We’re Baaaaaack! Front Page Pass: Dispatches from the Writerverse

People think I’m crazy;

For doing what I’m doing…

These opening lines, from “Watching the Wheels,” John Lennon’s first song on his final album, capture so well the side glances, head shakes, reflective looks, laughs and chuckles, and other cra-cra expressions I’ve seen from friends, family, teachers, editors, students and reading audiences in the half-century since I first picked up a pencil and started stringing words together. 

When it began, neither my first-grade teacher or I knew where the stories were going — I still don’t know half the time, when I start a new one — but I felt an even more intense rush than losing myself in others’ written adventures. It was so much more fun to orchestrate stories myself! Ever since, creating stories and fussing with words has been like playing in a sandbox. 

I began this blog almost 20 years ago, took a three-year hiatus… and now we’re back. We received a lot of great feedback and engagements for our stories and tips, pieces on craft, marketing and industry subjects of interest to working writers, our interviews with successful authors, and previews of my books. 

I’ve decided to really open it up now, totally fly off the handle with something more befitting the inside of this writer’s mind. 

We’ve got universes, parallel universes, mega verses and multiverses in our daily conversation, right? Welcome to the Writerverse, where ideas spin, zip, swirl, wormhole or orbit the adventures of our days and nights, every breath, step, hike, activity or moment a chapter or scene in the making. Populating the ever-expanding space of this creative mind like heavenly objects are the books, paintings, sculptures, conversations, faces, places, personalities, events and natural wonders that feed or house the stories we read.

All of it is held together by the black space of imagination, magic, wonder, instinct and intuition, which takes me wherever the next story, article, essay, poem or lyric wants to go. Within every moment in this Writerverse is a million possibilities, dancing into focus like a starfest over Hawaii. The people we run into? As I said to a writing friend while sitting in a patio café in New York’s Union Square one busy Saturday morning: “It’s like 2,000 fictional characters walking by every 15 minutes.” 

Every scribe’s Writerverse is loaded with influences, favorite authors, the lived experiences of their own lives… departure points for journeys. I cut my teeth on adventure and space stories, sports sections and a steady diet of Hunter S. Thompson, Tom Wolfe, Joan Didion, Truman Capote and the “New Journalists”, participants in their true stories, articles and reportages decades before “immersive writing” became the newest in a long string of descriptions for narrative non-fiction. I close my eyes, watch the boundaries of this life melt away, then break orbit to create characters and stories, or help others do the same. What songs do they sing in their minds or on their lips? What inner language do they speak to themselves? What moves them to tears? To laughs? To doing something totally off the rails that makes their best friends shake their heads?

I also like to land on unexplored worlds in the Writerverse, getting my hands wet and dirty and engaging in adventures, harrowing or strange as they may be, rather than living off others’ stories — or, to use today’s term, “life hacking.” (My head is shaking). Why live through a mobile device or social media when we can get out and do something ourselves — and then enjoy our audiobook or texting session? Live a little, right?

Have some adventures, peccadilloes and crazy moments – and some have been truly crazy – and thus feed our souls, hearts and ability to write deeply and knowingly. As iconoclastic author Charles Bukowski wrote, “I don’t follow many rules but one rule I find irrevocable: words must be lived through before you can use them.” Even when nerding out in a reading room. Like deep-diving into public libraries, private collections, the Oxford Dictionary of the English Language, atlases and maps (thank you, a lifetime of National Geographic!), and the etymology of words and root languages. And exploring other authors’ own universes of work, their books, letters, journals, libraries and influences, their back lists. Same goes for musicians, recording artists.

As Bukowski noted, we write far more authentically and intimately when we put down what we sense, experience, feel and perceive — lived experience. And find the deeper wisdom in ourselves through cross reading, poetry and plunging into those worlds to mine something new, something we can carry like a payload into our lives and work. The living, breathing matter of the Writerverse. The more flexible and malleable we keep our writers’ and readers’ minds, the more we explore the outer galaxies of our hearts, minds and souls, the more we tap into everything this world and the written word offer us, the more our voice defines itself. The greater our fun… and our work. Then it feels like playing in the sandbox. 

So I go on and on, 58 years after writing my first story in first grade, sitting in the cockpit of my own delicious, wacky inner universe, roaming anywhere and everywhere, always exploring, always finding something new, always digging for a new way to bring it forth … and hoping I turn on readers of all ages along the way. And hoping they, too, want to blast off from daily life and space walk through this amazing Writerverse, because it truly is amazing.

See you for the next of many dispatches … over and out.

When An Idea Socks You In the Gut…Write It Out!

More than twenty years ago, Jefferson Airplane’s late great singer and founder Marty Balin and I were walking down Haight Street in San Francisco during the Haight Street Festival, talking music, street scenes, bookstores we loved and writing. We were working on his memoir, and had gotten to be pretty good friends, but I was still a little awestruck by taking a stroll down this street with him. 

After all, back when Jefferson Airplane was the second most popular rock band in America, topped only by The Beatles, Haight Street was hallowed ground to the Love Generation — the subculture of Baby Boomers who transformed music, fashion, and the ways we viewed spirituality, the world, creative expression, ways of living and so much more. And Marty was one of the high priests of the hippie scene, through his songs, lyrics and the messages the Airplane transmitted while taking us higher and higher above our perceived limitations.

