Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Becoming a writer wasn’t even on my bucket list. My professional life had been spent in the aviation business. I’m now 71 years old, and it astounds me how God could have blessed someone like me—one who has made so many mistakes along the way.
Our aircraft companies supported outreaches to destitute people around the world, and even sponsored a chaplaincy program in a Texas facility for troubled youth. But I became burned out after so long and decided to retire at the age of 52. That’s when the real trouble started, the beginning of a sixteen-year-long wilderness in my life.
First, we lost 80% of our retirement in the financial markets crash of the year 2000. After that, I lived in a state of depression and panic for several years. It was a type of PTSD, I realize now. I tried hard to trust God through it all, but eventually I didn’t even trust myself any longer.
Thereafter, I failed at everything I tried. After sixteen years, I was so defeated that I could no longer see any purpose for my life. I ran out of options, and the boredom coupled with failure was killing me. I reached the point of wanting God to just take me home.
Through it all, my wife Carla was a rock. She never wavered in her trust for me or for her Lord. She’s my hero. I wish I were more like she is.
After I came to the end of myself, something miraculous happened. One night, out of nowhere a story invaded my head about a US Marine pilot who . . . well you get the picture—Cody Musket, a man who has reached the point of desperation, who meets a heroic woman whose faith is unbreakable.
The story grew in my head for months, but it never occurred to me to write a book. (Doofus!) I even asked God to take this story out of my head because it was disrupting my life. Finally, after about six months, I told Carla about the story. I told her I was gonna go crazy if I didn’t at least write it down. She said, “I think you should.” That’s it. “I think you should.”
I began to write feverishly and could not stop for two years. I studied hard to learn how to write fiction. No Pit So Deep, The Cody Musket Story was released in 2016 as a stand-alone novel, and I have now expanded this saga to a four-book series with a combined 440 customer reviews from around the world, many of which reveal lives that have been impacted. The first book has been on the Kindle #1 Bestseller list twice, and has won several awards.
So, there I was just a few years ago, thinking my life was over. Feeling abandoned. But if my life had not slowed down to an agonizing crawl, I would never have written this story. If I had achieved the retirement I had always dreamed about, I might have missed my greatest destiny.
I have learned that God can have a surprise waiting even when things seem hopeless. Where we may see an ending, God just sees a brand-new place to start if we trust Him.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
As I have said, my Cody Musket Series (4 books) is my only project so far. Sometimes the storyteller finds a story, but once in a while a story finds the storyteller. The Cody Musket Story literally found me when I wasn’t even looking. I didn’t know I could write until then.
The inspiration for Cody’s character was inspired by my own desperate circumstances described above. Without realizing it at the time, I wrote into Cody’s character my own failures and faults. His heroic side is the man I wish to be.
Along the way through the years, while doing lay ministry work, I had been approached by a number of US war veterans, and had been told some horrendous, life-altering battlefield stories. I also learned of their struggles as vets tried to reacclimate after returning home. I am not a certified therapist or other medical professional, but I am a good listener. As I listened, I gained insight into the mind and deep soul of some war veterans. After I began to write Cody’s and Brandi’s story, I saw it as an opportunity to include real events and keen insights as had been revealed to me by real heroes I had known. The Cody Musket Series is fiction which contains some of these real events.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Writers’ habits differ according to personality and purpose. I’m not striving to become known as an author, but I would love it if my character, Cody Musket, and his counterpart, Brandi Barnes, became household names. Their stories represent us all.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
When I was 8 years old, I read The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley. Even though I was a kid at the time, that one still stands out. The Zorro character had honor and purpose.
At the age of 12, I read Serenade to the Big Bird, a personal memoir by Bert Stiles, a WWII US bomber pilot.
In recent years, Wild at Heart by John Eldredge and The Three Battlegrounds by Francis Fragipane both had a tremendous impact on me.
What are you working on now?
Audiobooks. That’s my next major step. After that, hopefully, a motion-picture deal.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve had success interacting with readers on social media, particularly while doing guest blogging and promotions. One particular method which I tried recently achieved greater results that I expected. It was an experiment. I let my lead characters tell their own stories (500 words or less) as a way to introduce my book.
Here’s one example:
“Hello everybody. I’m Cody Musket. Much of my story was inspired by real events, so even though I’m a fiction character, it doesn’t seem like fiction to me. I’m a former US Marine F/A-18 pilot who met with unfortunate circumstances in Afghanistan, but was blessed to eventually become a major-league baseball player afterward.
“I first saw Brandi when I was a rookie with the Astros. Our team was in Pittsburgh to play the Pirates, but the Friday night game was rained out. I was about to implode. The military secrets and memories I was holding inside were destroying me. Baseball had become my only refuge from the pain.
“When Brandi walked past me in the theater that rainy night, she reminded me of sunlight and better days. I didn’t wanna stare at her, but I couldn’t help myself. The O2 rushed right out of my chest. She wasn’t the least impressed, but I followed behind her at a distance. That’s when it happened.
“These three guys in ski masks came from nowhere and tried to abduct her. Well, I totally lost it. Witnesses said I was . . . like, completely out of control. I mean, I still don’t know what kept me from killing those guys.
“Even Brandi was afraid of me afterward. But she was as curious about me as I was about her. We became friends, then gradually she saw how messed up I was. I figured she wouldn’t want anything to do with me after that, but . . . I could see she was a caring person. Then I learned her father was a decorated marine and a Purple Heart winner.
“Brandi was a single mom who wrote investigative reports for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. She had exposed a child-trafficking ring, and she had a price on her head. I fell in love that first night with this brave woman who risked her life to save children, and whose father had won medals for courage in battle.
“We were now both on the syndicate’s hit list. But even as we pressed on through the crisis together, she helped me discover that Jesus has a style of His own, that He’s in a class by Himself. I mean, the things that happened in Afghanistan . . . the people who died because of me . . . I didn’t know people like me could be forgiven and even healed.
“See, I thought I was in a pit so deep that even God couldn’t find me, but Brandi . . . she never gave up on me. She knew how to listen to God, and she loved me too much to leave me in that pit. The underworld figures who sought our lives were no match for her prayers, and, as they say, the rest is history.”
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I can only advise myself, because we all have different goals. Here is my personal mantra: Write better but fewer books. I feel that many authors sell themselves short because they are rushed, thinking that the more books they write in a given amount of time, the more popular they will become. That only works if your finished product is the very BEST you can produce. Our modern culture is held hostage by time. Time can be a tyrant, ticking away like a relentless metronome in your mind, robbing you of your best creativity. Don’t be afraid to set aside your book for a few weeks, then come back to it and read what you’ve written. You will be surprised at what you see. That’s when my greatest creativity seems to kick in.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Don’t try to be just like everyone else. If you want to make a difference, set a new path.” – James Nathaniel Miller (my father)
What are you reading now?
The Ground Kisser by Lisa Worthey Smith
What’s next for you as a writer?
I am getting requests to write a 5th book in the Cody Musket series, but I am reluctant to write again until I have another story that grips me, with a plot never told before, and one that has something to say that’s vital. I believe that is what my readers would expect more than anything.
Author Websites and Profiles
James Miller Amazon Profile