Al Plautz grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. It was basically a farming community and he learned to pick fruit and take care of chickens as a youth. Later his father moved the family to Ashtabula, Ohio where he went to high school. He did enjoy Senior English class where the teacher assigned the class to each write a short story. He wrote a story and handed it in. The next time the class met, the teacher asked him to stay to discuss his work. She accused him of plagiarizing it from another story but did not know what it was. When she found out he wrote it himself she replied that he had a natural knack for writing and could pursue it as a career. He did not see a future in writing so applied to college as an engineering student. He excelled in college and got a degree in engineering. It was in college that he met his future wife.  The degree led to a job in a research laboratory. During this time, he married and worked towards a second degree in Engineering. Once he had that degree, he applied for a position at an aerospace company and was hired. He was successful as a project engineer. Around this time his two children were born, a daughter and then later a son. Moving to different jobs he ended up working for three different engineering companies. He later worked on a master’s degree in business and was for a time an engineering manager and a principle engineer. When Covid hit and everyone had to stay home, he decided to try to write a novel. He has since retired.