Author Archives: Eugene Orlando

About Eugene Orlando

Writing seriously since 1998, I've penned 41 books, published 20 as eBooks, 3 of those on writing. (All books have been pulled for re-launch as paper and eBook editions in 2016 except those under my middle-grade pseudonym, Dana Palladino.) I've also written short stories (some published in eBook), screenplays, and plays. (I studied under professional playwright T. Dianne Anderson while minoring in theater at the Univ. of South Florida, Tampa campus.) I've received six Writers Digest honorable mentions and nine Royal Palm Literary Awards (four for first place). In 2009, I received the president’s award from the Florida Writers Association for assisting other member writers. I’m a lifetime member, regional director for the States of Washington and Nevada, and a board member for the FWA. Having attended dozens of writing conferences, I’ve also presented at four. Well-versed in [i]The Chicago Manual of Style[/i], I passed a rigid editors’ exam in Feb of 2015. Besides hanging out my editor's shingle through the Editorial Freelancers Association, I lend my services to the Florida Writers Association’s Editors Helping Writers program, to their RPLA annual writing contest as a judge, and to the development of new writers in my own Reno Writing Clinic designed to teach writing mastery. I hold a master’s degree in computer science education and retired after 28 years of teaching the mentally handicapped and computer applications for at-risk, high school students in Florida. My wife died in 2011, which led me to the West. I met my current wife, Dodie Orlando, aka Darcie MacKim, in Walla Walla, Washington. We married after moving to Reno, NV in 2013. Three months later, Dodie contracted stage-four, gynecological cancer and beat it by July of 2014. She's been cancer free since. I'm currently finishing my fourth book on writing, [i]A Strategic Path to Writing Mastery[/i], and my Civil War trilogy, [i]General Samantha Lee.[/i]