Frank Terranova

I am a lifelong resident of the Boston Massachusetts area and a graduate of Boston State College...and despite the long, cold winters, I love living in New England and appreciate all that it has to...view moreI am a lifelong resident of the Boston Massachusetts area and a graduate of Boston State College...and despite the long, cold winters, I love living in New England and appreciate all that it has to offer! By day I am employed as a computer programmer/analyst, which to a certain degree, allows me tap into my artistic side, but I have always been drawn to truly creative hobbies such as music and writing. I took up the guitar when I was in college and became proficient enough to play lead guitar in band which my friends and I put together (typical three-chord garage rock but we had a lot of fun!). At around that same time I began writing songs, lyrics, and poetry, and came up with a few very catchy songs which were well received by our audiences. Also while I was in college I took a couple of creative writing classes, mainly to satisfy my English prerequisites, and much to my surprise a few of my short stories won heaps of praise from my professors who encouraged me to consider a career as a writer...but I must admit that at that time I was much more interested in my rock & roll band (and I will also be the first to admit that I would never have had the patience to write a full length novel when I was in my 20’s). As the years went by I decided that at some point I wanted to take a crack at writing a novel but I could never quite find the motivation necessary to make that type of a commitment. However, that all changed when I was selected to serve as a juror on a sensational murder trial which was featured on both 20/20 and Dateline NBC. I took volumes of notes during the trial (both in the courtroom and when I got home at night), mainly as a therapeutic device to assist me in sorting out my many nagging uncertainties regarding the verdict more than anything else. But what started out as an aimless attempt at reconciling my inner thoughts with the decision of my peers soon morphed into a labor of love and a stream of consciousness look at my own life, for the unfortunate victim had much in common with me. The end result of this journey culminated in the realization of my first novel entitled “From the Eyes of a Juror”; a true crime, murder/mystery which combines courtroom drama from the perspective of a cynical juror, along with an eerie set of circumstances which the enigmatic protagonist finds himself struggling to decipher. To be clear, I am not a professional writer by trade so please be kind with your criticisms! On the other hand, I will take all comments into consideration as I continue to work to refine my craft. I plead guilty to one particular critique regarding my use of repetitive phrases (which I think is a carryover from my songwriting days where repeating portions of a lyric can make for a very catchy tune!). In any event, I thoroughly enjoyed writing my first book and I have many more ideas which I believe would be quite compelling so I don’t think I can stop now. Unfortunately, I have found writing to be a very time-consuming venture and it is difficult to carve out the time to make much headway so my output will probably be limited in the near term to some short stories and hopefully another novel or two somewhere down the line. If nothing else, this will be a great hobby for me to pursue when I retire from the day job! In conclusion, to whoever might be out there in cyberspace reading this bio, I thank you very much for your time and your thoughtful consideration!view less