My grandfather owned a printing press that he operated out of the garage in our home after his original printing press was destroyed in the Trenton Riots of 1968.

The press contraption, which had a large wheel reminiscent of an old steam-driven railroad engine, would clank and clunk late at night and early in the morning whenever a deadline loomed too close for liking. The letters were stamped on individual wooden blocks of varying sizes and fonts that were situated to create flyers, business cards, bumper stickers, and other items.

That printing press work area also served as my playground, much to the constant chagrin of my grandfather. It was filled with all sorts of things that sparked the imagination of an 11-year-old boy filled with a precocious spirit.

The typesetting Linotype machine was already a dinosaur, even in the mid-80s. Invented in 1915, the Linotype was considered a miracle of contemporary engineering at the time, allowing an operator sitting at a 90-key keyboard to quickly place letters and spaces into a uniform line. Then, from a reservoir of molten lead held at over 500 degrees Fahrenheit, the lines of type were cast by the machine in the desired width, which were then arranged for use on a printing press.

As is often the case when crafting words and sentences, mistakes were made. These lead castaways were then thrown into a pile in the corner and placed into the molten reservoir to be recycled whenever it was low.

The lead pieces looked to me to have tiny wings.

My friends and I would pretend they were planes from the 1980s Clint Eastwood dogfighting film Firefox. We were constantly chased from my grandpa’s work area. Little boys are ambiguously attracted to danger.

The risk of being in the vicinity of 500-degree temperatures, lead dust, and towering machines that loomed tenuously between modernity and obsolescence was always apparent. These were my grandfather’s primary concerns, but all I wanted to do was explore, play, and let my imagination run wild amid these contraptions of old.

Those days shaped me in ways that have only now become apparent. A love for words, reading, and editing was instilled in me simply by being in the proximity of creativity, industriousness, and the English language.

Today, I am a writer and editor with over 20 years’ experience interviewing the biggest names in Hollywood, professional and collegiate sports, and urban culture. Please allow me to bring my considerable talents to the fore in helping you craft your magnum opus manuscript.