About John

Hello there. I’m John. Lemme give it to you straight. I’m a writer with adventures spanning journalism and tech.

When I was a boy, my mother gave me a pen and a notebook, back when kids could be occupied with such things. When she came back, I’d filled it up already. And I was off.

I started out as a newspaper reporter. I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Elon University, and began my career at the Hickory Daily Record, where I covered crime and politics in the Carolina foothills. One day, I gave it up and moved halfway across the country to be with the woman I loved. It worked. We got married.

Then, I found my way as a newspaper refugee. I earned a master’s from the school of hard knocks and did odd jobs to keep the lights on. I worked at a chocolate factory, designed a cosmetics catalog, and eventually found my lane as a ghostwriter and copywriter. Most recently, I ran marketing at a startup.

Today, I’m a husband and a dad with stories to tell. I recently finished writing my debut novel and I take on freelance projects.

Charlotte is my home and I live out in the country. I have two gardens: one with birds and veggies outside my office window and the digital one you’re looking at now.

There are two ways to keep up with my writing: sign up for my email newsletter, or grab the RSS feed on your way out.

Thanks for being here and be good to yourself.

— J.T.

Fun facts

My writing has appeared in The Charlotte Observer, Hickory Daily Record, and other publications in the Southeast. As a ghostwriter, my work has appeared many wonderful places that comprise one of life’s sweet mysteries.

I’m an Eagle Scout. For my project, I built two bocce courts for a local school to use for the Special Olympics. The Boy Scouts of America had a positive impact on my upbringing.

It hasn’t meant much in a long time, but I’m a lifelong fan of the Carolina Panthers. The team started in 1995, which means I grew up alongside them. There’s always next year.

Music and other projects

Music is one of my great loves, and I’ve put some out over the years. I was in a band in college called Pete From Shipping, and I still write and record songs from time to time. The most polished tracks are under the moniker Beyond Confused.

I contributed to the story of Saving Satoshi, an open-source video game that teaches players about software development.

Colophon

This website was built with Hugo, a static site generator. The code is hosted on a private GitHub repository and deployed to Netlify.

I draft my writing in Emacs, the OG text editor with powerful capabilities. The text is set in Matthew Butterick’s Century Supra.

There is no AI-generated prose on this website.