When did you first start writing?
I stumbled on writing in a junior high school English class. The teacher assigned us to write an essay on a currently popular TV show. In 1966, the hit show for us kids was "Batman," with Adam West and Burt Ward and a cast of devilish villains. For those who have never seen the reruns, the show was silly and campy. As a seventh grader, I wanted real action, danger, and drama. "Batman" was anything but. So, I wrote a satirical essay that I titled "Fatman and Bobin the Boy Blunder."
Not only did my essay get an 'A', but my teacher talked to my parents about it during the Parent-Teacher conference a couple of weeks later. She said I showed real promise and should pursue writing in a serious way. From that moment, I was hooked.
The two writing outlets at my junior high school were the quarterly newspaper and the year book. In eighth grade I elected both classes, and stayed in them during ninth grade. I focused my attention in high school on the school newspaper and became editor-in-chief in my senior year.
My high school journalism teacher was sure I was bound for journalistic fame and fortune, but my career interests lay elsewhere. I wanted to be an elementary school teacher. I left writing behind to pursue a Bachelor's degree in Elementary Education. After graduation I actually got a job as a teacher, but it turned not to be the right vocation for me, and I headed off into a much different direction. I became a software engineer, which eventually led me to software training, business analysis, and project management. Once I left coding behind, I found myself writing all the times, whether it was a training manual, technical documentation, business plans, or project plans.I got the writing bug again, and I determined when retirement was in sight that I would take up writing again with the intent to create something worthy of publication.
That was in 2013, and I have been at it ever since.
What's the story behind your novel The Porch?
My daughter and her son lived in our home for the first five years of her son's life. When her husband dropped out of the picture, I picked up the paternal role for my grandson, and we grew very close. We noticed some emotional struggles and odd behaviors in the boy, but we learned to adapt. After my daughter remarried and moved away, it was time for my grandson to start school. He struggled in school in a number of ways. My daughter sought professional help for him, and he was diagnosed with Social Pragmatic Communication Disorder, which put him on the autism spectrum.
I had no direct experience with autism, so I started researching. And like any good grandpa, I wondered what this boy's life would be like as he grew up. For instance, how would he do academically? What kind of profession could he look forward to? Would he marry and have a family? As I pondered these questions, I tried to visualize my grandson, who was then about eight years old, as an adult. Out of those heartfelt musings grew the idea for The Porch. An intelligent young man with social communication challenges and lots of anxiety is thrown into a situation where he must learn to communicate with a cantankerous, disabled old man. The young man's bumbling persistence causes the old man to soften, and the young man learns about friendship.
When the old man's daughter and granddaughter come on the scene, the young man's social anxieties rise to new heights. He learns to befriend the little girl. She accepts him with all his quirks and shows him he's okay as himself. Can the bond between the two odd friends transfer to a relationship between the young man and the girl's mother?
Back in the present, my grandson is now in high school. He is a kind and gentle soul who has learned to make friends with others who don't fit in with the popular crowd. He's a bright, capable, and handsome young man with a wonderful future ahead of him. He'll still have struggles and challenges, but he's learning to meet them. And that's the whole point of The Porch.