Marty Balin, firing away on his masterful ballad “Comin’ Back To Me,” 2001

During our walk, hundreds of people stepped out and greeted him, said how much his music changed, informed or defined their lives. All these faces, flowers of humanity, most with graying hair… few of which he knew. As we moved through the sea of admirers on America’s most sacred street way back in the Summer of Love, 1967, I asked Marty about the secret of writing great songs — and I knew he’d written some of them quickly. His mega-hit “Miracles,” for instance, took him 30 minutes to jot down and another 30 to firm up in a surge of inspiration while in India.

 “When something socks you in the gut, and it won’t let you go — write it down,” he said. “That’s the real thing.”

Every time I’ve followed his advice, and written down what socked me in the gut, sure enough, it’s been a keeper — a sentence, paragraph, poem or vignette that needed very little editing. It came straight from that holiest of holy places inside where insight, instinct, imagination, intuition and deepest spiritual or universal guidance conspired with everything we know and perceive and have experienced to create that perfect piece of writing. 

The way it was during The Summer of Love … the origin point for “Voices”

Most of the time, for me, it’s happened when I was writing a lot and feeling in the groove, in rhythm, the zone, as athletes call it.

So, fellow scribes, time to sit down and let it rip, “writing and writing for the sake of writing,” as the late rock music writer impresario Lester Bangs said. All for the love of the process, because we love looking out at our world, finding stories, then turning within to bring it all out again in our works.

These creative punches to the gut have been happening for a long time. I’ve been thinking about them a lot lately while working on my memoir, Front Page Pass: Writing Adventures of a Wild Child, as well as the long-delayed sequel to my craft book Writes of Life.

I remember so well those high school, college and young guy all-nighters, when I’d drink coffee and sit at my desk, surrounded by a stack of Rolling Stone, Creem, Sports Illustrated and Mad magazines, my albums next to my multiple-component stereo, headphones at the ready, and write madly onto manual typewriters and archaic personal computers, sometimes cranking out 20 pages a night. What a crazy thing for a teenager to do, right? Well, old habits die hard; it’s 11:50 pm as I write this. 

My personal best for a 24-day output was 55 single-spaced pages — about 27,000 words — of my requisite throwaway novel, Within the Crystal, where I wrote characters who hop-skipped from Atlantis to Gobekli Tepi to Stonehenge to Egypt to Tikal to the mound builders of North America, carrying their magics and spiritual ways forward following disaster after natural or man-made disaster from civilizations gone amok… quite a wild story. Wish I still had that manuscript. In that one day, I cranked out miles of words, feeling like the marathon runner I later became. Such a magical feeling, such a wonderful memory.

One time early in my career, when I was still using an IBM Selectric typewriter, I bought a round of butcher paper from Big Bear, the local grocery in my hometown of Carlsbad. I filled and wrapped that roll with stories, vignettes and impressions, a literary journal gone troppo, like my stream-of-consciousness superhero, Jack Kerouac, used to do when he went on his creative rampage in the 1950s and early 1960s. His decade-long streak of autobiographical novels began with The Subterraneans, ended with Big Sur, and landed two beacons of modern American literature down the middle of the runway, On the Road and The Dharma Bums. And his sidewinder sentences… incredible. One in The Subterraneans went on for more than 1,200 words. He said he was trying to show the feeling inside jazz musician Charlie Parker when The Bird blew through a ten-minute saxophone solo. That’s pure writing.

Burn, baby, burn. I say write and write and write for the sake of writing. When I’m in that mood, no one and nothing can stop me from writing. Call it an addiction, an obsession, a compulsion… I don’t care. I see it as feeding my hungry spirit, answering a calling, the gift God handed me in the way all of us have been bestowed with gifts we either open up and share. Or don’t. And it’s been great fun opening and sharing for these past 55 years, since I started laying down longer stories in fourth grade.

For the writers reading this, a challenge: At least once this week, sit down with no preconceived departure point, and just start writing. Don’t stop. Let it rip, let it burn, let those words dance out of your mind like maenads at a bacchanal, or dancers in a Broadway revue. Don’t look at the clock, don’t edit as you go along, don’t worry about punctuation or sentence structure — just write and keep writing. Go where the images or faces flashing through your mind take you, fly out as far as they’ll take you, then reel them in.

And for God’s sakes, if an idea or stream of words socks you in the gut, write it down and take it all the way. That’s the good stuff.

Climbing the Publishing Ladder

Guest Blog by Claire Isenthal, Author, The Rising Order

(Note: Every once in awhile, we receive a guest blog that demands to be read. Especially from a novelist and literary voice the book and publishing world will come to know quite well in the next few years. Enjoy this special blog from one of the best new writers in America.)

Hand by hand, rung by rung. Dragging. Heaving. Sometimes, crying.

I, like many, know what it feels like to pull myself to the top. Angsty sleepless nights. Exhaustion. Painful levels of investment that often aren’t reciprocated. I’ve done it before with my current career, and I’m doing it now with my writing career.

There’s been a different kind of energy and trepidation, however, while aiming for my dream – when I know, beyond doubt, that I’m being summoned by my calling. Maybe that’s because if I don’t reach that summit, if I fall short, a part of me won’t be fulfilled – the part that knows this is my chance to leave my paintbrush smear on the world.

