My Story
Bruce Simmons was born an identical twin at The Presidio in San Francisco, California. He is also an army brat. He has a BA in Political Science from Virginia Tech where he was also in the Corps of Cadets and a company captain his senior year. He also has an MA from Johns Hopkins University. He escorted his future wife, Danise, to their high school prom. Over fifty years later they are still in love. He relies on Danise’ editing skills and advice for his writing. She has a degree in French from Hood College. They brought two daughters into this world. Their eldest died in a car crash at the age of fifteen. Their youngest is now the mother of their three wonderful grandkids.
After serving as an Adjutant General officer with the First Cavalry Division during the Vietnam War Era, Bruce and Danise left the Army, and moved to the Washington, D.C. area for work. Over the next twenty-five years he worked in private industry as a technical writer, writing supervisor, business analyst, and middle manager. He enjoyed the work, but always had a desire to write fiction. With the death of their daughter, Bruce and Danise decided to vacate the “rat race”. They moved to New Mexico and became involved with the education of high school students.
His desire to excel as a classroom teacher resulted in adding competitive academic clubs to the curriculum. The students reacted well and brought several state championships home for the school. Two teams, Mock Trial and We the People – the Constitution and Bill of Rights, went on to national championship competition in Washington, D.C. Many of his students had never been on an airplane! Bruce also indulged another passion during those times. He loved baseball and volunteered as a freshmen baseball coach for the high school. All told he taught the humanities for fifteen years as a dual certified instructor in social studies and English. The last four years of teaching he was also the Humanities Academy Head over all social studies, English and foreign language teachers – 55 in all. He loved the gig!
After retirement it was time to get bigtime busy and start writing. Six books are on a three-year plan. Two have been written, one is near completion, and another is halfway done. All four should be available by the end of the year. The other two are slated for completion next year. “Try to Shoot an Azimuth” was published April 2023. It was Bruce’s tribute to his love of New Mexico and its culture. “The Women of Company L – Marching through the Sally Port” is about the first women to enroll in a university’s all-male corps of cadets – a corps that has many issues. Other books will involve the death of his daughter, teaching, military history and some short stories about his early life. After they are done he will set his sights on additional novels.
Bruce loves variety and the need to research stories. He shifts gears often. His didactic approach makes him concentrate on reality and history. Characters need to be well-developed to bring out the facts and nuances of life. Nothing is taken for granted. He is a skeptic and free will thinker refusing to believe in predestination.
The long-term plan is to keep writing until THE END
“A round table, a good meal, five people present bringing their own thoughts, prejudices, and good listening skills for three solid hours of discussion – it’s heaven on earth for a writer who has an eclectic approach to storytelling. Now in his 70’s, Bruce has been a soldier, businessman, teacher, guest columnist, husband, father, and grandfather. He approaches each novel or short story with an open mind. He learns from writing. He hopes you do too – about yourself and about the complexities of life.”