Dennis Ward

After many years of varied careers from respiratory therapist, computer systems engineer, and art gallery owner, I sometimes felt my working life was an “all you can eat buffet.” One day I was honest enough to accept I was more in tune with the artist’s way of life than the world of bits and bytes geekdom. A decision I never regret. Truly, I’m grateful to have the opportunity to write novels, stage plays, short stories, personal essays, and poems at an age when I have more hair growing out of my ears than on my head.
I wish I would have jumped on the literary merry-go-round years ago; however, I think I needed many years to accumulate the wisdom, humor, and insight to be able to find my writer’s voice. My authorial journey continues into the coming year with some exciting events. Currently, I have published my debut novel, Mademoiselle Gigi, and I am writing the sequel, Chez Gigi.
Since 2006, I have written numerous short stories, personal essays, and two full length plays, which have been produced at the Cité des Arts in Lafayette, Louisiana. My play Chez Gisèle won as a finalist in the 2011 New Orleans Saints and Sinners Theater Festival full and will open the inaugural Acadiana Pride Festival for a three week run in March-April 2014. My personal essay Higgins Lake and Planet Claire have been recently published by Grey Wolfe Publishing in an anthology collection titled Summer Legends. Also, Desperate Living, an excerpt from Mademoiselle Gigi will be published by Grey Wolfe in Autumn Legends.
To best relate my feelings about writing, I quote Somerset Maugham, “If you can tell stories, create characters, devise incidents, and have sincerity and passion, it doesn’t matter a damn how you write.”