The draw of writing for so many is the ability to hide behind a computer screen, a notebook, and words. There is something magnificent about sinking into an imaginary world, sketched renderings built on the foundation of how we process and experience everyday reality. Conforming to societal expectations and adult demands can discolor once vibrant creative inspiration. Let’s be honest, it’s hard to write under a rushed one-hour time constraint awarded only when my fifteen-month-old’s naptime rolls around, which also battles with a million other priorities like showering and/or stuffing whatever I can into my mouth. But when I can fit it in, I savor every minute. Writing revives those shades and crumbles those shackles. Writing is an adventure with every blank page.

While some might thrive behind writing’s screen of anonymity, for me it has been the most painful part of this process. Being around others gives me energy. As an Account Executive in sales, I have always been able to sell myself; finessing that has been a critical part of my success. Yes, people buy into products, but first they buy into the idea of you.

I know, I know… your writing should sell itself. But, as many of us have experienced first-hand, there’s a lot more to it. Luck and timing are a critical piece, and like in any industry, who you know will rocket you past a long queue of significantly more talented writers. I’ve received endless coaching and editorial assistance, attended a minimum of 30 different critique sessions with agents and editors, and paid for workshop after workshop. How quickly my imaginary world fell prey to the opinions and critiques of others, often with conflicting suggestions. Elements of my story became dissected and ripped apart, often with no foresight into my vision.

One piece of consistent feedback worth noting was the double standard held to women, even fictional women. I was told my female protagonist in my novel, The Rising Order, didn’t grab attention or lacked ‘something’. Don’t get me wrong, this is a fair critique, but when I pressed for more detail no one could articulate what it was she lacked. There seemed to be an expectation that my character had to be liked right away or had to WOW within my first chapter. Her complexity and lack of confidence was overlooked as a flaw, even though that’s the reality many of us face, especially when we’re young. Meanwhile, no one seemed to have a problem with my narcissistic, damaged, lethal villain, who also happens to be male.

When I first set out on my publishing pursuit, my own sexism got the better of me. I envisioned my future agent as a woman, one who reflected similar aspirations and values of my own. But the agent who ended up giving me a shot and believing in my work was a man. This man called my female protagonist brilliant and well-developed. He instantly recognized the potential this story had. Despite my misgivings, despite my self-doubt, he’s worked to land my manuscript on the desks of major publishers. Hopefully, in the not-so-distant future, he’ll also be right by my side when I pick my book up from a Barnes & Noble shelf and he tells me: “I told you so.”

Word Journeys guest blogger Claire Isenthal is thirty-one and has been sheltering in place with her parents, husband, son, and mutt for the past nine months. She is an Account Executive at a Fortune 500 tech company and has been in sales for seven years. Claire is currently on submission with her first novel, The Rising Order, and in the midst of writing her second, The New Order. To see more of her work, feel free to check out her website at claireisenthal.com or follow her on Instagram @claireisenthal.

Words Matter: Amanda Gorman Rocks

Words matter. They always have. They matter to us as writers, as readers, and as people communicating with each other. I cannot think of a more essential truth in my career as an author, journalist and editor, for sure. Not only do words matter, but the ways in which we convey them, and the way we convey truth and true facts, has never mattered more — especially in these times, when truth has been marginalized at times, and far too many words have been spoken to inflict harm on others.

As a longtime member of the media, I freely admit that, yes, the media at times — both camps — has weaponized words to force opinions and accusations onto others, under the guise of “analysis” or “opinion”. My grandmother would have been horrified; I remember her saying to me many times, even as an adult, “Please try to speak more like you write;” in other words, choosing words carefully and watching the tone and intent. When I was a young journalist, opinions and analyses were confined to the op-ed page, not spread across entire publications or screens — or hour after hour of TV “news” talk. AND, even though they were opinions or analyses, the principal facts behind them were fact-checked for truth and accuracy.

Words matter. So does their power, their delivery, and their truth. We were reminded of that and called to action in a very big way on Wednesday, when 23-year-old Los Angeles poet Amanda Gorman brought a suffering, divided nation to its feet with her reading of “The Hill We Climb,” the poem she wrote for the Biden Inauguration, which begins:

When day comes we ask ourselves, where can we find light in this never-ending shade? The loss we carry, a sea we must wade. We’ve braved the belly of the beast. We’ve learned that quiet isn’t always peace. In the norms and notions of what just is isn’t always justice.

And yet, the dawn is ours before we knew it. Somehow, we do it.

As a long-time published poet myself, I loved the urgency, power and imagery of Amanda’s poem — stark, real, right in front of our faces. It felt like the perfect poem for the moment. I also loved the way she presented, with an assuredness, expressiveness and on-stage mastery that is pretty amazing for someone who couldn’t even pronounce “r’s” with consistency until three years ago. She’s on a fast track now, though, having performed on big stages from CBS This Morning to The Library of Congress, where new First Lady Dr. Jill Biden watched her perform — and invited her back to an even bigger stage.

