James Nicholas Agals

At age 72, I decided to get a college degree; I had retired two years earlier. I decided to pursue my four-year degree; thus I had enrolled at UMASS University without walls.  It was an interdisciplinary degree with a business concentration.

After two and a half years of part-time studying, I needed one elective class to secure my degree. I took a creative writing class. I was hooked on the wonder of creating an alternate world. I found it so much fun.

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Then I discovered writing when I was seventy-five years old.  The last class before graduating with an Interdisciplinary degree was a creative writing class. That class was the genesis of my first book "Growing Up On The Appalachian Trail." It was fun creating a world by just thinking about it. 

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I continued my education by taking classes with Gotham writers online and finishing Cornell University's certificate program for creative writers.

After taking several writing classes from Gotham Writers in NYC online, I decided to try writing a full-length novel. Since I felt the most dynamic time in my life was between the ages of 12 and 15, when I morphed from a child to a young adult, I decided to write a Tween mystery novel using my experiences from then.

The Paperboy Chronicles is the book that resulted.