Being a writer is who I am.
It started with curlicued scribbles across pages of a small, lined notebook…
There were years of learning to read; learning—and understanding—the architecture of the English; learning and fine-tuning the craft of writing in my own way, in my own voice.
There was a career as a freelancer writing everything from speeches and scripts to ad copy.
There were books to edit on assignment.
There was The Battalion Artist to write for a beloved friend.
There has been non-stop reading
And now finally….
THE BOOK I’VE BEEN WRITING ALL MY LIFE
Uncle Joe's Stories
My Uncle Joe had many stories to tell—of bookies, bootleggers, dead chickens, a drunken priest, a friend who died, a brother who didn’t, and a dog that routinely rode home by himself on a trolley. He told of his six years in the Navy, describing torpedo attacks, a runaway blimp, shipmates’ shenanigans, and his storybook wartime wedding.
For me, Joe’s stories have been a narrative thread that connected my childhood years, when he and his wife were often taking care of me, to the time decades later when I was taking care of them.