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Jim Beane, born at Garfield Hospital in Washington, DC, grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. Educated in the public school system and ready to work by high school, Jim’s first paycheck came in 1968, from his work as a deli boy at one of DC’s last kosher delicatessens, Posin’s. He was accepted and attended the United States Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, from 1970-1972. After a short stint at the University of Maryland, Jim worked as an electrician in Local 202 for one year until an automobile accident on the eve of Thanksgiving, 1973, left him unable to work while recovering. With that input, he and his good friend Tom Rhiel took to the backroads of America and travelled the mountains, the plains, the coasts, the Parks, Mount Rushmore, Canada, Banff, Jasper, wherever the roads led. They made the trip in an older model Toyota Landcruiser. On their return, Jim enrolled at York College in Pennsylvania and graduated in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science degree.

Shortly after college, personal circumstances led him back on the road, this time with tools and his dog. A Florida visit to his old friend Tom Rhiel ended with their decision to move to Jackson, Wyoming. Several years later, he returned to the east coast, met and married. Mary and he restored a 1920’s bungalow while raising two daughters. Both are married professional women living in the Baltimore area. Two grandsons, James and Benton, generously give a large part of their lives to his. All love dogs and try to be friends.

Jim worked by-the-hour carpentry to help support his family. His wife worked as a schoolteacher for the Archdiocese of Washington. During those years, Jim, with the support of his wife and a private writing space learned his chosen avocation, fiction writer. Thanks to his wife’s support and the support of the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, the Writers Center in Bethesda, Maryland, scores of supportive friends and editors and his inclusion in a writing critique group comprised of well published, helpful, humble souls still chugging along after twenty -two years, and many personal rewards, Jim now gives back what he’s learned through teaching, workshopping and mentoring.

Currently, Jim is assembling a second collection of stories, working on the final edits of his novel GALILEE and trying to advance several new stories. He leads workshops in short fiction at the Writers Center in Bethesda, MD and mentors for the Veteran’s Writing Project, a forum for veterans to receive help with works in progress. He remains an active member of two fiction collaboratives. The first is the previously mentioned twenty-two-year-old critique group that meets once each month to discuss their work. The other is a social networking lunch group, also meeting once a month. He has served as a short fiction judge for the Bethesda Magazine’s fiction contest, lectured on short stories with fellow writer James Mathews at the Second Saturdays Lecture Series produced by David Brosch, read at various venues including the now defunct but legendary Olssen’s Books in Washington, DC; Hemphill Galleries and the Writers Center as well as serving as a presenter at the 2014 Gaithersburg Book Festival. The newest addition to his communal family is a small terrier named Lily. She is most welcome.

Learn more with information from The Writer’s Center and The Maryland Artist Registry.