Michael Putegnat had hoped to be a writer after he graduated from St. Edwards University in Austin, but family imperatives and minimum nutritional requirements argued for pragmatism and that unfolded in an eclectic career that wound through enterprises, elected and appointed public service, a graduate degree from Harvard, higher education administration and teaching, then finally to consulting for businesses, government and non-profits. It was a useful life research that informed and inspired a novel, Laguna, which won an IPPY Gold Medal in 2007. He has at last begun his life’s work of writing full time.