Right now, I feel very fortunate that, in my life, I’ve been lucky enough to hear the great Robert Frost’s “The Gift Outright,” performed at JFK’s inauguration in the waning years of his illustrious life (my mom put her then 17-month-old son in front of the TV so I could hear Frost); and “The Hill We Climb,” performed by a young poetic powerhouse as her literary career is just getting started. Or rocketing forward; in the past 24 hours, she’s probably drawn the most online attention of anyone in the world. She rocked the nation — and world.

What I’m not surprised about is a 23-year-old performing on such a big stage. Amanda is part of Generation Z, which seems serious, intent and focused on dispensing with the blame game, rolling up their sleeves, and making this country better. While I’ve never met Amanda, I’ve known about her for a few years; a group of high school poets I mentored in Southern California raved about her and told me why. She was born to be a poet — and a mentor. Her first book, due out in September, is a children’s book, Change Sings.

This morning, I heard an interview with Amanda, in which she talked about the power and purpose of words, and her relationship with words moving forward. Something she said really got to me, and reminded me of how sacred I’ve always tried to hold words and the written language. They also left me reflecting on what our conversations, journalism, TV news programs and shows, social media, books, readings and writings would look like if we could adhere, even a little, to what Amanda said:

“I want to reclaim, resanctify, and repurify the power and truth of words, because words do matter.”

Amen. As a writer, I’m taking up her challenge and working to heed her call. Words matter — never more than now.

Setting Our Writing (and Reading) Goals for 2021

I made a conscious decision to close out this discombobulated, pandemic-stricken and difficult year with the most hilarious, farcical read I could think of: Tom Robbins’ Even Cowgirls Get The Blues. If Sissy and Jellybean, along with Robbins’ wild romp of a voice, can’t get you out of a funk, well, nothing can. It felt like a totally appropriate way to wind down a year that felt at times like a never-ending scene from the heart of Twister.
Which brings us to 2021 — a New Year, a fresh start for many, and hopefully, an open and healthy society for all of us (at least the second half of the year). It’s a time for writers and readers to look ahead to the books or articles they want to write or read, and also to push past anything that might get in the way of fulfilling those goals.
My reading goals for 2021 are pretty simple: besides reading clients’ novels, memoirs, YA, children’s and non-fiction titles that I’m editing, I want to continually expand the breadth of the material I read. Typically, my nightstand carries a combination of memoir, fiction, poetry, music-themed book, travel narrative, and either sports or space. I’ve been cross-reading for many years, and find it one of the best nutrients for feeding the creative mind — and diversifying my writing.
As for writing, my goals are pretty ambitious: first, to finish the two books I am currently co-writing (including Writes of Life II, the sequel to Writes of Life, to be published by Open Books Press in late August-early September. I also plan to finish Open Mic Night at the Next Chance, my novel-in-progress; start a memoir; and perhaps even start another new novel once NaNoWriMo rolls around in November. I always circle those 30 days as prime time for starting a new book, while trying to hit the NaNoWriMo goal of 50,000 words. It’s a great month of intense writing, which is what the most prolific novelists do every day of every week of every year.

What are your writing goals for 2021? Since it looks like we’ll be staying inside for the next few months, let it be an opportunity to write that book you’ve always talked about, finish works in progress, or start something in a new genre for you. Here are a few tips to get off to a flying start, and keep the momentum and consistency going all year long:

• Write down the goals you dream of achieving this year, the goals you’d really like to achieve, and the goals you insist on achieving. Shoot for the stars, but be sure you hit the moon.
• Fill your writing space with things that inspire you: sayings, music, paintings, books, special trinkets — and a fountain or Zen garden.
• Start each writing session with 10 minutes of journaling, at full speed. Don’t worry about punctuation, grammar, run-on or fragmented sentences. Just write. It’s like warming up a car engine in winter. When your 10 minutes is up, switch to your computer (or pad, if you’re a longhander). Presto! No writer’s block. You’ll be ready to go.
• Go into your book session with a plan and outline of some kind — but always be willing to jump from that outline and into wherever your creative mind takes you. Any of those tangents could become crowned jewels of your story.
• Write fluidly and freely, resisting all temptation to edit sentences along the way. You can do that later. Only review sentences to see what comes next.
• The goal of a first draft is simple: To transfer the story from your head to the screen (or paper). Go where your stories and characters take you, especially in first draft. Don’t think anything too ridiculous to write. Again, you can edit it out later. Play in the sandbox, throw that sand around, and delight in the sheer creative dance of writing a free-flowing first draft.
• Don’t write until you’re exhausted. Like learning to run, or meditate, if you write to exhaustion out of the gate, you’re likely never to finish. It will feel too hard. Write until you feel like your creativity is waning.
• Finish HOT. Try to stop your writing session in the middle of a particularly juicy paragraph (or at least write the topic sentence). Save it for tomorrow. This does two things: 1) Keeps your brain wound up and thinking through the story; and 2) Ensures you’ll dive right in and kick writer’s block to the curb.
• Be sure to read plentifully when writing, preferably in a genre or subject matter other than what you’re writing (unless doing research). Keep the channel of your subject open for your writing expression.
• Take care of yourself. Walk, run, practice yoga, eat nutritiously, spend time in nature and open space. Keep feeding your mind and inspiration.
Good luck in 2021! Please let us know how you’re doing by leaving a comment — and Happy New Year to everyone from the crew at Word Journeys Literary Services!

Meet the New Word Journeys Team: Hard to Believe It’s Been 25 Years!

