Randy Richardson

An attorney and former journalist, I am president of the Chicago Writers Association. My fiction debut, LOST IN THE IVY, a murder mystery set against the backdrop of Chicago's storied Wrigley Field, won the Writers Marketing Association's �Fresh Voices� Book Award and the Illinois Woman's Press Association's Mate E. Palmer Communications Contest. My award-winning essays and columns on writing and parenting have appeared in numerous print and online publications including Chicago Parent magazine, SanityCentral.com, AbsoluteWrite.com, and HumorPress.com. Currently, I am working on my second novel while my 4-year-old son tugs on my legs.

What I write

In my day job, I write disability decisions for the Social Security Administration's (SSA's) Office of Disability Adjudication and Review (ODAR), which has made me proficient with the use of acronyms.

At night and during lunch breaks, I write fiction as well as non-fiction essays about the life of a writer and father, all purely non-autobiographical. Any resemblance to me in my writings is purely coincidental.