Why I write…
I have been reading everything I could get my hands on since I was in the third grade. I had to attend summer school that year. My parents moved to Pendleton, Oregon where my father ran a family owned newspaper. I worked there selling newspapers on the street. Yes, that dates me. Anyway, it seems that I was well behind the reading level appropriate for my age when the family moved and I had to go to summer school to up my reading skills. I was a miserable failure. To motivate me, my third grade summer school reading teacher would crack me on the knuckles whenever I stumbles over a word or couldn’t get past a simple paragraph of text. Yes, I know that also dates me. That was before it was a criminal offense to crack a third grader on the knuckles. The result of the knuckle cracking? I read everything I could find and never stopped and never looked back.
One day I was searching the web for something to read. My book collection had grown to the point that my wife was complaining about how much space all my books took up so, I started reading eBooks. Anyway, I was looking for something to read. I got frustrated. I couldn’t find anything that interested me. Everything seemed to be just same ‘ol, same ‘ol. And I was tired of reading same ‘ol, same ‘ol so I thought why don’t I just write something myself. I had a journalism degree. I’d worked for newspapers most of my adult life (with a stint in billboards interestingly enough) I had spent time in the Navy as a Navy Journalist. I was published around the world through Navy Times. I knew how to put two words together. Didn’t I?
So I started out writing about people who face uncertainty, untenable positions and having the moral courage to try to do the right thing when doing the right thing sometimes feels like the wrong thing. Sound familiar? It is. There’s nothing new, or so they say, (by the way, who is they?). I reference The Bard, William Shakespeare. Did you know he was accused of plagiarism? He probably didn’t do it. If he did he certainly became famous ripping off other writers. But in his defense, I don’t think he did. I think he just wrote about the human condition and what he said wasn’t anything new.
So I write about what I know. I’ve been watching my fellow man for as long as I can remember. I don’t think I’ve written anything new. I might say it in a different way. But at least it’s my own story, not just same ‘ol, same ‘ol. Or if it is it’s my same ‘ol, same ‘ol.
This is Gunner (Standard Poodle) and Millie (German Shepherd) — my full-time writing companions, and the reason I get up from my desk at least a few times a day whether I want to or not. Between the two of them, they've logged more hours listening to me talk through plot problems than anyone else, human or otherwise. Don't be surprised if a little bit of them shows up in a character or two along the way.
Gunner has patience issues.
Millie has a way of getting what she wants. Regardless.