It’s been quite awhile since I posted on the Word Journeys Blog, but that’s about to change. We are getting ready to commemorate our 25th anniversary of serving authors, educators, publishers, agents, conferences and journalists, and we have quite a year planned. What’s going to make it even more special is that the festivities will coincide with all of us coming out of the pandemic — and back into bookstores, live signings, festivals and fairs, writer’s conferences… and so much more.

First of all, Word Journeys Literary Services has undergone quite a facelift in 2020 — or should I say, it’s been lifted by a lot of new faces. After working primarily as a one-man band, providing editing, platform building, marketing and PR services to authors and publishers from throughout the world and teaching at writer’s conferences while also writing and ghostwriting 20-plus books, I decided to take this business forward with young, super talented book lovers and media specialists.

Let’s start with my business and strategy partner, Alexa Black Tabor, one of the most talented young publishing professionals in America. I first met Alexa in 2007 when she was a young teen fantasy writer attending one of my writer’s workshop series. Since then, she’s become a news journalist, book author, illustrator and designer, digital marketing, PR, book promotion and social media whiz… you get the drift. She belongs on anyone’s “Best Publishing Professionals Under Age 30” list. We will be presenting together at several events in 2021, including Digital Book World.

Right with Alexa is another superstar I first mentored as a teenager, Melissa Jenkins, one of the first people I ever hired for Word Journeys, when she did side projects for me in 1998 — and now is one of our new faces of 2020. Melissa compiled The Write Time, and worked with me in the magazine business at Faircount International. She is a book editor, writes everything from web copy to book segments, and is a feature writer and associate editor for Sustainability Today and STEM Today magazines. We are also co-authoring the sequel to Writes of Life: Using Personal Experiences in Everything You Write, due out in late August 2021.

Our master organizer, administrative manager and wearer of all hats is Erin James, who keeps this ship on track and all the traffic headed in the right direction. Erin has been a lover of children’s books, biographies and novels her entire life, and as the mother of two young daughters, has her finger on the pulse of children’s and YA literature. She also is a writer and associate editor for STEM Today magazine, and is working with Alexa on our digital marketing and social media efforts.

Let’s skip to our Gen Z crew. First is Destiny Nolan, who’s been writing for much of her young life. She has exceptional journalism and editing skills, is versatile across subjects and genres, and is our lead researcher on a wide variety of projects. The complete print and broadcast media, online media, podcast and book reviewer databases we bring to all of our PR, marketing and platform building clients are in large part due to her research. She’s compiling Writes of Life II, and is a feature writer for Sustainability Today and STEM Today magazines.

Last but not least is our newest team member, Trevor Faith, who will be producing our new podcast shows, which debut February 1 on video (available on the Word Journeys You Tube Channel; Vimeo) and audio (available on iTunes and Spotify). Trevor is a tech whiz, and also has extensive experience in online program production. Under his direction, we will be producing an excellent podcast that will feature interviews with top authors from throughout the U.S., spot segments from conferences, festivals and fairs (when we can go live again), and much more.

Add it all up, and you can see why I’m so excited for Word Journeys and for everyone we serve in our Silver Anniversary year. Looking forward to hearing from you, seeing all of you, talking story — and helping bring stories and platforms of all shapes, forms and genres to readers and listeners everywhere. Happy Reading!

The Photo Seen ‘Round the Sports World: Carol Hogan Reflects on Julie Moss

Carol Hogan may be the most significant unsung hero in the history of triathlon. Her photo of Julie Moss struggling to crawl toward the finish line in the 1982 Ironman World Championship in Kona, now on the cover of Julie’s just-released memoir Crawl of Fame, is one of the most iconic photographs in sports history. It is no exaggeration that it is triathlon’s version of the World War II Iwo Jima flag-raising photo — only Carol’s shot was raw and real, unlike the late Joe Rosenthal’s Iwo Jima photo, which was staged (in the original flag-raising photo, a Marine fire squad was under attack atop Mt. Suribachi).

Carol Hogan’s photograph of Julie Moss crawling across the finish line at the 1982 Ironman became a major trigger to an ensuing avalanche of media and “Wide World of Sports” coverage that elevated Julie, the Ironman, and endurance sports & fitness to global status almost overnight. We’ve been riding the wave since.

The photo captured an excruciating moment – the epitome of “Agony of Defeat,” to coin the saying from Wide World of Sports, which televised the race. It also helped fuel triathlon’s rapid ascension from a fringe extreme sport to a global participatory sport following the 1982 Ironman. Thirty-six years later, the photo – and the others Carol fired off during that indelible moment no one on-site will ever forget – stands as a historic symbol of perseverance, courage, and finishing what you start at all costs. The Spirit of Triathlon.

With Crawl of Fame drawing early praise and a lot of attention, ranking #6 on the Amazon Health/Fitness bestseller list (thank you, everyone!), Julie and I asked Carol to share her thoughts of the photo, and its significance in a very full life that has included competing in triathlon herself, promoting triathlons and Triple Crown of Surfing events through her Ocean Promotion firm (which is how I met and worked with her, in the mid- and late 1980s), and crafting a fine journalism and PR career.

