I retired from engineering on January 1, 2002. I then began a serious effort to polish off a book I “began writing” years earlier. In fact…
…it was sometime in the year 1975 that I had an idea for a children’s book. It would be a Christmas-Eve adventure story. The problem was that I had no idea how to write a book. I did take a shot at Chapter One. As I look back at this feeble attempt, I have to laugh. It was less than a page long and written from a parent’s point of view. I had a lot to learn.
In 1988 I began a correspondence course in writing for children, offered by the Institute of Children’s Literature. The final few lessons dealt with writing and submitting short stories. But somewhere in the middle of the course, the last few lessons were changed. Or, at least, the student was given the option of writing an 8,000-word children’s book. I jumped at the chance and a few months later the first draft of Tivoli’s Christmas was done. Two years later I enrolled in a correspondence course again offered by the Institute of Children’s Literature; this time in a course specifically designed for the writing of a children’s chapter book. Once again, I jumped at the opportunity. Two years later, the first draft of The Mystery of the Grinning Buddha was finished. Not long thereafter, I began the tedious (I might add, “futile”) process of finding a traditional publisher for my first book. I worked hard at it, but eventually set the idea on a back burner.
Then in 2008 I found, through a friend, a publisher which resulted in the publication of Tivoli’s Christmas the same year. The Mystery of the Grinning Buddha went into print in 2009, which was followed by The Mystery of the Ugly Bottle (2010), The Mystery of the Haunted Lighthouse (2013), and Worlds Without Number (2014).
And now in 2017 I am excited to add Compound Words: A quick reference for everyone! to my list of books.
One day, several years ago, I came across a posting on LinkedIn by a man who, after considering the concepts of NaNoWriMo, decided to compose two minutes of new music each day for a month. I decided to try and compose one minute of new music each day for the following month. I shared this idea with my nephew, Bill Walker, who is an accomplished pianist and composer. So, we began: one minute, minimum, of new piano music each day. We ended up composing at the rate of one minute per day, but didn’t stop for four months. One day Bill had one of those aha moments: he said, “We have composed enough music to fill several piano music books. Let’s do it!” The first two books, Exploring Key Signatures: Volume 1 – Major Keys and Exploring Time Signatures: Volume 1 were published in October 2105 and Exploring Key Signatures: Volume 2 – Minor Keys was published in April 2016.
So, what’s next? I am working on compiling a book of my piano compositions, arranging them in order of difficulty and marketing them as a progressive recital book.
For now, I am working on the text for an illustrated book of humor that would be a great companion to any and every weight-management program. It is scheduled for publication mid-October, 2019. A companion book is also underway for the following year.
Also, I am in the editing process for a modern-day fantasy book (Stanley Billings: That’s Me) for 9 to 12 year olds. Then it is on to finishing the writing of fourth mystery book in the Miller Mansion Mysteries series (The Mystery of the Windblown Feather).