I just had my first book published and I keep asking myself “what were you thinking? Who do you think you are trying to enter the literary world? You are a math teacher. You have no writing skills. And, by the way, you really dislike writing things. It took you two tries to make it through college and now in your old age decide to write a book. And not just a book, but a children’s book series. What do you even remember about being a child?”
God gave me a passion for reading. I’m not big on space travel, but I don’t mind traversing dimensions. I like a little magic and maybe a talking dragon or two. Anyway, I have always been amazed at how someone could use words and create a new world with people, animals and all the stuff that goes with it. For years I thought that after all the stuff I’ve read there had to be a story floating around in my head somewhere.
I spent a short stint in the military – somewhere around 20 years and two weeks. Not really my entire life but a chunk. Being in the military can sometimes stifle ones imagination and for some reason writing anything other than training manuals never crossed my mind.
Anyway, I went back to college to become a teacher. I struggled through all the English classes and was often thankful that I was a Math major. After I graduated I landed that big teaching job and, again, writing never crossed my mind until I met that one student. You know the kind of kid you look at and say “if I ever get to write a book it will be about him.” In this case “him” was Cody. This lead to Cody’s Almost Trip to the Zoo.
Now, I’m back to asking “what were you thinking?” One Saturday morning in December as I was going to talk to my publisher, Mike, I prayed, “God, if this is what I’m supposed to do make it easy, if not then shut the door.” My prayer was answered and I am pleasantly stuck doing something I had never dreamed of, creating a new place with new and unusual animals. How fun! Now a second, third and fourth books are in the works and I am addicted to writing. Sometimes you don’t have to thinkabout what to do – sometimes things just happen because they are supposed to.
Treble City 