It’s been 36 years since Carol Hogan shot one of sport’s most iconic photographs – Julie Moss beginning her crawl to the 1982 Ironman finish line, from which “Crawl of Fame” gets its name… and its story

Now, the circle closes. On Thursday at Kona Stories bookshop in Kona, Carol Hogan and Julie Moss will see each other for the first time since Carol shot those mesmerizing photos 36 years ago. I can only guess how Carol feels, but I know how Julie feels — she’s ecstatic. It will be one of those reunion experiences you can’t make up.

Here is Carol’s account, which is as much of a treasure as she has been to triathlon and ocean sports over the past four decades:

Thoughts about the Julie Moss photo and the Ironman Triathlon

By Carol Hogan

In January 1980, I was the outdoor reporter for The Honolulu Advertiser, one of only two women working in their sports department. The other covered golf and volleyball, so I was assigned to cover the “nutty Ironman Triathalon (sic).” The newspaper files had two or three post-race write-ups –– that was it. To get more information, I visited with race director Valerie Silk in Ironman’s small office headquarters and attended the pre-race meeting. Even then, it was difficult to comprehend how complicated racing an Ironman truly was.

(At the time, my husband Bob and I were training and racing with Oahu’s “The Bike Club” at Kapiolani Park. I knew about bike racing. I once won the Oahu Women’s Veteran class by default, the only entrant in the division.)

The weather was a prime factor and race day, January 10, 1980. Dangerously stormy, it forced race officials to move the 2.4-mile swim from its original Waikiki Open Ocean Swim course to the safer waters of Ala Moana Park lagoon.

Carol and Bob Hogan were the ultimate sea- and adventure-loving couple  – sailing, paddling, surfing, outrigger canoeing… and running triathlons.

Bob and I lived nearby on our sailboat boat in Ala Wai Marina. I mentioned I’d probably be home late and drove early to the race start, in my beloved Porsche 914. I interviewed a few entrants (most journalists called them “weirdo’s”) on the beach, where swimmers flapped their arms to keep warm. Cowman, wearing his furred, horned bison helmet, stood out. Waiting bicycles had candy bars taped to the crossbar. The ABC Wide World of Sports crew was there for their first-time coverage. Offshore, their swim commentator and long-distance swimmer, Diana Nyad, and her cameraman bounced around in a small dinghy.

Dave Scott was first out of the water. When he took off, I did too. He led the way around Oahu, and the ABC crew followed, filming out the back door of a small rented RV. I tucked in behind them, stopping twice: once to purchase a six-pack of Diet Pepsi and a bag of Fritos, the other to jump into the bushes after too much Pepsi.

At the marathon start in downtown Honolulu, Dave changed to running gear. I followed him as far as Kapiolani Park, then parked and waited. I positioned myself at the finish-line telephone pole –– nothing fancy. When Dave ran into view, no one followed. Someone tied a string to the pole, while someone else opposite the pole held the other end. Dave ran through, I got the shot, and interviewed him. Olympic cyclist John Howard was second, grumbling that you can’t “really race” when you have to stop at all the red lights — and twice to weigh in. People finished all through the night. I waited until the first woman, Robin Beck, finished, interviewed her and drove home. That was the beginning of my affair with Ironman.

The race moved to Kailua-Kona on the Big Island in February 1981, due partly to the traffic and stoplights on Oahu. Weighing-in was still mandatory. That year I covered the race from a motorcycle sidecar driven by a cyclist friend. John Howard won.

An accomplished duo: journalist-PR liaison extraordinaire Carol Hogan and her husband, the legendary L.A. County surfer and lifeguard Bob Hogan

In August 1981, after covering the Transpac sailboat race, Bob and I took a 65-day, 2,800-mile cross-country bike tour across the United States, from Portland, Oregon, to Boston. Our first grandchild, Dan, was born just before we crossed the Big Horn Mountains in Montana. We returned to Hawaii in late November and I went back to work as the outdoor reporter.

In February 1982, with my bike as transportation, I flew to Kona to cover Ironman. I had often joked that covering the race was as mentally and physically exhausting as doing it. You never knew who would win, had to be everywhere at the same time, and if anything could happen, it usually did. I usually had a lot of requests for coverage from various magazines. Meeting their needs meant being on the course all day and far into the evening. I always looked for new angles to report.

As the day began, I observed a teeny young Japanese lady whiz by on her bicycle and also noticed that Walt Stack, 74, was still racing. I had 12 writing assignments that year. Hmmm, I thought and went out on the course.

Scott Tinley was close to finishing first. I drove into town, shot the finish and interviewed him, then returned to Kalanianaole Highway. An unknown, Julie Moss, was leading the women’s race, with J. David’s team member Kathleen McCartney behind her. At the appropriate time, I drove into town, positioning myself near the finish line.

Where I chose to stand –– almost on the finish line –– was pure luck!

When Julie crawled around the corner into view, I was mesmerized. Watching her struggling to stand was agonizing, her collapses horrifying, her crawl painful to photograph. But that was my job. I watched history being made through the camera lens. Immediately after collapsing on the finish line, Julie was rushed to the medical tent. No interviews allowed. So I didn’t interview her then, and for the thirty-six years since, have never talked to her face-to-face about that day or her finish. We’ve connected by telephone and Facebook once or twice over the years, but that’s about it. Meanwhile, the photo has been published in dozens of media outlets.

