I’m a writer who, at heart, is a lover of good stories. But for me - it didn’t start with writing. It didn’t start with books.
It started with a campfire.
As a kid, I couldn’t sit still long enough to read a book. But after a full day of fishing, hiking, swimming, and bike riding - my energetic bones could finally settle down for one of my favorite parts of camping. As the last rays of sunlight rippled from the waters of the muddy-bottomed lake, as the skies and mountains turned dark with the thick blackness of night, my family and friends would gather around the campfire.
Several s’mores later, I’d settle back in my over-sized camping chair. As flickering flames stretched upward into the darkness, I would inevitably ask my parents to tell us a story.
Any story. A whopper. A true story. A story about someone in our family, like my pistol-packin’, tobacco-pipe-smoking, great-grandmother, Pearl. She always seemed larger than life to me, a character you could only dream of creating. She was a good woman, and according to my mother, one heck of a storyteller. She loved spinning a yarn for her numerous grandchildren, telling them tales of the hills and hollers in which she spent her life.
Who knows? Maybe none of this is my fault. Maybe I never really had a choice. Maybe I inherited my love for storytelling from her.
Fortunately, my parents frequently indulged my request. But occasionally, they would turn my request right back on me. “You tell one,” they’d encourage.
No one ever had to ask me twice.
Back then, my tales were always whoppers and almost exclusively centered around something scary. I’ve always been drawn to hair-raising, heart-racing stories about ghosts, boogeymen, Bigfoot, or anything else that goes bump in the night. I guess I owe that love to a different campfire - that of Nickelodeon’s Are You Afraid of the Dark? tv show, which I probably started watching at way too young an age.
Ah, the 90s - what a time to be alive!
In truth, I’ve always loved storytelling and had a knack for writing. Certainly, my writing style has never been fancy. I just stick to what I know. I let the down-home words scribble across the page, pulling you in much the same as the oral traditions my culture has used for generations.
Speaking of my culture, that’s how I created a love for reading. It really wasn’t until college that I found a passion for books. Sure, I liked the reading we did in primary and secondary school - when teachers would read to us or we’d read to each other. But to read outside of the classroom? Who had time for that?
Not me. Not until the spring of my freshman year in college, when I decided to take an Appalachian literature course. Fate is funny like that. Before I knew it, I was hooked! By the end of the semester, I had added English to my list of majors.
At this point, I could pretend that my home library is only stocked with high-brow literature, or that I fancy myself as that type of author. But by now, I’m sure you’ve figured out that neither are the case. Yes, you would find copies of many of the classics on my shelves. You would find them scattered among other titles by authors like Brad Meltzer, Julia Keller, James Patterson, and Sandra Brown. I’ve got books about scifi, books that will make you cry, and books that will make you laugh until you cry. I love nonfiction, too. I have a whole section of autobiographies, books written by or about our presidents, and really anything else to do with American history. In a sense, I’m an omnivore reader. The genre doesn’t matter. If it seems interesting, I’m cracking it open!
So, as an author, what stories do I want to write? Well, if I’m being honest, I want to write them all! Everything. Anything. Any good story I come across that’s just dying to be shared - I want to tell it! That’s one of the things I admire most about Brad Meltzer: fiction, nonfiction, and kids books - he doesn’t confine himself to one category. Similarly, I do not want to be pigeonholed. I’m fine with putting an idea on the back burner until the timing is right, but I’m a storyteller at heart. Fiction, non-fiction, and everything in between - I want to eventually be free to write it.
Most recently, I went with the in-between option. My book,Brothers of the Great Crusade, is a historical fiction novel based on the real-life letters of three brothers who served our country in World War II. When my neighbor shared the letters with me, I smiled at the idea of the story and its immediate importance to our country. If we are going to spend so much time talking about how to make America great again, perhaps we should look at what actually made us great in the first place.
Although a work of fiction, the book is heavy on historical facts. Combing through the family’s letters made for easy work. It was fascinating! The months and months of research on the war and America’s Greatest Generation, however, took a measure of mighty perseverance.
But, what can I say? The challenge of craftng this narrative became an addiction. I mean, I’m a storyteller. It’s what I do. It’s what I love.
I hope you love it, too.
If you’d like to know more about my book, you can read a synopsis here. If you want to learn more about my life and interests, continue checking out The Journey section of this website, my Instagram, or my Twitter. Also, if you’d like, please sign up for my mailing list to stay up to date on the latest with my books, blog, and more!