Leonard D. Hilley II's Blog, page 8

#ThrowbackThursday (Late) Murfreesboro, TN, Tornado & Our Father

Our father passed away about four years ago due to COPD. Even though we weren’t close the last year or so before his death, I find myself, at times, wanting to call him to hear his voice.

On Good Friday, ten years ago, a tornado ripped through Murfreesboro, TN, and destroyed his house while he was asleep inside. My brother Chris called me and asked if I had heard the news. I hadn’t. He told me what had happened.

A few days later, I talked to our father on the phone. He told me that he had come home from work and the news said that Murfreesboro was under a Tornado Warning. He laughed and said that they got those warnings a lot but never had any tornadoes touched down. Exhausted, he went to bed, and when he woke up, he had been lifted through the roof of his house and then dropped. The fall broke a few ribs and he had bruises, but he was alive. He said that had he fallen to the left or right of the spot where he landed, he’d have been killed by the splintered lumber and nails.

His survival and the destruction of his house and those of his neighbors made the news. He was interviewed here: Murfreesboro TN Tornado Leonard Hilley

Every now and then, I go to this video (playback and sound aren’t great) to see him and hear his voice. In a lot of ways I wish we could have mended the bridge between us. I honestly tried several times, but …

Until next time ….

Titan and Coyotes

Since I’m a early riser, I take our Cane Corso Mastiff outside around 1–2 a.m. About two weeks ago, a group of coyotes were yipping and barking over the hill behind our neighbors’ house. Without seeing them, there’s no way to know the actual number of coyotes. A pack of four communicating with their high-pitched squeals sounds like there might be a dozen. These were a good distance from the house and Titan’s ears rose as he listened. He was curious about the sound of their cries.

Titan: Seven Weeks Old

Two nights ago, around 1 a.m., I took him outside and walked him to the edge of our yard. A neighbor’s dog barked incessantly on the street below ours. Normally, no dogs are barking, as we live in town and it violates the noise ordinance.

This was also one of Titan’s stubborn nights where there was no mistake he had to relieve himself, but he wanted to delay the process for as long as possible. Never mind that he was the one to stand at the door and give his little ‘I need to take a dump’ growls, he decided to not go. Instead, he delicately paced back and forth, constantly sniffing the ground, and a couple of times, he initiated the ‘fake-out’ where he took the pose and then, he changed his mind. For those of you with dogs, you understand. There’s an artwork to when and where a dog will poop, or at least, that’s what he wants me to think. Right at the instant I thought, “Finally”, he returned to pacing.

After twenty-five minutes of waiting, still nothing. I frowned at Titan and he gave me his defiant look. Basically, “What are you going to do about it, buddy?”

Titan: 10 months old

At wit’s end and grumbling, I warned he’d go back to bed if he didn’t do his business. A second later, several loud barks came from the edge of the woods, not even ten yards away from where we stood in the yard. Hiding in the shadows of the tree was at least one coyote. It gave a second series of barks. My guess, alerting others in the pack of where we were.

Titan looked me in the eyes with a bit of curiosity, and I led him to our front door. At the door, his gaze wasn’t one of fright, but more of asking what he should do. Cane Corsos were once used to hunt and kill bears. Their jaw grip is nearly three times that of a pit bull. He stood as if awaiting orders. I opened the door and took him inside.

The next night when I took him out, I carried a titanium snake hook for protection should the coyotes be near. They weren’t, and so far, we’ve not heard them again. But Titan stares into those trees each night we go out. His hearing is usually keen, so I’m not sure how the one had snuck so closely to us a few nights ago. Since he had allowed it so close without us noticing, he acts as though he won’t be surprised like that a second time.

Until next time …

Interview with Sci-fi/Fantasy Artist John Dotegowski

Today, I’m interviewing John Dotegowski.

Hi, John.

I want to welcome you to my website and introduce you to my fantasy reading audience.

Frosthammer Artwork by John Dotegowski

For those who don’t know, John Dotegowski is the artist for the phenomenal covers for Books 3 (Frosthammer) & 4 (Shadowfae) in the Aetheaon Chronicles. I’m incredibly impressed and overjoyed with those covers and want to ask some questions about your artistic process.

How early in life, did you know that you wanted to become an artist?

I’ve been drawing my entire life. I don’t remember when I haven’t actually. I’ve always wanted to be an artist and create images.

