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About Jim - About Jim

 

I didn't start out to be a novelist.  I actually wanted to be a pilot--I got my private pilot license when I was seventeen. The Vietnam war was in full swing and I had dreams of joining the military and flying fighters or helicopters.  I would have made it except for one thing:  my eyesight--it wasn't 20/20.  Oh, and I'm also colorblind.  Ironically, the Air Force wouldn't take me as a pilot, but the Air National Guard decided I was good enough to be a military policeman, so I got to serve Uncle Sam by standing on the ground guarding planes rather than being in the air flying them.  I still love flying, but today I fly for personal and business use.

I'm rambling, so here's the abbreviated version:  I got married, had two beautiful daughters and pursued a career (actually, a couple different careers).  And then it happened.  One day I was handling marketing communications for a company--churning out advertising copy, writing news releases, developing advertising campaigns--and the next day I wasn't.  I got fired.  It turns out that was the best thing that could have happened. My wife and I started our own business and that allowed me the freedom to put words on paper for myself rather than others.  To this day I don't know exactly what prompted me to write a book, but one morning I sat down at my desk, fired up the laptop and began tapping out words that eventually became The Tomb Builder.  My intent was to write a short story, but that only lasted for about two pages.  I thought, heck, why not write a novella--a short novel.  Thirty days later, writing eight and sometimes ten or twelve hours at a time, I had a novel.

The manuscript for The Tomb Builder was barely on its way to prospective publishers before I was back at the laptop working on a second novel,Chariots to Jordan, and since then my days have been filled with putting my own words on paper for the enjoyment of others.  It's a good life.