On a nice sunny morning about three years ago, my wife was about to leave the house to play golf. Just before she walked out the door, she asked me what I was going to do all day. Embarrassed to tell her I had no definite plans and would probably read, I hesitated, then told her I was going to write a book. She left with a very dubious look on her face and I continued to read the paper enjoying a second cup of coffee.
An hour later, I started to think about what I had told her and the snide smile she would have when she came home and asked how the book was going. I would have a blank look on my face and her dubiousness would have been justified.
So I went into my (our) office and pulled up iPages on my iMac. I pressed ‘new document’ and sat looking at the blank page. After staring for a while, I started to type. I had always thought about writing a Civil War book, but never gave it serious consideration. I typed and I typed. For some unknown reason the words just spewed out onto the page.
What must have been several hours later, I stopped, hit the ‘print’ button and read what I had written. I didn’t know it just then, but at that moment my life changed! This change was subtle at first. I felt like a new born calf timidly taking his first steps. That same calf knowing instinctively that learning to walk is a good thing. I have always been a ‘left brain’, nuts and bolts, engineering type and this discovery that I had a ‘right brain’ that could create something from nothing left me feeling exhilarated.
Fishing and golf took a back seat as I plunged into this new found, wonderful experience: writing.
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