Did you keep drawing journals throughout the years?

Not really journals but I’ve got a lot of sketchbooks. I’ve tossed a few but not many.

What inspires you to paint?

Stories and books. I grew up reading almost only science fiction and fantasy books and I loved the covers. When I read, I saw the scene playing out in my head and I always wanted to try to capture it. Trying to capture a pivotal or emotional moment was the goal.

Do you have any mentors that have influenced you early on and/or even now?

My influences are pretty much the big ones in this field. Frazetta, Boris, Michael Whelan, Donato, the Hildebrants, Larry Elmore, Jeff Easley, Brom and many more.

What mediums do you work with?

For digital I use Photoshop and Painter and oil for traditional media.

Artwork by John Dotegowski

You’ve created some incredible digital illustrations and oil paintings, some of which are posted at your website: www.johndotegowski.com. A lot of artists are producing more digital illustrations. I imagine the advantage digital has over acrylic or oil paints is the lack of mess or the need for a large studio. You mention that you’re starting to work with oil paints again. Which medium do you prefer: digital or oils? And why?

They both have advantages. Digital is great for freelance and commercial jobs. It’s faster and much, much easier to make changes to. If someone wants the size of a major figure changed you can just cut and paste it bigger, and then make the adjustments as needed. The same with color changes and so on. There is certainly is less mess and much less space needed as well. A computer and a tablet fit most anywhere. It’s also easier when getting a final image to a client. You just send them the file. Traditional media requires scanning or photographing the image, then correcting it and sending it off. Painting traditionally takes up more space and requires more forethought and planning. Once you start putting paint on canvas, changes are much more complicated to make. I think I prefer oil painting though because there’s nothing quite like seeing a physical, one of a kind painting in person. Enjoying the texture and the brush strokes. It’s not the same with a print of a digital image.

It fascinates me how artists can take a visual idea from their minds and paint pictures on canvases or produce digital art with such precision. How many years of drawing/sketching/painting before you reached the professional level?

I’m not sure I’m there yet… I’m still working at it. I have been constantly practicing and sketching and working towards getting better. I don’t think any image has ever been what I’ve thought from the beginning.

Describe your studio:

My computer and tablet are actually set on a table in the corner of my bedroom. I have some pictures on the walls and some miniature figures around. Kind of a nerdy setup, I’d say. My easel for oil painting is in the basement next to a work bench that is quite messy and covered with paint tubes and brushes, thinners and brush cleaner. It’s hard to have a setup for oil painting anyplace you want to keep clean.

Can you briefly describe your process from idea to finished project? What tools do you use?

I start out sketching ideas, sometimes on paper and sometimes on the computer. I’ll kind of get a basic idea of what I want and then I’ll look for some reference images. Sometimes these can give me more inspiration. Then I work towards a final rough making changes that I think are needed, whether they are to the values or the composition. Once I get what I want in place, I’ll then proceed to the final. If it’s digital, I’ll just start painting with color. If it’s oils, I’ll outline the picture and print it off the size of the canvas or illustration board. It’s printed on 8 ½ X 11 paper, so it usually means putting the paper together like a puzzle to get it right. Then I transfer the line work to the canvas and start painting in base colors and values and go from there.

How do you know when you’re finished with a piece?

I don’t know to be honest. I’ll just kind of get to a point where I realize it’s gotten to be the best that I can make it. I think I could probably keep working on one forever; always thinking that I could make something better, but it’s also easy to overwork and ruin something that way. I just have to kind of make a judgement call.

On your website, you have a tab that shows your murals. Since my grandson is four years old, the dinosaur mural intrigues me. What kind of timeline does that require?

Murals do take a while. The concept part can be any length of time but the painting for one the size of a wall is probably a good week or two of solid painting.

Will you be attending any sci-fi/fantasy conventions this year?

I will be in the showcase at Illuxcon in Reading, PA, this October. So far that’s it. I’m hoping that next year I’ll be able to make a few more. Scheduling with the day job can get in the way.

What do you enjoy most about being an artist?

Creating. I like having something in my head that I can bring to a reality on one way or another. Or being able to bring someone else’s vision to life. Also, when someone looks at something I created and likes it very much. Sometimes they see something personal to them and it touches them and it’s a powerful thing to be a part of.

What painting are you the most proud of?

