For more than 30 years, my writing life consisted of ghost writing newsletter articles and speeches for colleagues; writing reports, analyses, proposals, and grants; creating flyers and other publicity materials; developing writing standards for training projects; and designing/developing technical, customer education, sales, and management training courses. For a time, I also helped several small non profits design and configure their websites, managing several in the process, and managed a community technology center focused on access for the low income community. I left that world in 2014, dropped my business website, and closed the book on that page in my life to travel in a slightly different direction.
Thus, it feels ironic that I had a difficult time thinking about what to post first on this new site as I push forward on the path I’ve followed for a number of years . . . one which is morphing into something more yet, somehow, is quite familiar . . . and comfortable.
For the past thirteen years and counting, I’ve been writing fiction—short stories and novels—in the mystery, crime, science fiction, and speculative fiction genres. I’d written and submitted a number of short stories before that, but in 2013 decided this is important to me. I pushed it the forefront, despite a demanding day job, and have worked at it steadily since.
Happily, I am now writing full time. Rising at 4 am to squeeze in an hour or two before heading for a job that shriveled my writing time and creativity is no longer necessary. Instead, my former weekend pattern of getting many new words on the screen and spending hours on a few paragraphs to reword, shuffle order, and generally strive for clarity to craft an engaging story is my daily routine. By the way, I still rise between 4 and 6 am, grab my coffee, and write.
November 2020 will mark publication of my eighth short story. My first completed novel is waiting for me to finish the prequel—which was supposed to be a sequel, but hey, my characters took on a life of their own and I wisely listened to their clamor. I did the drawing below in the ’80s—thus the yellowed paper. The drawing inspired an oak tree that is prominently featured in a critical scene near the end of that first novel. Dare I reveal that I wrote that scene before the rest of the novel?
Meanwhile, I began an entirely different novel, based on a scene that had been in my head for almost twenty years. One day I decided it was time to give that scene the characters and story it deserves. I’m 62,000 words into the manuscript and learned along the way that this is a trilogy, with the possibility of other stories in the same setting. How do you create something different while maintaining something readers can relate to? The world building and research I’ve done to create this world—medieval era, not earth, with quite a bit of Irish Gaelic background and legend in its foundation—has been fun. I’d enjoy sharing some of that in conversations with you and am certain others will share back, as well.
As I grow this site to reflect my writing and related projects, I hope it captures your attention and you stay with me. (Bear with me as I learn WordPress. When I was building websites, WordPress was on its own journey from being a blogging tool to becoming a full web development program.)
Read my free short stories and view the mini video I created for one of them. Follow me on Facebook. Then come back to see what’s new. There’s no newsletter to subscribe to, but I may do one down the road. I’ll let you know.
Meanwhile, pull up a chair and let’s get to know each other. You can use the comment feature on any one of the blog posts, or the contact form, to reach me.