 After successfully selling freelance articles to "Sports Illustrated", "Outside" and other magazines, including a stint as a contributing editor for "Oklahoma Today", he began a 15-year freelance affiliation with the "Dallas Morning News", contributing criticism and occasionally columns and feature stories.He later was published in "GQ Magazine".To support his writing career, he worked at a variety of day-jobs, including as a college English instructor, trade magazine editor, and technical writer.