I have a few, but I think the one I like most of all is “Chat with a Moon Dragon”. It’s one of my biggest at 24” X 36”. It took about 60 hours of painting time and I think the color and mood all came together just right.

That’s an impressive piece.

What’s the most challenging aspect in creating a painting?

Trying to capture the vision in my head. I have an idea and sometimes it’s difficult to get all that’s inside my brain realized in a two-dimensional image.

As an artist, what do you consider success?

I guess creating things that people appreciate. Being able bring to life something from imagination and having people happy with my work is wonderful. Of course, if my painting sold for millions of dollars that wouldn’t hurt…

With your talent, such isn’t impossible.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to these questions. I wish you much continued success. Readers, please take the time to check out John’s other great artwork at his website: http://www.johndotegowski.com 

Until next time ….

If You Could Be …

Various book bloggers have interviewed me over the years. Here’s a question commonly asked, “If you could be any author in the world, who would you be?”

My reply has always been the same. I would be … ME.

The list of authors I admire and whose novels I eagerly devour is vast. And while I greatly admire their dedication and hard work throughout the years, I don’t want to be the next “Fill in famous author name”. The stories I tell are part of me and come from deep inside. The tales are shaped and spawned from the good and bad experiences I’ve lived through, the variety of good/evil people I’ve met, and how I’ve had to cope with every situation. Sometimes, there’s no better way to deal with irregular, irrational people than to create fictional situations loosely based upon life’s experience and hash it out onto the page. Writing is often deeply personal. That’s why no other author could tell my tales in the same way, nor could I theirs.

While we might emulate other authors’ styles and voices from time to time, the crafting of our words would still remain quite different. As writers, we are taught and we learn from the authors before us. We learn to write. But regardless of learning proper grammar and syntax, not one person can actually teach you creative writing. The rules for writing can be taught, learned, and applied, but story crafting and world building develops over time.

If creative writing cannot be taught, how does a writer learn to write creatively?

The best answer: Read lots of novels and short stories. Hundreds of them. Study how the stories are set up. How is the world constructed? Write a LOT. Write every day. Revise, edit, and keep writing. An author’s style and voice emerges over time and through constant practice.

An English professor once told me that you must master the rules of writing in order to break them.

Break them?

Breaking the rules doesn’t mean to butcher the language or to intentionally misspell words or leave out necessary punctuation. What it does mean is you can deviate from having to form each sentence properly. Use contractions, especially in dialogue. To set pace, sometimes it’s okay to use fragments or a string of fragments. Not always. But … sometimes.

Above all, be yourself. Find your voice while you tell the stories, and the prose will flow smoother for the readers.

Until next time ….

 

Trees, Trees, & More Trees (#Throwback Thursday)

You’ve probably heard the old saying that “You can see the forest for the trees’? When it came to the house we lived in growing up and our father’s tree obsession, you couldn’t cut the yard for the trees. No joke.

I like all types of trees, shrubs, decorative vines, and flowers. I wish we had more in our yard where we currently live. But when we were teenagers, our yard was a small woods in progress, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. However, every tree needed to be mowed around with a push-mower. Push-mowers in the 70s were a LOT heavier than those we have today.

Our yard was an obstacle course filled with rows and rows of trees. When we first moved into our home in Pleasant Hill (1969), my parents ordered a lot of shrubs and trees from the Michigan Bulb Company. One of the trees was a silver maple (Acer saccharinum) and was only three inches tall. He said that when he planted it, he didn’t expect it to live. Last time I went to Alabama and drove past (2017), the tree was still there.

Since most of the other plants they ordered didn’t survive, he searched the woods behind the house and pulled up saplings and planted them in the yard. He pulled up several yellow pines one fall and I asked if I could plant one. He gave me one and I planted it in my sandbox near the concrete brick foundation where a smaller version of our house had been before they bought it. He said that the tree wouldn’t grow because of the sand. Some years later, the tree was over twenty feet tall.

After he moved to Murfreesboro, TN, and bought a new home, he did the same thing, boxing in his property with lines of trees.

Other than the hassle of mowing around them, I loved how they bettered the landscape of our yard. Two large yellow pines were ideal places to climb whenever I played hide-and-seek from my sister. She never found me, as I was a good thirty to forty feet off the ground.

The large variety of trees was also an advantage when I reared caterpillars. Sometimes I even found species I’d never seen before, too.

