Richard Gartee is a poet, author and novelist. His poems have been published in literary magazines, chap books and five anthologies of his works. Since his first novel, Lancelot’s Grail was published, he has written six more novels. He studied eastern philosophy and meditation for 40 years and is a member of Writers Alliance of Gainesville, Florida Writers Association, and Florida Literary Arts Coalition. He is a full-time author and has written seven college textbooks with multiple editions. His novel Ragtime Dudes In a Thin Place won the Royal Palm Literary Award. It's sequel Ragtime Dudes Meet a Paris Flapper won him another Royal Palm Literary Award. He says: “I started out in creative writing and then spent 22 years in computer software. During that period of my life I helped design two of the preeminent medical systems and became an expert in the field. Along the way I wrote a college textbook which became a national standard. I left the software company, wrote more textbooks, and became a full time author. Between textbooks I turned my attention back to my creative writing origins. I began working on plays and a novel. For me balancing the left brain – right brain is not that difficult. I enjoy writing and find all of it creative, just in different ways. For me the secret is ‘do the work.’ I make it a point to work on some writing project every day.”