Who Is Eric Lee? By himself (creator of The Write Stuff word processor series) PART I An exceptionally dull child, I was thought to be backward and uneducable. I never read books, asked questions, or did homework. In high school I made an effort, despite a lack of encouragement, to do better, and in my senior year I managed two A's (first in 12 years). I persisted in my efforts by going to a community college. Self-supporting, I did farmwork during the summers and lived on the streets in a camper I built on an old pickup truck to minimize expenses. After three years of slow progress I dropped out for six years, during which time I continued to spend summers "on the road" as a migrant farm worker (a fruit tramp--no truck, bedroll only). Winters (in California there are really only two seasons) were spent living in my truck on the streets of Isla Vista (a student "Ghetto" near the University of California at Santa Barbara campus), where I generally spent ten to fourteen hours a day in the university library pursuing whatever interested me at the time (science/philosophy mostly). Since I had no Job, belonged to no groups, and spoke only if spoken to, I was socially isolated for extended periods (once lost my voice from disuse). One fall I was returning to California from picking apples in upper state Washington, sitting in a boxcar watching the Oregon landscape pass by, when a thought of going back to school crossed my mind. I enrolled in a state University (Cal Poly), where I did surprisingly well (3.6 GPA). Three years and two degrees later (crop and soil science), I dropped out again. Several professors encouraged me to pursue advanced degrees, but I was burned out at the time on formal study and spent a year reading philosophy (and a few months of farm work before an illness forced me to retire). Needing a creative outlet, I got a Commodore 64 and lacking software, taught myself to program in BASIC and eventually ML. When my limited funds ran out, I took a job as a teacher's aide working with LH (learning handicapped) children (after all, I had been one). While at a seminar on computer applications for LH children, I saw a talking word processor for the Apple computer that sold for 300 big ones. I thought this an outrageous price. I could write a better talking WP and sell it for a lot less, said I. This led me to think about word processors in general, and how I would design one. I thought about WP designs for about six months; then, at the end of the school year, I moved to Santa Barbara, where I lived on the streets in my truck next to a lovely park about three blocks from the city library. When I say I lived on the streets, don't imagine I suffered any deprivations (except social -- would you think well of someone living on the streets?). I typically went to the beach at about 9each morning, where I would jog a few miles, then go for a swim in the ocean (after which the outdoor shower felt warm). Ater an hour or so lying on the beach, I would return to my truck (I had a bicycle) to get my trusty SX-64 and go to the library, where I worked until it closed. This was how I lived, without income, for a year and a half while I coded The Write Stuff (TWS 64). I had an inverter in my truck which allowed me to run the SX-64 and a printer on batteries to print documentation and letters. A 24-pin printer was the best I could afford so the first edition of the manual was regrettably crummy looking. I spent all but about $200 of my life's savings to mail out nearly 1000 demo copies to user groups. One advantage of studying philosophy is that one is never perturbed by the little things like being broke. I was honestly much more interested in seeing if my concept of user distribution would work than in making money. In a couple of weeks, orders started coming in. Living on the streets soon became impractical, and I rented my first apartment in Lompoc (low rent area), where my parents live. The rest is history. PART II About 250 user groups ended up becoming Userware distributors. Many sold over 50 copies and a dozen or so sold over 100, so business was good. I have a wall map bristling with pins showing where each group is located. The success of TWS was due largely to user group support and promotion, so many thanks to all user groups and their members. In 1991 a Commodore user showed up at our local user group meeting with her 10 year old daughter in tow, looking for some assistance. I was able to be of some help, and sent her home with a copy of TWS. One glance at the manual, however, and she realized that she would need special user support -- possibly forever. We were, therefore, soon married. We now have a three-year-old son. Ain't Commodore wonderful? My wife, Sue, wanted to live in the country, so two years ago we moved near the small town of St. David in Southeast Arizona. We bought some land along the San Pedro River that includes a three acre wetland. We hope to build a straw bale house on part of it some day, and manage the rest as a private nature preserve. Currently, we are leasing a 145 acre farm, farmhouse, and country feed store about 12 miles north of Tombstone. Sue runs the feed store while I do the farming (forage crops -- making hay while the sun shines), when not filling the occasional TWS order or providing user support, which I can and will do indefinitely. Alas, being married with children has proved incompatible with doing serious programming. My life as a programmer appears to be over, which is just was well, as I have other lives to live. Editor's notes: The first part of this article was originally published in the B-Bug newsletter November 1990 and is reprinted from the November 1996 Mailink, the newsletter of Meeting 64/128 Users Through the Mail. Mailink contacted Eric and requested an update; the result was published as Part II in the January 1997 Mailink. Fresno Commodore User Group is part of the history Eric refers to. We were sent one of Eric's demo copies in late 1987 or early 1988, and decided to offer it through the group, on Eric's "userware" plan. We've sold dozens of copies locally and to users around the country who are isolated from other Commodore users. From the Commodore Information Center http://home.att.net/~rmestel/commodore.html