And for those worried about the excess CO2 emissions, plant MORE trees and shrubs. They use carbon dioxide and release oxygen back into the atmosphere. A win-win situation, isn’t it? Trees are air filters, too, and let’s face it, a shade tree is a nice place to sit under during the summer.

Until next time ….

Reedsy.com: My Not So Pleasant Experience

One week ago, I received an email from a ‘community manager’ at Reedsy.com, which stated:

Hi Leonard,

I’m the Community Manager at Reedsy. Emmanuel, our CEO, came across your profile on Linkedin and asked me to reach out. He thought your experience would be a great fit in our community. We connect authors and publishers with the industry’s best editors, designers and marketers to create high-quality, beautiful books.

Our system is completely transparent: you send a quote (setting your own rates) and we take 10% on the amount. There’s no fee to be on the marketplace.

Every month, we accept a small number of new profiles to join. Would you be interested in joining Reedsy as a publishing professional?

If so, you just need to create your freelancer profile here.

Would love to hear back from you!

Best,

Jessica at Reedsy

#####

My first thought? What the hell is Reedsy?

Curiosity made me research their site (est. 2016), and overall, it seems like a good place for authors to collaborate and hire an editor/designer/marketer, if they need one. Since Emmanuel, the CEO of the company (yes, it checked out), mentioned I’d be a ‘great fit’, I wanted to make certain she was asking me to join Reedsy as a publishing professional and not as someone looking for an editor.

#####

So I emailed back,

Hi Jessica,

Are you asking me to join as an editor for freelance work?
Thanks!
— 

Leonard D. Hilley II

(sci-fi fantasy author)

To which, she replied,

Hi Leonard,

Sorry for not being clear! Yes that’s correct (SIC)
Thanks,
Jessica

—

Best,

Jessica
Reedsy Community Manager



#####
So, over the weekend, I spent some time, about three hours total (counting researching their company) preparing my profile. Afterwards, I sent her an email to inform her that I had completed my profile. I also asked if editors were able to search the marketplace to find authors needing editors, as all I found in the search was other editors/copyeditors.

She replied,

Hi Leonard,

I tried to find your profile in our system but cannot find it with the email you gave me. Nor with this one. 
What was the name you used for it?
Also, you won’t be able to search for any authors, they will search for you. And right now, your profile has not been activated as it still has to go through the review process.

Best,
Jessica

#####

I sent her the link to my profile.

Her reply:

Hi Leonard,

Thank you for your message. I was able to find your profile in our system and see now why I couldn’t find it earlier.

I have checked and our management team has concluded that at the moment, we have a large number of freelancers offering services within similar areas to what you indicated in your profile, with a little more experience. As a result, we won’t be able to activate your profile just yet. However, this might change in the future and we will let you know as soon as we’re ready to onboard you! I’d also suggest you review our selection process to familiarize yourself with it:

https://blog.reedsy.com/how-does-reed...

Best wishes and best of luck with your work in the meantime,

Jessica
#####

Wait a minute … What? First of all, you solicited me. I didn’t solicit you. I didn’t know what the site was during the initial, cold-call email Jessica sent, which states their *transparency*. As you can see from the first email, I had to request more information, and her response was ‘sorry for not being clear’. So … I replied again:

“Okay, so you invite me to set up a profile and now, after more than three hours of my time setting up the account and (…) joining Stripe (something I wouldn’t have done anyway since I use Paypal), I’m being told my profile won’t be activated? According to your initial contact letter, you said, “Would you be interested in joining Reedsy as a publishing professional? If so, you just need to create your freelancer profile here.”

Nothing indicated that my profile would be delayed in activation based upon how many other freelancers’ services were similar to mine. Pretty much, this was a direct invitation to join Reedsy as a publishing professional. To be honest, even if activated today, I really didn’t expect any immediate requests for at least several weeks. I’ve edited several novels and screenplays in the past, as people have sought my assistance for editing, copyediting, and ghostwriting (

As for professionalism, I find it highly unprofessional to word your email with the implication of me ‘joining your group’, as your CEO thought I’d be a ‘great fit’ with Reedsy, and then being told otherwise. I don’t appreciate having my time wasted.

