W. Bruce Cameron was born in Petoskey, Michigan in 1960. He sold his first short story when he was 16 years old to The Kansas City Star and was paid $50.00. He graduated from Westminster College and became a freelance writer. He eventually took a string of day jobs to support his writing habit including driving an ambulance; repossessing cars; selling life insurance, wine making equipment, and men's clothing; programming computers, and analyzing financial statements. In 1995, he started an on-line Internet column, which became successful. He showed his columns to the Rocky Mountain News and in 1998 they began featuring him weekly in their Home Front section. He turned his "8 Simple Rules… for Dating My Teenage Daughter" column into a book, which was published in 2001 and was turned into a hit television show in 2002. His other works include How to Remodel a Man, 8 Simple Rules for Marrying My Daughter, A Dog's Purpose, A Dog's Journey, and The Dogs of Christmas.