Author's Bio
Jeffrey W. Lengel was born in 1964 in Beatrice, Nebraska, but his family moved
to Lincoln when he was three and it has been his home ever since, aside from
the three years he spent in the U.S. Army.
He was a fairly good student as a youngster and from the very first time he was
assigned to write a story for English class in the third grade he was known for
his writing among his teachers and fellow students. Pretty much since that time
he has felt he was meant to be a writer. But by the time he reached high school
he wasn't much of a student at all, constantly skipping classes. After the year
he should have been graduating he only had about half of the necessary
credits, so he took the GED test.
After doing some construction and janitorial work for a few months he decided to
join the army. The pay wasn't great, but where else could you get full, free
medical coverage for yourself and dependents and thirty days of paid vacation
starting in your first year? He spent his enlistment at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina in
the 82nd Airborne Division.
When he left the service three years later his first child, Elizabeth, was six
months old and Tammy was pregnant with Matthew. J.W. Lengel worked at a
couple of restaurants and then landed in a fairly decent job as a baker for a
small grocery store chain where he would end up working for ten years. He was
doing some writing during those years but he was a hunt and peck typist so he
wrote in longhand in spiral notebooks and it never amounted to much.
Eventually he returned to school, this time with much greater commitment,
having come to appreciate the value of education (especially since he was
taking out student loans to pay for it that he would have to repay). He earned an
Associate of Applied Science Degree in Business Administration from Lincoln
School of Commerce (now known as Hamilton College), a small junior college in
Lincoln. He was even selected as "Outstanding Graduate" of his class, LSC's
version of a valedictorian. The business major was chosen for the wide range of
the curriculum, with subjects ranging from accounting to computers to marketing.
Most importantly he acquired his first computer while going to school and
learned how to use it, and learned how to type.
Not long after graduating college his marriage broke up and he found himself in
the role of single father to his two children. He also changed jobs, going to work
for Gallup as a telephone interviewer for about a year and a half.
Then he went to work at a small, young business in Lincoln called Creation, one
of the top places in the area for custom screenprinting and embroidery work.
He also married Tina who gave birth to his youngest son, Taylor (not necessarily
in that order). She also had three children from her first marriage, Jeffrey,
Stephanie and John, bringing their combined total to six.
J.W. Lengel finally started to commit the time to take his writing seriously.
Perhaps with age and experience he gained the patience and self-discipline to
spend endless hours filling blank pages. Over several years he wrote and
re-wrote Peace Force several times and edited it countless times as he
developed his own style of writing and taught himself to write a novel. In 2005, at
the age of forty-one, he submitted a completed manuscript of Peace Force to
Publish America and it was quickly accepted for publication.
Currently he is working on a second novel that he hopes to complete before the
end of 2006 and is the creator and contributing editor of a FREE webzine called
The Strange Times, which is a spoof of a tabloid that is dedicated to making
fun of American politics, pop culture and the media that reports on them. See it
now at TheStrangeTimes.com
to Lincoln when he was three and it has been his home ever since, aside from
the three years he spent in the U.S. Army.
He was a fairly good student as a youngster and from the very first time he was
assigned to write a story for English class in the third grade he was known for
his writing among his teachers and fellow students. Pretty much since that time
he has felt he was meant to be a writer. But by the time he reached high school
he wasn't much of a student at all, constantly skipping classes. After the year
he should have been graduating he only had about half of the necessary
credits, so he took the GED test.
After doing some construction and janitorial work for a few months he decided to
join the army. The pay wasn't great, but where else could you get full, free
medical coverage for yourself and dependents and thirty days of paid vacation
starting in your first year? He spent his enlistment at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina in
the 82nd Airborne Division.
When he left the service three years later his first child, Elizabeth, was six
months old and Tammy was pregnant with Matthew. J.W. Lengel worked at a
couple of restaurants and then landed in a fairly decent job as a baker for a
small grocery store chain where he would end up working for ten years. He was
doing some writing during those years but he was a hunt and peck typist so he
wrote in longhand in spiral notebooks and it never amounted to much.
Eventually he returned to school, this time with much greater commitment,
having come to appreciate the value of education (especially since he was
taking out student loans to pay for it that he would have to repay). He earned an
Associate of Applied Science Degree in Business Administration from Lincoln
School of Commerce (now known as Hamilton College), a small junior college in
Lincoln. He was even selected as "Outstanding Graduate" of his class, LSC's
version of a valedictorian. The business major was chosen for the wide range of
the curriculum, with subjects ranging from accounting to computers to marketing.
Most importantly he acquired his first computer while going to school and
learned how to use it, and learned how to type.
Not long after graduating college his marriage broke up and he found himself in
the role of single father to his two children. He also changed jobs, going to work
for Gallup as a telephone interviewer for about a year and a half.
Then he went to work at a small, young business in Lincoln called Creation, one
of the top places in the area for custom screenprinting and embroidery work.
He also married Tina who gave birth to his youngest son, Taylor (not necessarily
in that order). She also had three children from her first marriage, Jeffrey,
Stephanie and John, bringing their combined total to six.
J.W. Lengel finally started to commit the time to take his writing seriously.
Perhaps with age and experience he gained the patience and self-discipline to
spend endless hours filling blank pages. Over several years he wrote and
re-wrote Peace Force several times and edited it countless times as he
developed his own style of writing and taught himself to write a novel. In 2005, at
the age of forty-one, he submitted a completed manuscript of Peace Force to
Publish America and it was quickly accepted for publication.
Currently he is working on a second novel that he hopes to complete before the
end of 2006 and is the creator and contributing editor of a FREE webzine called
The Strange Times, which is a spoof of a tabloid that is dedicated to making
fun of American politics, pop culture and the media that reports on them. See it
now at TheStrangeTimes.com
| e-mail J.W. Lengel at jwlengel@yahoo.com |