Wishing you the best,

Leonard
________

Here’s the thing. Her first email is a direct invitation. Not an interview. Not, “Please submit to see if you’re a fit ….” She clearly states that I ‘just need to create a profile” to join their publishing professionals. Why send a ‘selection process’ AFTER I’ve gone to the trouble of creating a freelancer profile? Does that make any sense? Why waste my time? Where’s the transparency in that? Basically, this is like a business telling you to buy your uniform beforehand and then not giving you the job.


What irks me the most is my loss of time.

Some advice. Managers of a writing/editing website should be able to produce a quality introductory letter with clarity and if it’s for the editor they’re soliciting to drop his/her name into a pool for possibly selection, state it up front. Not doing so isn’t transparency. It’s shady.

Also, make certain to use proper punctuation, too. Periods, Oxford commas, and such.

I don’t need Reedsy’s validation, nor do I seek it. With the amount of writing I do on a daily basis, I’m selective in taking any editing job because doing so means I must set aside my WIPs.

I’m curious what experiences others have had with Reedsy as an editor or marketer. If you’ve used their editing services, please share with us. We’d like to know.

Until next time ….

FROSTHAMMER (Aetheaon Chronicles: Book Three) LIVE

Frosthammer, the third installment in the Aetheaon Chronicles is available in Paperback, Kindle, and KindleUnlimited starting today. Fans of The Lord of the Rings and The Game of Thrones should enjoy this book. Epic Fantasy. 401 pages.

The premise:

From Treasure Hunter to Dwarven King

Cover art by John Dotegowski

During the Battle of Hoffnung, Boldair discovers his father’s secret betrayal and is declared Nagdor’s new king by the Northern Dwarven Alliance. Boldair and three of his fellow Dwarves begin their journey to Nagdor for his coronation. Due to possible threats on his life in opposition to his taking the throne, he decides to take a longer route home by detouring through the autonomous, majestic city lost to legend and hidden deep beneath the Frosted Peaks. The city is Frosthammer, which is occupied by an unusual Dwarven race that are untrusting to visitors, even new kings. The journey becomes fraught with more dangers than Boldair ever expected or imagined.

 

 

Blessings to you and yours!

Throwback Thursday: (Hog Heaven, or Hog in Heaven)

I was probably 2 1/2 years of age when this picture was taken. My parents rented this house for a few months before buying our home about a mile down the brow road near the Pleasant Hill Community.

Mrs. Davis (Armstrong) lived in this house after we moved. A small barn was behind the house with quite a few fenced-in acres. At the time, our father had wanted to start pig-farming as some of our relatives were doing this and earning a good bit of money. So with the owner’s permission, he bought a weened piglet and set up a trough near the fence. He wanted to get an idea of what was required in rearing pigs, so he started with one.

I don’t recall doing this, but my parents told me about how every day, I’d get some water in a bucket and stagger to the pigpen and pour the water through the fence into the trough. They said that I wasn’t able to tote much because the bucket was almost as big as I. Yet, I’d make trip after trip with water until I nearly filled the trough. I suppose I was dedicated to ensure it had water.

After a few months, the hog had grown large enough to send to the butcher. When they finished processing the hog, they called, and he went to pick up the meat. We would have had enough meat to last us a while, since it was only the three of us at the time.

My father brought home boxes of sausage, chops, tenderloin, and bacon, and set them on the table. My parents sorted through the packaged meat and then opened a large wrapped bundle, which horrified them. It was the head! They never realized that folks make souse and other types of ‘jellies’ from the head meat and fat.

That’s when they said that they had to give the meat away. Had the packers not included the head with everything else, they said that they probably wouldn’t have had a problem. But when they saw the head, all they could think of was how many times I had taken water and feed to the pig as it had grown up. They might have even named it. I’m not sure.

But that ended Hilley’s Hog Farm before it ever got started.

 

Having Someone Who Believes In You

This year, 2019, my 18th book will be released.

When my first novel, Predators of Darkness, was published in 2007, I didn’t know if a second novel would emerge, simply because of how drained I was from writing the first one. But a few months afterwards, the characters began talking to one another in my mind (yeah, sounds crazy, right?) and I discovered their story wasn’t complete. A couple of years later, Beyond the Darkness was finished and published.

The truth needs to be revealed. None of these novels would have been written had it not been for my wife, Christal. Even though I had written my first novel when I was 11 years old, and had piddled with short stories into my early teens, I stopped writing due to my church’s view on fantasy when I was a kid (a blog for another day). I abandoned my passion due to listening to the narrow-minded views that proclaimed fantasy was evil. Yes, evil.