Post-race, I remained in Kona to finish my assignments, and also biked to Waimea­­ to cover a Mauna Kea ski meet. A round trip of 100 miles, it became a pedaling meditation on whether or not to race. When I returned to Kona, I had committed to racing the following October. I was 48, had just finished a major bike ride, and could swim. Hmmmm.

“If you’re doing it, I am too,” Bob said.

We signed up for October ’82. For eight months, we trained relentlessly: with swim coach Jan Prins at the University of Hawaii, with Max Telford’s long-distance running group, and with The Bike Club racing group. On race day, I was ready; the oldest woman to date to enter an Ironman. I surprised myself by winning third place in my division. Bob was fourth in his. We were elated. Our daughter Sharri shot my photos, as I still had writing assignments. Our son Rob, his wife and our grandson were on hand to watch.

The following year, we raced the October 1983 Ironman with Rob. He became so enamored with Ironman, he entered it for the next eight years. Bob and I stopped racing Ironman, but my public relations company, Ocean Promotion and I, remained physically connected with the event until the late 90s, the final two years as press room coordinator.

I’m thrilled that I was able to observe history in the making and proud to have played a part in the growth of a sport that brought me so much pleasure. Knowing that it has made an impact on the growth popularity of Ironman, I try to protect its use as a historical document. The photograph itself is copyrighted, and I protect its publication in the media –– no National Inquirer folks need apply. Sometimes it’s “borrowed” and used by bloggers or writers who haven’t contacted me first. Wherever possible, I contact them and ask them to take it off their page.

I’m truly excited to return to Kona to celebrate Ironman’s 40^th anniversary and watch Julie race. She’s been gracious to a fault about the use of her photo and has turned her “Agony of Defeat” into an amazingly positive life lesson for herself and others. I have a feeling this will be Julie’s year to cross the finish line. She’s earned it..

Three Re-emerged Rock Gods, One Adventurous Author: The Making of Mr. Mojo Risin

At one point or another, rock music fans have asked themselves, “What if Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix or Elvis Presley had lived? Where would they have taken their vast musical talent? What would they have done with their lives? What would they be like today?”

Southern California author and musician Scott Tatum tackles those questions head-on in Mr. Mojo Risin, a satirical and oft-hilarious romp that pulls the equally mysterious worlds of the CIA, FBI, Mafia and Yakuza together — along with the White House, Pentagon, Las Vegas police, and a traveling club of retirees. Amidst these elements, set in the late 1990s, he drops in Jim, Jimi and Elvis by bringing them back to life in a conceivingly plausible way: by ghosting them in a secretive CIA program. This ends abruptly when an invisible Jimi walks away… only to soon find himself with Jim and Elvis on a cross-country trip.

From there, all hell breaks loose — often — as we follow the three resurrected legends, now somewhat ordinary people that the author masterfully presents in their most day-to-day human selves (besides Jimi, who remains invisible). He deftly overrides the images of the tortured rock gods whose songs we’ll forever listen to. The relationship between Morrison and Sparkle (Think The Doors’ classic song “Love Street” manifesting in the flesh), Elvis’ indifference to his own look-alike contests, and the various adventures feed an ever-building plot that culminates in the group’s attempt, along with the elite SEAL Team 13, to prevent a U.S. takeover of Jamaica.

Like all good novels with satirical streaks, Mr. Mojo Risin’ offers a quite serious undercurrent to this book: the government, run by a President well over his head, surrounded by corruption and self-serving politicians and military leaders.

Mr. Mojo Risin’ is a true send-up, the kind of sweeping novel into which we all love to escape. It is also the first of four planned novels by Tatum, who also is a songwriter, musical and short story author. As he sat down with us, a mischievous twinkle in his eye, he broke down one of the more original novels to cross our desk in years. You can find more on the book, including entertaining back stories on characters — and a few select song lists — by going to http://www.mrmojorisinbook.com.

WORD JOURNEYS: Mr. Mojo Risin has more twists and turns than a Grand Prix course in a hall of mirrors — and each is equally farcical, hilarious, informative, and cautionary in its own way. Can you briefly take us through the story?

SCOTT TATUM: You can get a lot of mileage if you cast three back-from-the-dead rock icons as your protagonists, especially if one of them chats with God and another is invisible. But that will only take you so far. Conflict drives stories. In Mr. Mojo Risin, Morrison and company have many worthy adversaries: a bumbling President, his vainly incompetent Chief of Staff, a ruthlessly ambitious four-star General, a sleazy Mafia hitman and a seductive Yakuza assassin — and that’s before tossing the CIA, the FBI, homicide detectives, and a Navy SEAL team into the mix.

WJ: Jim, Jimi and Elvis are together again – in a way no one will expect. What gave you the idea to come up with a novel about the three as members of a ghost CIA program? 

ST: When I settled on Morrison, Elvis and Hendrix as my protagonists, I had to come up with a shared experience to account for their deaths. The CIA ruse worked because it gave an almost plausible way to account for their public disappearances and subsequent resurrections.

WJ: How did this story come together? What prompted you to write this book, and the eventual series? 

ST: Like all stories, this started with a couple questions. The first: If Jim Morrison (and eventually Elvis Presley and Jimi Hendrix) didn’t die, what really happened and what would they be up to now?

