Lucky me, I became famous early in life. It was all the result of my first foray into writing that occurred during my senior year in high school. I don't know what my motivation was. I was just goofing around I guess but I wrote a parody of The Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore, and was asked to read it during the morning announcements to the entire school. Everybody loved it but I have lost the text except for the first four lines but you get the drift.
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Twas the Night before Christmas and all through the shack.
The wind was howling through each little crack.
The stockings were flung on the back of a chair
In hopes uncle Charlie soon would be there.
E W Shaffer
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E W Shaffer was born in Cumberland, Maryland and earned his BS Degree at the University of Maryland and an MS degree in biochemistry from Southern Illinois University. Trained in the arts and sciences, he maintained a dual career working in various scientific fields and also in the fine arts and literature as a painter, sculptor, conceptual artist and poet. His eclectic approach, interest in experimental directions and multiple skills in engineering, crafts and the building trades contributed to his success in a wide variety of art forms and formats enabling him to participate in over 200 formal exhibitions in the U.S. and abroad. He has served as president of two nonprofit art-based organizations in the Washington, DC area and received over a dozen awards and honors for his scholarly pursuits. Shaffer received the "Second Place Award" in the Bethesda, Maryland Literary Festival Poetry Competition in 2017. His works of art have been exhibited in Europe and widely in the U.S. and his creative writings have appeared at times ghost written and at other times under the name of Mike Shaffer, in numerous newspapers and periodicals.