Home Testimonials Fact To Fiction Purchase About The Author
Bill O’Connell, a journalist for four decades, was an editor at Florida Today and the Denver Post before joining the Chicago Tribune in 2000.
As a humorist, O’Connell strives for accuracy and fairness. His ability to exaggerate personality traits is the cornerstone of the customized articles.
“A Standing O Story is a caricature in word form,” says O’Connell in describing the newspaper-style articles that are known for eliciting uncontrollable laughter.
“The stories are fiction, but they are based on myriad facts provided by family and friends.
A person’s quirks are perfect fodder for an outrageous profile that I like to call a ‘loving roast.’ Friends of the recipient are more than willing to be co-conspirators and provide humorous anecdotes that I twist and turn into a unique take on the person’s life. I often solicit additional information in follow-up emails to make sure I capture the person’s personality and idiosyncrasies.”
In testimonial after testimonial, gift-givers and recipients say Standing O Stories, written exclusively by O’Connell, are the best gifts they’ve ever given or received.
“I’m most satisfied by repeat customers and recipients who turn around and order stories for friends,” O’Connell says.
O’Connell, the features copy chief at the Chicago Tribune, began his career as a sportswriter in Joliet, Ill., the setting of his critically acclaimed book, “Fourteen: The Murder of David Stukel,” which chronicles the murder of O’Connell’s Little League teammate in 1968.
“David was a freshman in high school. He was 14. He was a good kid, and he was murdered by two 14-year-old juvenile delinquents as he walked home from school. Forty years later, I was compelled to tell David’s story.”
Bill O’Connell and his wife, Denise, reside in Chicago. They are the parents of three children: Shannon, Nicole and Kyle; and two grandchildren: Sofia and Simon.
