“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”
Lao-Tzu
When I was a kid, I dreamed of becoming a paleontologist (I still hunt for fossils). The Mercury space program drove that profession from my thoughts, but my desire to be an astronaut soon ended when I got glasses and realized I would never qualify. After that, I decided I wanted to become a forest ranger.
By the time I was ready to apply for college, I had no idea what I wanted to be. As a result, I worked hard to get into West Point, as I figured I’d have at least another nine years to figure out what I wanted to do in life.
As it turned out, it wasn’t enough time, as I still didn’t know what my calling was when I got out of the Army. So, I joined the corporate world, expecting to be there only a few years until I left to start a business. Kids, a comfortable living, and no clear plan for a business caused me to stay a lot longer.
The first time I ever considered writing was almost 15 years later, when my youngest son, David, and I talked about what happened in the Mines of Moria. But that idea faded too when I realized I was no Tolkien. I moved from a house in suburbia in North Carolina to a forested property (an old dairy farm) in upstate New York and then to a smaller one outside of Cincinnati.
I got divorced during that time and became a single dad to four kids ranging in age from grade school to high school. I loved the experience – except for a few minutes here and there :). It gave me a totally different perspective on what it took to be a mom and the challenges that girls face in growing up.
By late 2008 I’d gotten remarried, three of my kids had left for college, leaving only a junior in high school at home and I was still some years away from leaving the corporate world (I don’t use the “R” word). If you’d asked me then, I would have thought I’d be spending 2021 working on my forestland, teaching supply chain management at some university, and traveling the world. Well, I got two out of three right – working on my land and doing some world traveling (although none in the Pandemic Year).
My plans changed on December 24, 2008, as out of the blue, I sat down and started writing my first novel. I don’t know why I started that day. Maybe it was because I’d started reading again (I didn’t do too much when raising my kids). Perhaps it was because of all the writing I was doing to document global supply chain management procedures. Whatever it was, I pulled out a Hardy Boys Mystery book as a guide on how to structure my first novel, sat down, and began writing about two young teenagers, ghosts, and bad guys. I had no idea it would become my passion!
Now, my days consist of working on the land in the mornings and writing the rest of the day, interspersed with trips to research my books with my travel guide – my youngest daughter. The picture below is from our first trip to Belize, Guatemala, and Peru. The trip totally changed my approach to the books (I’ll talk more about it in a later post).
This picture is from Xunantunich in Belize. Off in the distance are fires from prescribed burning that my protagonist, Alex Scire, asks about on his way to Lamanai.
What a trip, and what a way to kick off my current writing journey.
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