The Beginning

So, the first book is out in a series I’ve been writing for a few years now. My friends and family are excited, and don’t get me wrong, so am I, but I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact there’s a book out there with my name on it. Surreal.

I’m blessed to have a dear friend who helped me see the story better and more fully, allowing me to visualize the arc and finish the book…finally. It only took me a decade from the time I started to its completion, although in actuality it was a total of maybe six months of writing. Starts and stops, you see. I guess that’s the reality for most of us who try to write something we have floating around in our heads while simultaneously earning a living outside of the universe we create with our words.

How’d all of this happen? You have to picture a couple of buddies enjoying some beers and talking about a new series of science fiction books one had introduced to the other. My friend Jim and I were sitting at a neighborhood pub, and we started talking about some fun storylines, because we were always discussing sci-fi stuff we liked. Jim had discovered a writer named John Ringo and his Council War series. Hooked, we started talking about the premise and asked a bunch of ‘what if’ questions based on the great storylines Ringo had created. You know, like ‘What if this happened? Or how would you approach this problem?’

Stuff like that. What I realized then, and I know to be true for sure now, is that most original stories start with that question. ‘What if?’

Later on, and this is months down the road, I realized that I wanted to write a story or two. As a kid, a neighborhood friend of mine named Bob Rogers and I wrote a bunch of hand drawn comic books (8 ½ x 11 sheets stapled together) about the misadventures of my cat Mittens. This little black and white creation was a troublemaker and always getting into mischief with the neighborhood dogs and cats. Truly a furry anti-hero predating Garfield or Morris by a decade or two!

I never lost that love of creating or discovering the worlds of varied authors all through childhood, and I’m sure it will be the same when I become an adult. I’ll let you know.

Fast forward to a decade later. By now I’ve begun and failed to complete two books, both of which are the initial books in different series, but I refuse to give up. The stories are both unique and had never been done in any books I’ve ever read, so I’m still excited…but, damn, getting it done is hard. Maybe you’ve never had the fits and starts if you’re becoming a writer, but I surely did.

Enter a dear friend. Cyd’s a woman I’ve known for decades, and she’s a singer/songwriter by passion and trade. A talented artist, she was in the area for some family business, and we had a chance to sit down over lunch. She almost immediately asked me how the book was coming, never failing to encourage me and even push a bit when we’d talk.

Before you ask, yes, I am married, and I’m fortunate enough to have been blessed with an amazing woman as my bride. We’ve been married for almost thirty-five years now and have known each other for an additional eight years before that. Sara’s my best friend and partner in all things, and she’s never missed an opportunity to encourage me in my writing, believing in me since day one.

So, back to lunch. Cyd started to ask me questions about the story with some simple basic questions like ‘have you thought about this’ or ‘maybe if you took this guy and…’ In other words, she helped me see the story from a different perspective. Huh.

I go home that night, my mind still on what we’d discussed, ruminating on some of what Cyd had posed as possibilities. Bang. There it was. The two areas that I hadn’t been able to reconcile in the story? The answers popped into my head almost as if lit up by neon signs. All I needed was someone who thought differently than I did to tell me what she saw from where she was standing.

A collaboration was born, and in two months I’d finished the book and sent it off to the editor. And now? (Insert shameless plug here: it’s called Eyes in the Black, and it’s available on Amazon or whatever site books are available through.) Now I’ve finished Book Two and it’s in the hands of our editor. The collaboration Cyd and I have is strong, and the writing is fun.

I’ve discovered both strengths and weaknesses in my writing, working on enhancing the things I do well and working hard to strengthen those areas I needed to make better.

The future is what we decide to make of it, I guess. I know that, as a person a psychiatrist would refer to as ‘Other’ directed, I look to heaven for the direction and inspiration of what I do. In other words, in the lyrics of a great song by the Van Zandt brothers, “If you want to hear God laugh, tell Him your plans.” I’ll keep moving forward in our writing endeavors, and I’ll keep trusting the Editor to make the stories happen.

Craig