Beginnings

I originally wrote this on Neuro Dan’s website under the Authors Corner Blog but wanted to share it here again.

Beginnings

April 3, 2019

Writing has always been a passion of mine. When I was a teenager I was lucky enough to be enrolled in a program that allowed me to meet with and take classes from published authors of several genres. That experience, as well as the support of a high school English teacher and friends, fueled that passion.

I wrote my first novel when I was seventeen. I never felt like it was perfect; there always seemed to be something I wanted to make better and so I never sent it to a publisher. After high school I went on to a community college where I got an associates degree in commercial art and advertising. That type of art wasn’t my cup of tea and I never pursued that career.

I was born and raised in western New York. Yes, if we’re from New York we do have to define what part of New York. That’s just part of being from there. I grew up in farm country where the population of cows could exceed the population of people. At night, you could look up into the sky and see the Milky Way and millions of stars. Now that I live near cities that is something that I miss very much.

After college I moved to Georgia, north of Atlanta. It took a few years but that’s where I met Amanda. I’ll never understand how I got so lucky but when I asked her to marry me she said yes. For some reason she’s even stuck around for over twenty years! She’s been the best thing I could have ever asked for in life.

As happens to most of us, life took us on many journeys. We briefly moved to my old stomping grounds in New York. Then we moved back to Cartersville, GA. One of my jobs had us move to Florida for a couple of years and from there we returned to Georgia.

I worked many years in retail management and at times in the security industry. I took an opportunity and returned to college. I had intended to get my bachelors degree but wound up going on to get an MBA. Now I’m working as a district manager for a security company. I love my job and feel blessed because I know not many people can actually say that.

But, as I said, writing has always been a passion. We had Dan for about a year and a half and people started asking me if I would write a book about Dan. I could sense that there was a book that I would write but it never felt like it was the right time. I knew it would happen but I couldn’t get a feel or even imagine how to go about it. The idea of his book kicked around in my head for years but I could never get any traction with figuring out how it should happen.

When he passed, and my initial shock and utter heart break subsided so I could breath, it hit me. It felt like Dan was sitting on my shoulder and talking in my ear. Everything I couldn’t figure out I suddenly started to realize. The mental obstacles were gone and I the vision was coming together.

So I sat down and started writing. Once I started it was hard to stop. The words just spilled onto the page. It was like Dan was right there with me the entire time. At times it was heartbreaking. Dan’s loss was so recent that I wrote many chapters with tears on my cheeks. 

People would ask me how long the book was going to be, how would I know when to stop, or what to add, or even how to word some of the stories. I couldn’t answer any of them. I didn’t know myself. I knew the story was just coming to me and that I was going to write until it felt like it was time to stop. The way the stories were coming to me I had faith that it would turn out the way it was supposed to.

Near the end I had a sense of urgency to get it published that is really difficult to explain. Like writing the rest of the book I decided to listen to my gut and go with it. I knew the story was great and I knew the ending was right, but like my first novel as a teenager, I started to want to edit and refine everything. I made the decision that I wasn’t going to do that. I wanted the book published before April. Amazon got it approved faster than I thought and I was able to meet that goal.

Now as I look back over the last year I can’t believe what I’ve managed to get done. Book two is complete and published. The young adult book is written and submitted to an agent that I would really like to work with. Today I was able to start the third book in the Neuro Dan series. I have Dan to thank for reawakening that writer within me. I only hope I can do him justice with my words in describing how much love he brought to this Earth. I can’t wait to see what’s next on this journey.