About Me — Jerry Dwyer

I read about places and then travel to see them, bringing my camera along.

I have been reading and writing for as long as I can remember. I read all of my dad’s collection of books from when he was a kid. Then I read whatever grown-up books my parents were also reading.

I majored in English in college and read all of the English language’s greatest poems, plays, and novels. And I wrote for the school newspaper.

After college, I worked as an IT professional for 35 years. But I continued to read. Books on history. Books on photography. Books on exotic places waiting for me to come and photograph.

I also got married during this time and 49 years ago my wife and I settled down in Castro Valley in the San Francisco East Bay where we raised our two daughters. We’re still here. And our daughters are nearby with their own families.

I took an early retirement near the end of the last century. Then my wife and I began preparing for the next chapters of our lives: assisting in raising our grandkids and traveling to some of those exotic places I had been reading about.

Twelve years ago, I began a blog on WordPress documenting our travels. Then, in March 2020 we went on a Covid-19 lockdown and stopped traveling. And I stopped photographing.

In 2021 I wrote my memoirs, one chapter a week for 52 weeks. It kept me busy!

Three years ago, I joined Medium because I had heard that there were a lot of good things to read on this platform. Then this year I decided that maybe I should write on Medium, too. So, I joined Sarah Cy’s Firebutt Challenge in April. And on May 1st I published my first Medium story. And on May 13th I published my 13th Medium story. I completed the Firebutt Challenge!

In June I began writing for other publications. And I even signed up to be an editor one day a week for Susie Pinon’s Anyone Can Write Online publication.

Soon I joined Indigo’s Read4Read Club and began to actively engage with other Medium writers.

Things went on swimmingly for a couple of months as I settled back and wrote one or two stories a week, mostly travel stories for Globetrotters.

Then came September and I came down with Covid. And I got sick. No stories for three weeks.

But now I am finally starting to feel better. I even submitted a story for Photography101 the other day. Yay! And the urge to travel and photograph has recently returned.

Now I have decided to write about my experiences with Covid. But I was told that I had to write a general About Me story first. So, here we are!

Stay tuned for my next story about the life lesson I learned during my battle with Covid.