Here it is, 2008, I'm 55 and embarking on my next career. My name's Craig, unrelated to "Craig's List," and I'm a writer. I'm also a philosopher, although I didn't know that until recently.

Initially, I was a professional musician (keyboards) for about 20 years, then did a stint in retail, worked as a temp, and landed as a computer guy for a local hospital. That lasted long enough for me to end up running IT for a subsidiary corporation involved in managed care, physician practices, and billing.

I left to get into IT consulting, hated it, and went back to temping. With my skills in MS Office, drawing, graphics, writing, and editing, I came together with Jim Jones and wrote the "A+ Exam Cram" books, all about how to pass the CompTIA A+ certification exam.

Four editions later, realizing I like getting royalties, I was decided: I’d be a writer. I have a novel I'm working on, about the next version of human beans. Then there's a book about how to work with computer spreadsheets, and there's this philosophy I've developed.

New Individualism is founded on the principle concept of idealism, mixed with Ayn Rand's Objectivism, and what I think is true. It’s a blended structure, taking from many other of history's philosophies, and including some new ideas.

Individualism holds that quality of life is the highest value, not an "also-ran" that creeps into consideration late at night. It's a philosophy based on a direct connection between physical reality and a more complex system, organized, and fashionably referenced by such words as "intelligent design."

An offshoot book I'm working on ("Phone Calls with Cassie") discusses the moral and ethical problems facing today's teens. It's based on a composite, loosely generated around my niece Cassandra.

In the interim, while I'm putting all this writing stuff together, I do VA work, freelance writing, editing, and other content-based jobs on a contract basis. I also work with Kathy in a startup business selling personalized messages made up of Navy signal flags.