Let your experience color your writing

  When I began to wrestle with the concept of my first The Seeker’s Burden novel, An Emerging Threat, I was in the middle of a thirteen month vacation in Eastern Baghdad. And when I say vacation, I of course mean a mind numbing and life changing military deployment. I fought against the sameness of working 10 hours a day 7 days a week month after month by diving into another world of my own making. It was an escape from the chaos I had little ability to effect. I journeyed to the Tri-Islands and went on adventures with the characters I began to bring to life. Like the world I was physically stuck in, the world of The Seeker’s Burden was coming apart at the seams.

Eastern Baghdad from above

  Danger lurked in the periphery of the land and within the ranks of those that governed. There was pain and death and grief. I could have begun, continued and ended in that way, but I as a desperate romantic, strove even as my heroes on the pages did. There was friendship and light and hope even in the darkness.

Morning Drive

  Some of the people and circumstances that my characters experience are direct reflections of my time in Iraq. In a way it was healing to put those things in writing, to acknowledge the horror, place it within a fictional place, and forge ahead. Now don’t get me wrong, I was one of the fortunate ones. I was never placed in the position where I had to use force against another human being. My heart goes out to those that were not so lucky, the ones that will have that shadow weighing them down their entire lives. I was blessed to come out of a war as physically and mentally whole as I did.

Morning Stroll

  The experiences I lived through in battle-ruined and down trodden Baghdad were incorporated in myriad ways into my Fantasy series. Arrogance, hate, vileness, and fear. Beauty, mystery, compassion, and courage. I am thankful for the experiences and they continue to color my writing and daily life.

The author (on the left)