Mark Stevens

I am a Clinical Psychologist, Artist, and Author, living and practicing in Southern California.

My interest in writing began after being prompted by my youngest daughter, who asked that I write down the stories I’d told her and her five sisters while they were growing up so they would have them after I’m gone. Paragraphs grew into short stories, poems, essays, fiction novels, and children’s books.

Now that our daughters have left the roost, my wife and I live in a home filled with dogs and cats. When not at my office seeing patients, or spending time with my family, I enjoy drawing, painting, music, travel, nature, and of course, writing.

Drawing from my work of more than 20 years as a psychologist, my writing is an investigation of human nature in the context of environmental and psycho-emotional challenges. I write fiction for children and adults, and am often surprised when the characters I create take on a life of their own, and do something I never would have expected of them.

As for me, the process of becoming an author has been both a difficult and exhilarating venture. In fact, I liken it to climbing a mountain. This metaphor is what led to the development of my publishing company name: Third Mountain Publishing. The first mountain is one I'm still climbing—the one we're all on and can relate to—which simply involves making it through all the trials and tribulations of life itself. The second had to do with when at mid-life, I chose to develop a career as a Clinical Psychologist. The third mountain has been the journey I've been on learning how to write and become published. Will there be a fourth? I can't tell from here. I haven't summited the third peak. But if nature is any example of what's to come, I'd wager a bet there will be.