“You’re ready to sell your paintings only when you don’t care about selling them.” Russell Meredith heard these words as a child when it was said by his art teacher. Looking back years later, he thought, what a Zen thing to say. His teacher, a local artist who was considered a character in their small Midwestern town, did have a couple little fat Buddha statues in her home studio. She shared her philosophy with the class, and defined “art” as “the intentional expression of feeling.”
Meredith earned a B.A. in English from the University of Cincinnati. As a software developer, he communicated in writing with a wide range of people, translating back and forth between users and technical experts. In the last half of his computer career he focused on developing software for nonprofit social service agencies, including writing clear user manuals that people actually read. Meredith also worked for a public relations firm, writing public service announcements.
Growing up surrounded by fields but not part of a farm family himself, Meredith was neither a farm kid nor a town kid nor a subdivision kid. This not-quite-fitting-in is reflected in the main character in his books. Meredith’s mother was an English teacher who aspired to be a writer, and his father was an avid reader of mysteries. The mysteries that Meredith explores in his books are not just of murders, but those concerning life’s experiences.