As a reporter for the Associated Press, in Detroit, as well as the Toronto Star and other news organizations in the U.S. and Canada, Stef Donev covered three county fairs and a hog show, so he does not impress easily. But he does still have all of his fingers even though he has shaken hands with more presidents, prime ministers, premiers, and other politicians than he can count. He has also heard a president burp, watched a U.S. senator spill scotch on his socks, out bluff a diplomat in a poker game, and a helped a Canadian cabinet minister get a cab back to his hotel from the Toronto Press Club. He writes fiction and non-fiction, and often knows the difference. He once wrote speeches for corporate executives and politicians, which led to his career as a gag writer for Bob Hope and other comics, some of whom got elected. He has written more than a dozen books for children. Working with doctors he has also written several books for big people. As a freelancer he has sold hundreds of freelance articles and stories to magazines, newspapers, online publications and comic books in the U.S., Canada, England and New Zealand. He has also written live shows for theme parks and dinner theaters, vaudeville reviews, comedy sketches for TV, and Saturday morning cartoons. When necessary, he can be almost serious; such as while teaching writing and communications at several colleges and universities, and when writing Inside Mortgages, his weekly newspaper column on consumer mortgage issues that appears in more than a dozen papers nationally, as well as online at interest.com. He lives in Southern California with his wife, Mary, whichever of their three children ' Jason, Luke and Amanda ' are passing through town at the time, and a cat that thinks it is a dog. He cannot say more because the animal is under the federal witness protection program. And when Stef grows up, he is going to be a cowboy.