Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an advertising guy, turned professional pilot, turned writer and who knows what is next! I grew up in Nebraska and living there inspired me to write my first book, A Visit to Hartington which is a story collection about life in a small Nebraska town during the 1950-1960 period. It’s been a popular book because it reminds people about life in a time that was much more simple and yet, the start of a number of major changes in the country.
And speaking of change, how about a career change? Well I did that all right. I went from advertising copywriter to professional pilot. In just a couple of years, I left my IBM typewriter for the controls of a Lear Jet–a camera-equipped snooper if you will. We took pictures of the St. Helen’s Explosion, the Teton Dam collapse and we hunted for polluters from 40,000 above the ground. Then, it was off to Africa and the Middle and Far East to hunt for other things. What an adventure!
After being on the other side of the world for six months, we finally came home. We cleared customs in Bangor, Maine. They never looked in the plane. Humm…I thought. What if there was a bomb on that plane? That was the motivation behind book #2, The Last Flight of KIlo Mike.
I designed the cover for Kilo Mike. Take a look at it on amazon. It came out in January, 2001. See the jet flying behind those two box buildings? Nine months later, 9/11 happened. I freaked. The route I have my pilots fly in the book was identical to the American flight from Boston. There were a few folks who wondered what I knew and when I knew it but I was just as shocked as everyone else.
I thought there was more to the Kilo Mike story but I wanted to join the Kindle revolution so I re-wrote it and re-titled it to The Co-pilot. I wanted to create a series of books based on the co-pilot character, Chance Mikelson.
Chance landed in Lincoln and wasn’t flying anymore. (I won’t spoil the ending of the first book by telling you why he wasn’t flying.} He was at the bottom and got a room in a rooming house which was managed by a very strange dude. Chance didn’t like the guy very much but he did like a toothless, over=weight, under educated old man living in the building. He also fell in love with a waitress at the grocery store cafe. Life was pretty good for Chance until he found himself in the middle of a mess and a murder. Book number 2: The Rooming House Murder. It’s a five-star Kindle book.
I also interviewed 12 former Nebraska football stars to find out what it was like to play college football for a powerhouse like Nebraska. Those were interesting stories and I decided to create a Kindle book for those stories. That book is How To Be A College Football Player.
I also had a bunch of stories laying around which had been published in magazines and well, never made it out of the file boxes and desk drawers. Those stories became my latest book.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Do you remember Charles Kuralt, the wonderful CBS journalist who traveled American in a motor home and did stories about ordinary people? I loved that show, “On The Road With Charles Kuralt.” That was my inspiration for a story collection along those lines. Short American Stories was born and is a Kindle book. It too, will be a series of books as I write my way along life.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
They say, good writers write every day. Well, you can be the judge of “good” because I write when I am inspired. When I am inspired, I find a coffee shop and adopt a table for about 60 days and “get ‘er done.” After that, I fly, or camp, or play with my dog, or shoot my guns.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Hemingway. Steinbeck, and Jack London. If you plan on writing, you should read London’s “To Build a Fire.” That is the perfect short story. I liked Hemingway’s Africa stuff because I lived there for a while and I loved Steinbeck’s simplicity.
What are you working on now?
Nothing. But I do feel a need for a new coffee place and I would like to finish two projects. Chance #3 will be the final in that series. I may also take a crack at something funny.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I like services like Awesomegang. I have advertised on Facebook and Google but haven’t had much luck.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write because you love to write. Write because you need to write. If you write to get rich, you probably won’t get rich. People don’t read as much. They are tuned in to phone screens and short blurbs of stupidity services/
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I flew for Willie Nelson and one day, when it was just he and I at the airport, I asked him how he came up with those block-buster hit songs. He told me he would get the idea in his mind but he never did something with the idea right away. “But,” he said, “if that idea is still rattling around in your head after a while, you’d better do something with it.”
What are you reading now?
I just finished reading Killing Patton. That was a very interesting book. I have read all of those books and I enjoyed them. Hopefully, Killing Kenny is not the next one!
What’s next for you as a writer?
Let’s see. I have two screenplays done and that would be great if those got considered by the movie makers. The odds are pretty high, like 100000:1 but I have been battling big odds forever. Hell, when I was three I got polio before the shot was around and at age four I escaped the baby sitter and got run over by a 1946 Packard.
I just turned 69 and am very involved in storm spotting and teaching emergency first aid and survival and training a search and rescue dog. Plus, I am looking at some new stories, two new books, and maybe a third movie script if the Good Lord gives me the time to write them.
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
How to sail.
How to build a sailboat on a desert island.
The complete guide to desert island cooking.
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