From Cowboy to Police Officer to Soldier to Writer: An Author’s Journey
Someone once asked me, “What’s the difference between a war story and a fairy tale?”
Of course, I didn’t have a clue, but here’s how it got explained to me.
Fairy tales start with “Once upon a time” and end with “And they lived happily ever after.”
War stories start with either “There I was” or “This no shit.” And not everybody lives through it, much less happily ever after.
A lot of my life falls into the war stories category. I’d tell my stories and people would say, “You should write a book.” My answer was, “Forrest Gump has already been written!” Some of the things I’ve done, or been part of, or somehow managed to make it through are so outrageous, who would believe them!
And never once did I consider becoming a crime-fiction writer or a writer of police procedural mysteries. Let’s be honest here. A lot of what happens in my books occurred in one form or the other. There are a lot of things a person would just as soon not remember, like being covered from head to toe with someone’s blood. But I discovered writing is very therapeutic. And example is this story telling about the worst wreck I’d ever seen.
Then I hit upon an idea. Take the events and put them into a fictional character’s life. A lot of the things I’ve done became fuel for the stories.
From Cowboy to Police Officer to Soldier to Writer: An Author’s Journey
Someone once asked me, “What’s the difference between a war story and a fairy tale?”
Of course, I didn’t have a clue, but here’s how it got explained to me.
Fairy tales start with “Once upon a time” and end with “And they lived happily ever after.”
War stories start with either “There I was” or “This no shit.” And not everybody lives through it, much less happily ever after.
What starts as a routine Law Enforcement Operation, goes tragically south when Pam Harmon is wounded. The incident thrusts her into facing demons from her past, demons she never wanted to face. Now it’s up to her friends and Will’s wife, Jewell, to save her before it’s too late.
Broken People is about PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) and the...
Fairy tales usually end with “They lived happily ever after.” But when murder is involved, “Not everyone lives happily eve rafter.” And the act of murder thrusts Undersheriff Will Diaz and his friends into a manhunt through the rugged San Juan Mountains of Conejos County. It becomes a game of high stakes cat and mouse. And no matter what...
Detective Will Diaz has been back with the department for almost a year. Now he and his buddy, RJ hunt a man who raped a girl at gunpoint. During the hunt, they begin to learn that something bigger, and uglier than either can imagine is lurking within their county. Hints of betrayal and questions for which there are only frightening answers will...
I walked out to get the mail this evening. It was dark already and the Christmas Lights still gleamed. I knew the Post Office has been playing catch up and getting mail late wasn't unexpected.
What was unexpected was a letter from the VA in Cheyenne. My address on it was handwritten instead of computer generated, and that got my attention. I opened it when I went back in. The words surprised me:
"Congratulations," It read, "on being selected as a finalist at the Cheyenne VA National Veterans...
A young cowboy is trying to figure out what to do with himself for the rest of his life.
So, like so many of his peers he goes to college.
That young cowboy, of course, was me. I enrolled in then Adams State College (now Adams State University). I wanted to take a degree in astronomy and physics. So went through it and I did.
But the best classes I took were the ones that had nothing to with my degree.
I took tons of psychology and sociology classes to help keep the old GPA up...
