Contact

Jim Soliski
jim@DoesYourMeterWork.com

About Jim

Jim’s got a few years of experience at being 40. Earlier in life, writing was unsuitable because there was always another weekend tournament, another cover charge to pay, another fox telling him that she was washing her hair, in other words, he was too busy being twentysomething. Still, the thought of writing hectored him until one night, about a week into the book, after umpteen laps around his Filipino beach hut mumbling, "Write the first word and you can never go back. Will you see it through?," he began.

He has traveled and worked throughout Western Europe, Asia, the Americas, and New Zealand, around 50 countries. This wanderlust resulted from a summer job at a cardiac rehab lab where he worked among a United Nations list of medical personnel. Listening to their stories and exchanges of far-off lands so unlike his rural Canadian prairie beginnings gelled his belief that the most interesting people were those who had traveled.

He managed a BA in English Literature, never forgetting his luck by studying under such accomplished, sage professors. So many years later, a couple of them dove into Does Your Meter Work?! as if they had written it themselves. Back in Canada, he created, operated, then peddled off a fast-food restaurant that served 16 different toppings on baked potatoes, he imported goods from Asia, drove cab, and he's sold everything from plastic bags to real estate. Down in New Zealand, he partnered in a nuts and candies business. Over in England, and dead broke, he washed dishes, got fired from a bakery because "6 foot and 14 stone is too big," and sold space on an information service that had no hope of working. Twice in Taiwan and VietNam, he taught English.

He speaks French rather well, enough Ukrainian to make his Baba laugh out loud, and adequate Mandarin and Spanish to get his face slapped. He likes to play fastball, hockey and golf, go hunting and fishing, take pictures, cook, and he constantly schemes his next trip.