When I first met and started dating Christal at Berea College in 1993, we stopped at the college bookstore to browse at the books. We came to a table with some discounted novels and found a three-in-one novel set by Dean R. Koontz. I’d never heard of him, but she expressed that he was her favorite novelist. As a surprise, I later returned to the bookstore without her. I bought the book and planned to give it to her as a gift.

I returned to my dorm room and read the inside flap of the cover, wondering why Koontz was her favorite author. I turned to the opening chapter of The Servants of Twilight and decided to read maybe a few chapters. I found his writing style intriguing in that he allowed the reader to get inside each character’s mind. The story almost had a soap opera feel to it because each chapter flipped back and forth between the characters until their paths eventually collided. Needless to say, the event that occurred at the end of Chapter Four hooked and compelled me to read the entire novel. I understood why Koontz was her favorite author. Now he was MY favorite author.

I sheepishly told Christal that I had bought the book for her but … I needed to finish the first novel before giving it to her. She laughed. But, you see, it was her introduction to Koontz that caused my zeal to write to come out of hiding. I don’t know that I would’ve read the book otherwise.

We married before the end of the semester and during the summer I began rewriting the book I had written as a child. Since I no longer had a physical copy of the first draft from years before, I relied on memory. Even though I had abandoned writing, the story had never faded. I entertained for years about the characters and the storyline. But until you sit down and write it, the book doesn’t exist. A book cannot write itself onto the page, no matter how loudly the characters shout.

After writing a few chapters in a notebook, I handed the rough manuscript to Christal. She read it, and when I asked how it was, she simply shook her head and basically said, “No. This doesn’t work for me.”

No?

While the words stung, I held faith in her feedback that I needed to rework and revise my writing. It was dull, bland, and needed life breathed into it. By this time in our marriage, we were accumulating quite a good library of books. Back then, Books-A-Million and Barnes & Noble had several large tables of hardback books from major publishers with renowned authors priced at a dollar each. We bought crates of books, and she devoured them. I’ve never seen anyone read as quickly, but since she was well-read, this was why her opinion of my writing mattered the most. She could compare my WIP to dozens of other authors and hundreds of books she’d read.

After she’d finish a book, I’d begin reading it, carefully taking mental notes of how different authors crafted their books. I read more and more books by Koontz and chose him early on as my mentor. However, his style didn’t work for my fantasy book, so I shelved it.

I began working on a different novel and its pace moved quickly. Still a novice, I had no idea how to get my books to a publisher. Christal found a Writer’s Digest magazine at the Gadsden Mall Bookstore, and that’s where we both learned about agents and submissions guidelines. I entered short story contests and actually placed as a runner-up in one contest.

Early in my writing career, I was bombarded by ideas that flowed effortlessly. Filled with zeal, I wrote short stories and submitted to various magazines and entered more contests. I received feedback from some well-known editors with their rejections. I took their advice to heart. After all, they were editors of great magazines, so their advice was golden.

In 1995, Sunrise Hosiery, where I worked, had been bought out by Fruit of the Loom. Drastic changes to our production rates caused our pay to be cut. In September, Christal and I decided it was time to return to college so we chose Morehead State University because it was closer to her family. We moved in with her parents with our two little children and remained there until we got an apartment in Morehead.

While in their house, I used an old dresser in their cramped storage room at the side of the house for an office. As a challenge to myself, I wrote a novel in thirty days, more so to make my writing a habitual process. I later discarded the manuscript, which wasn’t a total loss because I had gained a mental discipline to churn out pages almost every day. It was during this move to Kentucky that the first lines of Predators of Darkness came to me (I’ll detail this later in yet, another blog). These fateful words evolved into a series of five books (with several more coming in the future). Somehow, all the reading and writing I had done began to shape my prose, allowing my craft to be honed and my distinctive style and voice were emerging.

When Christal read the first few chapters, she pointed to the scenes I’d written that jumped out to her the most. She encouraged me to keep writing and said that she was seeing great improvement in my writing, which thrilled me.

