I was born in Clarksburg, West Virginia and graduated from Washington Irving High School where I participated in several sports and spent two years on the school newspaper. After a few years attending a local college and working for my father, I opened The Riverside Health Club with my brother Matt which we operated together for three years. This was the first business that I ever started. My father, a successful businessman, saw this as a teachable moment and helped me set up the Corporation. It was kind of a family business with my sister Cynthia often working the front desk and my mother handling payroll. It gave me a chance to help people meet their fitness goals and was one of the happiest periods of my life.
My father sold his business in 1984 and I ended up working for the new owners. I eventually closed my club and focused on the new job. During that time, I took some flying lessons and realized I wanted to study aviation. I decided to move to Florida and enrolled at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. I enrolled in the commercial pilot program and later switched my major to aviation. I eventually earned my MS and BS degrees from that University.
After graduating, I was unsure of a career. Many companies had hiring freezes in place at the time and I struggled to find work. My sister Sylvia, called me from Honolulu and asked if I would help her with her daughter, Alana. Sylvia was recently divorced, so I helped my sister run her advertising business and take care of the new baby. My sister and I worked well together and she taught me a great deal about writing as I worked to develop advertising projects with her. It was that experience that got me thinking about writing again.
After a brief time, I returned to Florida and decided to give writing a chance. My first efforts were rough, but I got better as I went along. During that time, I got a job in restaurant management to pay the bills and they sent me to South Carolina for training. After training, I ended up at a restaurant in Easley, SC. One day, while working at a restaurant, I met a young Clemson University student, Alicia. I eventually married Alicia and we have been married for 31 years.
A year or so later, my sister called me with an idea for a children's television program. I volunteered to write the pilot with her and she arranged for Kraft Foods to sponsor it in Hawaii. My brother, Matt, now a fitness trainer in Florida, even did a segment on the program. I eventually wrote 13 scripts for that show.
When the project ended, I returned to South Carolina and got a job in the transportation industry managing fleets and handling international shipping for some major companies. During that time, I decided to put my aviation experience to use and started writing my NTSB mystery series. I eventually wrote three books in that series while I continued to write screenplays and pilots. It was during that period that I finished my book, Life's Little Hurdles, which was based on experiences from when I was in high school.
In 2014, I started my Rolling Justice Mystery series and I have written 6 books in that series to date. While writing those, I was able to option my NTSB television pilot that was eventually pitched to USA network. In 2017, I worked with my friend John Noland from my Hawaii days. John had an idea for a show called, Chinatown Cop. I worked for a time developing this pilot and movie script and it was eventually pitched to CBS executives.
I have been lucky to have had many of my projects pitched or optioned. I left the transportation industry in 2016 to become an adjunct university instructor, sell real estate and consult. I continued to focus on writing and recently worked on a new pilot, as well as, finishing my sixth Rolling Justice Mystery. I own The Clinger Group and recently opened Clinger Real Estate, with my beautiful wife, Alicia. In 2023, I started my podcast Murders, Mysteries and Conspiracies on Spotify and hope you will take time to listen.
My friend John Noland paid me one of the greatest compliments about my writing I have ever received and I have never forgotten it. In our last conversation before he was murdered in Hawaii in 2018 he said these words to me.
"While others did nothing, you quietly worked on your craft. One day someone is going to call and want everything you have ever written."
Glenn P Clinger III
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