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Dan Vanderburg

Goodreads Author

Born

in The United States

Website

http://www.danvanderburg.com

Twitter

DanVanderburg

Genre

Historical Fiction, Fiction, Young Adult

Member Since

October 2015

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/danvanderburg-author

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As a sixth generation Texan, Dan Vanderburg, an author of four published novels and a collection of short stories and poetry, loves everything Texas, especially Rangers Baseball, Cowboys football, Texas history and country music. He's a Navy Viet Nam veteran. Dan entertains himself writing Texas historical fiction novels, young adult fantasy novels, humorous short stories and poetry, and hanging out with family and friends who love to laugh as much as he does. Dan is currently working on "Extraordinary Adventures of Max Malone: Tales of Texas," a fantasy historical novel.

In addition to Dan's activities as a novelist and poet, he is an accomplished lecturer and trainer. He speaks for social, fraternal and business organizations, and for chu As a sixth generation Texan, Dan Vanderburg, an author of four published novels and a collection of short stories and poetry, loves everything Texas, especially Rangers Baseball, Cowboys football, Texas history and country music. He's a Navy Viet Nam veteran. Dan entertains himself writing Texas historical fiction novels, young adult fantasy novels, humorous short stories and poetry, and hanging out with family and friends who love to laugh as much as he does. Dan is currently working on "Extraordinary Adventures of Max Malone: Tales of Texas," a fantasy historical novel.

In addition to Dan's activities as a novelist and poet, he is an accomplished lecturer and trainer. He speaks for social, fraternal and business organizations, and for church groups and retirement homes. Dan's presentations are titled, Gone to Texas. He discusses what life was really like on the raw frontier of early Texas and includes book reviews and signings. His training programs include How to Write Your Memoir and How to Develop a Read and Critique Group. Dan also offers book readings and signings.

Thrilling family tales about his ancestors' early days in Texas gave Dan the spark to research early Texas. His research led him to write about those exciting times. Family stories and legends are frequently found woven into Dan's novels.

When Dan began writing his first novel, Legacy of Dreams, he had no experience typing. He started with a spiral notebook and a number two pencil. He invested in an early computer with word processing software and taught himself to type -- sort of.

The initial concept for Legacy of Dreams came from a little snippet of a story from family legend. From there, he developed strong characters with their own stories to tell and dropped them and their stories into actual historical events in Texas.

Legacy of Dreams is about two young men; one white and one black as they come to Texas to survey land for Stephen Austin's second colony. It shows life on the raw Texas frontier -- dealing with Comanches for survival and Mexicans for freedom. The first draft was finished in a little over a year, but it took another 20 years to publish that novel. After his retirement in 2010, after several editing passes, Dan became an independent publisher and Legacy of Dreams was produced.

The concept for Dan's second novel, Trail of Hope, came from researching The Great Runaway Scrape, an actual event that occurred after the fall of the Alamo when Santa Anna's army swept through Texas following Sam Houston's army. Over 20,000 Texans, mostly women, children and the elderly, fled their homes and farms as war refugees, sometimes only hours ahead of the devastation and death caused by the Mexican army. Dan posed a question to himself: What would happen to two youngsters if they were, due to circumstances beyond their control, left alone in the frontier wilderness after all the others had fled toward the border? It's the story of a 13-year-old boy's promise to his little sister under extraordinary circumstances, and what he had to do over the years to be able to fulfill that promise.

The third book in Dan's Texas Legacy series, Freedom Road follows the Bowman and Jefferson families featured in Legacy of Dreams and Trail of Hope into the Civil War. Young Billy Jefferson, follows his dreams to become educated so he can start a school and teach others like himself. Those dreams are dashed as he is kidnapped, beaten into submission and sold into slavery in New Orleans on his way home from the University in Scotland. This story shows the Jefferson and Bowman families as they try to find their lost son and struggle with political strife as their country's union disintegrates. It also shows how two strong families, one white and one black, deal with prejudice and hatred because of their anti-slavery beliefs and Unionist leanings in a turbulent Confederate Texas.

