"Death is said to be nature’s way of slowing you down, but San Jose Tribune police reporter Charles Johnson was in defiance. Death had two barrels pointed at Johnson on this balmy summer night, and neither was the calm ocean voyage into another life that Charles had chosen for himself.

Few things had gone as planned in Charles’ life. Birth was not what the doctors ordered; odds were that death would be cheated as well. Charles had confidence in his ability to deal with a close encounter with a mere psychopath threatening San Jose, it was his wife Linda that posed the greatest challenge. At this minute, the psychopath had a target, a direct line to Charles’ editor and reportedly some dangerous explosives. His wife Linda was armed with bewilderment, a box of suspicious clothing and a lot of questions.

Charles was speeding up Almaden Ave in downtown San Jose. His only mission was to drive to the Stage Line Bus Terminal before “terminal” took on a new definition. San Jose shared California’s excess of motor vehicle accidents, robberies and two-bit burglaries, but explosions at downtown bus depots were rare enough to still get attention.

It was one of those windswept, smog-free summer nights that made the Bay Area so livable compared to the sweat-inducing places not afforded Pacific breezes. An incoming cold front had dropped the blazing heat to a comfortable margin. Charles loved living in Silicon Valley, near the southern end of San Francisco Bay. He was humming a Beach Boys tune that he had paraphrased to his own ends. “Wish that I could be a California Girl,” he sang.

When Charles told his family in New Jersey that he would be headed for California, it was as if he had announced that he was running off to Afghanistan to join Osama bin Laden and the Mujah Hadim in Afghanistan or some other band of terrorists. “All they’ve got out there are fruits and nuts,” his father told him.
“You’re the one who voted for Reagan, Pop,” Charles had replied. “He’s from California - which category does he fall into?” ....
Hardened Observers a novel by Barbara Sehr