Mike’s writing career began in the late eighties, after two, three week long family vacations to the Caribbean Islands. Over the course of these vacations Mike and his family stayed in small West Indian guesthouses and developed friendships with the owners and their families. While the family enjoyed the islands warm tropical breezes and crystal clear water, it was the friendship of the people and the exposure to a variety of cultures that left a lasting impression on the entire family. When Mike returned stateside he vowed to write a long magazine article on the virtues of guesthouse travel in the Caribbean and “spread the word to the masses.”

This is when the budding author was introduced to the cruel realities of the publishing world. The “author” could not spell, write consistently in the same tense, or for that matter, punctuate properly. Santa Barbara, blessed with an incredible adult education program, offered a variety of writing courses and the author attended many of these courses to improve his writing skills. The patient instructors endured Mike’s early efforts and spell check corrected most of his glaring spelling and grammar errors. Cruel reality number two was encountered when the author submitted the now readable articles to the travel magazines and started receiving postcards in return. These postcards informed Mike that his submission, “does not meet our current needs,” or at least that was the box that the editor checked on the form. A fellow author, after a quick glance at a major travel magazine, pointed out to Mike that nearly two thirds of the magazines advertisers were destination resorts. By suggesting to readers that they shun destination resorts in favor of small guesthouses and Inns, the writer was offending the magazines largest advertising base. It was no wonder the proposed article was not meeting their “current needs.“ Hollywood amended his previous vow and announced that he would write his own guide to guesthouse travel in the Caribbean.

Many frustrating months later the manuscript for “Guesthouse Travel In The Caribbean” was completed. For marketing purposes, the title had evolved into, “The West Indies On $50.00 A Day” and the author contracted with iUniverse to publish the book. The book was published in September of 2001, using the newest print on demand technology. As a result of the book the Caribbean has been besieged with Americans in search of guesthouse travel.

Buoyed by the success of his first book and having discovered a second island group in the South Pacific, Mike made the decision to publish a second guidebook on the Cook Islands chain. The book, “Papa Mike’s Cook Islands Handbook” was just released by iUniverse and the author is busy marketing the second book.