My latest book and book series grew out of a journey of spiritual healing in my own life. When I returned from combat, I was burned out and in a great deal of emotional and spiritual pain. Throughout the following year, this pain grew worse. The death of my wife's father and other difficulties added to an already crushing emotional burden. And then to try to cope, I turned to self-medication, threatening my marriage and saddling myself with debilitating guilt. But God brought me and my family through that pain. One of the ways God did that was by having me study for and write this book.

When my wife and I were out of work in 2011, we began to explore alternative ways to support the family, because the job market was poor. One book we read discussed the power of writing and marketing on the internet as a means of making money. So my initial desire to be an indie author grew out of a desire to support the family financially. But then, as I began to research and write what became the Aftermath series, God transformed that desire into something more: a desire to reach out to and help people suffering from the same kind of pain that I had.

Smashwords has given me my first forum to publish. I am still drinking in the fact that I am a published author. That is overwhelming and humbling to me. And Smashwords has given me that chance.

To me, writing this series has been very cathartic. At several points, while I was writing, I was wrestling with the issues I discussed in real time. So writing helped free me from a tremendous burden. At the same time, I have always loved the written word and taken delight in being able to express myself on paper.

They mean everything to me. Being able to reach out to others is the main reason I wrote this series.

So far, I only have part one of the Aftermath series completed. This series will soon expand to three e-books. In addition to that, I have started brainstorming a guidebook for caregivers as a companion to the series.

My high school literature teacher introduced me to the great Russian writers. My favorite is Dostoyevsky. I also have to confess a love for J.R.R. Tolkien.

Finding Smashwords is more recent for me. Before I deployed, a friend recommended I buy a Nook. I took him up on that and have found most of my e-books at Barnes and Noble's website.

It was a short mystery story: very dark. And I attempted to imitate Dostoyevsky, because I was reading his works at the time.

The foundation of my writing process is thinking out loud. I have to hear myself put pieces together in my mind. So I don't have lots of notebooks crammed with information. I do a lot of that work in my head.