The Journey to Publication

Welcome to my journey to publication.  I started reading comics at the age of six. I grew up on a steady diet of the Hardy Boys, Arthur Conan-Doyle, Mickey Spillane, Kurt Vonnegut, Hermann Hesse and a host of others.  Books were always a part of my life.  Growing up, we had two things that were a vital part of our household; a library and a record collection.  All gone now, replaced by a Nook and Sirius XM. 

In my early days television was black and white and comics were in color.  I consumed both which I believe made moving to the white page with black letters an easy transition.  It also gave me a visual sense of movement and place. Conan-Doyle and Spillane led to Ellery Queen, Elmore Leonard and Agatha Cristie; Vonnegut and Hesse led me to reading a lot of news, history and contemporary non-fiction.  Then the reader in me found the writer in me.

It wasn’t until my Navy days that I figuratively put pen to paper.  During quiet midnight shifts in a concrete bunker or in a barracks then a house off base, I would while away my time either typing on my little Smith Corona or on the teletype while on duty.  Much of that writing was stored poorly and lost to time.  But the process lives within me.  Considering the limited amount of fiction I have read since those days I am surprised how easily the words flow. 

I love writing fiction.  It gives me the opportunity to build worlds and tear them down if I wish.  And then build them back up again.  Does this make me a “control freak?”  I hope not.  Not more than anyone else who has thoughts and dreams about stuff that ain’t never gonna happen to them.  I love having conversations in my head between characters and moving that to the page.  And I love editing those words into prose with continuity, a rhythm and harmony.   To me it’s all like acting without having to perform. 

I have enjoyed researching the book I have written as it is all based on what I call “factability.”  In other words, if it cannot be done, I don’t want it on the page.  I am just not a fantasy writer.  But that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get weird on occasion.

Fiction also gives me the freedom to toss out nice little bits of my own philosophy as espoused by a character or three.  It gives me a forum to talk about things such as wisdom, bravery, and conscience.  Or, as is the case with “Life Style,” hidden sub cultures and those who drive them.