When I was in high school in the 1950s and considered that
the millennium would change in some fifty years, I honestly wondered if I’d be
around to see it. I think the average age expectancy at that time was mid-sixties
for men, around seventy for women, so that isn’t as far-fetched as it might
sound these days, with more and more of us living into our eighties and
nineties.
I’m glad I’m still around, though I’m also surprised I’m
still here and about to turn eighty-two. The second decade of the 2000s was
pretty eventful for me. In 2013, after a full lifetime as a musician, I wrote
and published my first book. Six years later I’m at work on book number eleven.
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| Thanks to Katy Burton for the beautiful poster |
For over thirty years, beginning in 1984, I was stage director
for eighty musical theater productions for both community groups—most notably,
Pocono Lively Arts—and two different high schools (at different times). I
retired from directing in 2015. I wrote a book about that in 2016: “More Fog,
Please”: Thirty Years Directing Community and High School Musicals. For a
few weeks, it was listed as a “hot new item” and was an Amazon best-seller in
its genre. (I held a book launch party at the local Panera Bread.)
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| Musical theater friends Michael Drolet, Kelly Foley, Dale Foley |
In 2017 I released two novels set in the Vietnam War era, “The
Cameron Saga”—books that followed the lives of two brothers who served in the
war and struggled to deal with its effect on their lives and the lives of those
who loved them. The first book, Memories of Jake, was submitted to the
Wishing Shelf Book Awards, and it received a Red Ribbon Honorable Mention, much
to my delight. The best part of writing those books, though, was connecting
with Vietnam veterans and helping establish an annual observation of National
Vietnam Veterans Day at a local, independent movie theater. I’ve made some
remarkable new friends.
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| Exterior and Interior of the wonderful Pocono Cinema and Cultural Center where we hold our Vietnam Veterans Day Event |
I was honored and thrilled by these awards. I found them
validating and encouraging. My books aren’t for everybody: they all contain
music, even the mystery series. Many of my characters are musicians, and music
is a vital part of their lives. I like writing about music, and I’ve had many
nice reviews which comment on the way I write about it: the emotions
experienced by my characters as performers and listeners.
A couple of pretty exciting experiences for this indie
author in 2019: I had an article published by The Guardian, and I was
featured on the Third Hour of the “Today Show” over the summer. Both of these as
a recognition that at the age of seventy-five I had begun to write and I’m
still at it! I will say, though, that every time I start a new book I wonder if
I’ll finish it. At my age, how could I not wonder that? But I’ll keep writing
as long as my eyes, my fingers (I use the computer for everything) and my mind
hold up.
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| How about that? Front page, above the fold. |
We’re about to enter the third decade of the millennium that
I at one time doubted I’d ever see. I guess I should try to say something pithy
and meaningful at this point. How about this, a quote from the great Yogi Berra: “It
ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
Wishing you all the best for the coming year. Peace, hope, and love.
or visit my website, which has links to purchase all the books. The novels are also available as e-books.
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