John Carenen is a writer with a keen eye for both serious and humorous work. His by-line columns in the Morganton (North Carolina) News-Herald and the Clinton (South Carolina) Chronicle established his reputation for self-effacing humor, with one column reprinted in Reader's Digest. Other RD credits include Shagger! which won a First Person Award. The National Institute of Mental Health published Son-up, Son-down, his novelized treatment of a successful group home approach, the Teaching-Family Model. He has been a key presenter at a number of Teaching-Family Model national conferences and, more recently, a panelist several times over in Killer Nashville Conferences, including a Claymore Award at the 2019 conference. He has also published pieces in The Sign, McCall's, and Dynamic Years, and his Thomas O'Shea trilogy (Signs of Struggle, A Far Gone Night, and The Face on the Other Side) drew accolades from established authors. Ron Rash, Wendy Tyson, and William Ken Kreuger, among others, have praised his work.