The story of the massacre at Goliad always fascinated Dan. Few people outsi ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

How do you deal with writer’s block?

Dan Vanderburg The best way to deal with writer’s block is to keep writing. Perhaps you’ve hit a wall. You don’t know exactly where your story is going from where yo…moreThe best way to deal with writer’s block is to keep writing. Perhaps you’ve hit a wall. You don’t know exactly where your story is going from where you are at the moment. There’s gotta be more to your story than the current moment. Your imagination has already told you of other things that will happen later in the story. Go to those places in your story and write about the things happening there. Who knows, perhaps something you write about an event happening later in the story will flag something in your mind and jar loose whatever had you blocked about an earlier event in the book.

Another method to blast loose writer’s block is to stop, take a breath and review your plot. If you haven’t done so already, graphically draw a time line of major events that you know will happen in the story. (What happens first and what happens next). Then between each major event note any little events or activities that may happen between the major events. Use your imagination to let cause and effect tell you what could happen next. For example, if event A happened, then event A could have caused event B to happen.

It also may help you to do a thorough personality analysis of your main characters. On a piece of paper, define the value systems and personality characteristics of your main characters. Break it down to as detailed level as you feel necessary so that you will know how your different characters will react to certain plot issues, events and twists. You must know your character as well as you know yourself. If your character reacts to a situation contrary to his value systems or personality, you should have a good reason for him or her to do so.
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What’s the best thing about being a writer?

Dan Vanderburg Personally, I really enjoy the creative process. I enjoy setting my mind free to imagine. Here I am, an old guy, well into what most consider the reti…morePersonally, I really enjoy the creative process. I enjoy setting my mind free to imagine. Here I am, an old guy, well into what most consider the retirement years, and I’m playing pretend. “Pretend you’re the bad guy and I’m the good guy and I’m gonna chase you around the rock and then we fight, OK?” So I still get to do that. It’s fun! I get to do it all day if I want to. There is absolutely no limit to what I can imagine and write down and then tweak those fun things into a story that other people might enjoy. So now I can get other people, hopefully many other people, to play pretend with me. It’s kind of like being Peter Pan; while I’m writing, and creating a story, I really never have to grow up. I create. Creating can be a powerful thing. I can be powerful, (in my own mind, of course) when I write. OK, all silliness aside, writing is fun. Then there is the editing –– not so much fun, but extremely necessary to turn a raw, sometimes poorly written first draft, riddled with errors and oversights into a polished literary piece. (less)

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Combine Editions
Dan Vanderburg’s books

Average rating: 4.65 · 20 ratings · 3 reviews · 11 distinct works

	Legacy of Dreams 4.40 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2010 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Littlest Hero 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 2012 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Trail of Hope it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2010 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Freedom Road: (Texas Legacy family saga: Book 3) it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — published 2016 — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Dreaming Big it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Extraordinary Adventures of Max Malone: Tales of Texas 4.50 avg rating — 2 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Granbury: Where Texas History Lives it was amazing 5.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Happy Sounds: A Collection of Humorous Short Stories and Captivating Poetry really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Extraordinary Adventures of Max Malone: American Explorers (Volume 2) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Freedom Road by Dan Vanderburg (Goodreads Author), Virtual Voice (Narrator) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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Dan Vanderburg's Blog

Strange & Sweet – An Anthology of Short Stories and Poetry by The Granbury Writers’ Bloc

I am honored to have several of my short stories and poetry published in the Granbury Writers’ Bloc anthology Strange & Sweet.

Strange & Sweet short stories and poetry entice you to grab your pipe and magnifying glass and dive into these twisted tales of mystery and suspense. Prepare for a good belly-laugh as humorous stories unfold. Sneak into the unknown, spooky or just plain weird as you read th