Fred Neff has published numerous magazine articles, as well as children's books and a non-fiction self-help book titled Clues to Success-Making Rhyme out of Reason. He received his bachelor's degree in Journalism from San Diego State University and was also on the start-up staff as an intern for a new publication, gaining his first byline in the premier issue of San Diego Home/Garden Magazine. Prior to SDSU during the waning years of the Vietnam conflict he served aboard a Destroyer, a Submarine Tender, and then the fast-attack submarine, USS Gurnard (SSN-662), for the remainder of his six years of active duty in the U.S. Navy. While much of his desire to write over the years was fashioned after internalizing the positive messages from self-help books and seminars, he also began writing and publishing children's books after his son, Calvin, was born in 2005. According to Fred, when people started buying his Calvin and Dad books and then continued to purchase them, he no longer harbored the doubts that keep many writers from sharing their works with the public. Then on a dare from one of his co-workers to give back to the community, he designed and taught a night course, How to Write a Children's Book, where he helped many students realize their dreams of becoming a published author. Some of them to date have been published numerous times.