I was born in Summit, New Jersey, and lived in nearby Springfield. When I was four, we moved to a town about 20 minutes away called Fanwood. Strangely, we moved back to Springfield a few years later and that's where I lived all the way through high school. No, it's not the same Springfield where the Simpsons live, but lots of funny things happened there too!

My father works in a men's clothing store but he also is a professional magician. As for my mother, she used to work at Macy's, but before that, she was a belly-dancing instructor! We still have the brass finger cymbals in the garage! I have an older brother and a younger brother, neither of whom have jobs as interesting as mine.

I discovered I wanted to be a writer when I was in college at Rutgers University. Introduction to Creative Writing was the first class I ever took where I felt as though I could really spread my wings and express myself. Although I'd never done much serious writing before then, I seemed to take to it like a rat takes to a sewer pipe. Writing is fun!

Before I was a writer, I had a number of interesting jobs including: paperboy, dry-cleaning clerk, office temp, bartender, worker at a rehabilitation center for birds of prey, factory worker in a factory that made those foil things that go around potted plants, restoration worker on a medieval castle in southern France and salesperson for printed T-shirts and sweatshirts. Nowadays, in addition to being a children's writer, I'm also a chiropractor, which is a doctor who works on the spine.

I got married in 1999 and moved to Albany, New York where we split our time between the capital of New York State and beautiful Lake George.

When I'm not writing, I love spending time with my wife and two children, Ethan and Lily. We go to the lake where we hike and go boating. We also love to ski (water and snow). But I never go anywhere without a book!

In my free time, I also like to make projects in a blacksmith shop. I mostly make chef knives, but I also make jewelry, bottle openers, wall hooks and other fun projects. Working in a blacksmith shop is a lot of fun, but it can get hot!

Here is a great article about Eric and his writing career.

Watch the video below to learn about my efforts to rebuild the library at St. Anne Institute in Albany, NY.

If you can't see the video, click here to watch it at YouTube.