Rod began his working life teaching English in high schools in California and Oregon; he continued teaching at the post-secondary level until 2016. In between, he worked as an editor for textbooks and magazines, and also as a software developer, writing software for StudyWare, the educational software company he and two partners founded in 1986. In 1992, that company was purchased by Cliffs Notes, which is how he found his way to Nebraska, where Cliffs Notes was located. (It turns out that if you live long enough, you get to have multiple careers. Go figure.)

Now back on the West Coast, Rod has built a "retirement" career as an experienced writer/editor who has annotated or edited many books and written countless magazine articles—mostly on technical or computer-related topics. 

His love of sailing, though, has especially attracted him to books of a nautical nature, resulting in annotations of Joshua Slocum's classic Sailing Alone Around the World and Richard Henry Dana's Two Years Before the Mast. That's one reason he was excited about the opportunity to write Sailing by Starlight, the story of Marvin Creamer's early-80s circumnavigation in his 35' sloop, Globe Star. The voyage was completed without the use of instruments of any kind: no sextant, no compass, no radar . . . not even a wristwatch.

Sailing by Starlight is available at amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, or at a bookstore near you. Rod's latest book, Ship of Lost Souls, is available for preorder from Amazon, B&N, or the publisher.

Rod's latest book (due to be released in early November, 2024) is Ship of Lost Souls: The Tragic Wreck of the Steamship Valencia. See here for more information about Ship of Lost Souls.