Writing is a process that, like fine wine, takes a lot of time for the quality to reach its richness and flavor. Some days, the words gush out with little effort. On other rare days, it’s a snail’s pace, filled with anguish. A lot of people don’t understand the depth of commitment that’s involved in writing a novel. Folks shrug it off and say that they need to write a novel, like it’s something done over a weekend, equivalent to trimming hedges or cutting grass. Producing top quality writing isn’t easy. In fact, it can be frustrating. To fine tune one’s writing requires a LOT of isolation, and even then, errors are missed. Thankfully, I have an incredible Beta reader.

Through all of my growth as a novelist, Christal has always encouraged me. She’s convinced me not to quit writing many times when I’m at my lowest moments. Believe me, I’ve faced low moments with self-doubt, as most writers do.

But for twenty-six years, she’s been by my side. She believes in me, my writing, and the future success of my different novel series. She rallies me to keep writing.

My dedication to her in my first novel sums it up: “For my wife, Christal, who reignited my desire to write. Without her, this book would not have been written. And you? You would not be reading this.”

It’s the truth. Without her supporting and encouraging me, my books wouldn’t have been written. Those who’ve found me after reading one of my novels wouldn’t know of my existence. We’d probably have never met otherwise, chatted, etc.

I’ve been truly blessed having Christal as my wife and my best friend for past twenty-six years. Words can never express my gratitude for all she’s done and her constant encouragement. There’s no greater feeling than having someone believe in you and your writing.

Now, if I can find one million readers who fall in love with my words like she’s fallen in love with me.

Blessings to you and yours!

Until next time …

Things I’d Never Do Again …

With age comes wisdom, or so they say. But as I near my mid-50s, I look back on things I did as a teenager that I’d never do again, nor would I allow my kids or grandkids to do such things.

These weren’t inherently bad things. I never drank alcohol or did drugs. Simply put, these were actions I did without fully evaluating the risks involved while either exploring, fishing, or in travel. Of course, most teens take life for granted and often think we’re invincible.

For instance, my stepfather used to let me and his nephew ride on the toolbox against the cab of his Ford Ranger. In most states, this is now illegal, but as a kid, it was nice to ride with the wind blowing against the back of your head and roaring in your ears. However, after decades of driving and seeing automobile accidents, having people run stop signs and pull out in front of me, or having a sudden flat tire, I realize that we had gambled our lives during our trips riding on the toolbox. The least swerve off a back road could have caused the truck to lose traction and slide off the road. It also didn’t help that often my stepdad lacked sufficient sleep from his midnight shift job, especially on the weekend, and if the trip we made was to the county line, he’d drink one or two on the way home.

As a kid, and especially after my parents’ divorce, I was granted a great deal of freedom to explore the forests, bluffs, and fields for miles around Pleasant Hill. These treks allowed me to think through life’s situations and what I hoped one day I’d become.

Another example during my unsupervised explorations was using Mr. Mears’ canoe to fish in his pine-surrounded pond. With all the pines lining the bank, it was almost impossible to find a clear place to cast a lure without snagging a pine branch. Mr. Mears had given me permission to use his canoe, but I didn’t know how to swim. As careful as I’d been not to tip the canoe over, the possibility had still been there that while reeling in a bass, I might have tipped too far to one side and caused the canoe to fill with water and sink. It frightens me now to think about it, but back then, I never gave it a second thought.

I used to explore the bluffs along the edge of Sand Mountain, looking for caves and arrowheads. But often, I was alone. Once, I had climbed up the side of a steep rock face and couldn’t find a place for leverage to pull myself up any higher. Unlike the jutted sections of the face near the bottom, the upper side of the sand rock was smooth. I learned that climbing down was much harder than climbing up, and when I glanced down, I was much higher than I thought. The tedious climb back down wasn’t easy, but I somehow managed not to fall.

After I became a parent, I thought about the liberty I had of walking long distances from the time I was ten years of age, and then I found myself worrisome about my children’s well-being and safety. I was 90% closer to my children than my parents ever were toward me. I never gave them the freedom I had been given. Had the world and the people in it grown so terrible that I disallowed my children to explore the same areas I had unsupervised? Perhaps. Or perhaps, it was I realized the dangers I had placed myself into and feared they might do the same.

Sadly, however, the world has become more populated with worse perverseness than when I was young. At least, the media informs us constantly and as parents and grandparents, we must be vigilant when it comes to our children.

In looking back to when I took those foolish risks, I wouldn’t repeat them again.

Until next time …