The second question reared its ugly head during a TV piece about the legalization of marijuana. Watching a demagogue wax poetically about the dangers of pot as a gateway drug, I wondered, ‘What if marijuana provided a strategically important advantage to the military?’

WJ: What were character aspects you embraced as you imagined Morrison, Hendrix and Presley still kicking around some 25-30 years after their demises? 

ST: In Mr. Mojo Risin, Elvis references his earlier “resurrection” (starting with his 1968 TV special) as a cautionary tale, warning Morrison that if he’d hung on any longer, he’d have wound up fat, fringed and strung out in Vegas doing two shows a night. Morrison, who makes several references to his extended adolescence, understands that being away from his old life as a rock god gave him the space to grow up. Morrison, Elvis and Jimi are painfully aware of where they came from and hopeful of where they’re headed.

WJ: The story is a real send-up, and in many ways, parallel to some of the dysfunction we see in the White House today. Yet, you draw out something quite serious: what happens to a country when someone takes charge who is way over his head. Can you talk about that sub-theme? 

ST: Sadly, those lessons are either self-evident or they’re not. Most people understand there’s an astounding level of dysfunction in Washington in general and in the White House in particular. The rest appear pathologically incapable of figuring it out.

The Trump presidency has dramatically raised the bar on what’s out-of-bounds politically. In the book, the Hartley-Thibodeaux campaign platform had to be re-written because what I wrote in the original draft, though it seemed outrageous at the time, has become the new normal.

WJ: We’ve got corrupt politicians, resurrected rock legends, old girlfriends, renegade warriors, Mafia and Yakuza interests … How did these character choices factor into the way you wrote the book?

ST: Michelangelo said every block of stone had a statue inside, and the task of a sculptor was to uncover it. I try to create intense, wacky characters then get out of their way and let them tell their story. It probably contributes to the wild ride that I tend not to write linearly.

WJ: As you wrote the story, what surprised you most about how Jimi, Jim and/or Elvis changed?

ST: Actually, what surprised me most what was not how they changed but why. The book wrote itself. The story took some unexpected twists and turns that forced the characters to react and adapt.

WJ: You have a real talent for spotting the farcical in people, their lives and their situations. In what ways did that help you with the hilarious scenes and conversations that pepper this book? 

ST: I think that springs from a mix of my personal experiences and how I look at the world. When people asked, I used to answer, “I was a righter”. Along the way, part of my process was learning I can’t fix the world. We live in nonsensical times. All I’m doing is going with the flow and creating a read from my perspective.

WJ: Since Jim Morrison is one of the characters, you do something to show the heartful side of him – putting him with Sparkle. He was like this before, too, at times. Tell us about your love of The Doors, and why you chose to bring out the soft side of Morrison in the book. 

ST: Like I said, hopefully, eventually we all grow up. When I first met my wife, I realized she was too smart for me to fool very long. I had to become the person I pretended to be. For a guy set in his ways, that’s hard. Like Morrison when he meets Sparkle, I was so in love with her, I was willing to go through the process. I think it’s something most men can relate to. If you’re a man and can’t, either God bless you ‘cause you got it right the first time, or you’ve got a lot of work to do.

WJ: Another highlight is the fast-paced, tough-talking, colorful dialogue between the characters. That must’ve been a blast to hear all these colorful, crazy characters talking through your head while writing.

ST: One of the experiences I share with Jim Morrison, is as the son of acareer military officer, I moved around a lot as a kid. In the second grade, I went to four different schools. I was in the eighth grade before I went to the same school two years in a row. Learning how to fit in became an emotional survival skill. One of the chameleon-like abilities I unconsciously acquired was mimicking speech. Take the Mafia hitman in Mr. Mojo Risin, Many of the details of his life – Saint Rose’s of Lima in Flatbush, Newkirk Ave, the Cadillac dealership on Long Island – are familiar to me. His voice in my head rings distinctively Brooklyn. I hope it reads that way as well.

I always work dialogue out loud and standing up. I act out each scene as I edit. Several characters have catch phrases that help identify and define them, like Gladys Little’s “landsakes” or her husband Elmo’s “we better skidaddle before the blubbering starts.”

One quirk I didn’t catch until later, is that Morrison, Sparkle and Moby always say “going to” while the rest of the characters say “gonna”. Morrison and Sparkle were both English majors. Moby, as we find out in Agnew on Mt Rushmore, has his Ph.D. from Cambridge. I did that without realizing it just by keeping everyone in character.

When I first met my wife, I warned her anything she says or does is fair game for a book and she strongly influenced Sparkle. I frequently take notes whenever I hear or say something I think I can use. Sometimes I try out dialogue on her to see how she reacts. Little tricks like that keep each character’s speech authentic.

WJ: Tell us about the mother-daughter dynamic of Sparkle and Honey, and how that plays into both Morrison’s opening and the story itself. 

ST: As a man, writing from a woman’s perspective is hard. I didn’t grow up with a sister. My grandfather was one of thirteen children and had two sons of his own. His only sister died before he was born. When my parents got married, he presented them a bottle of Napoleon brandy to toast the first female addition to the family line in over half a century. But my mom and dad had sons. My brother has two sons. Another half a century later, after I had three sons, my wife and I found out she was pregnant with a little girl.

Not surprisingly, I relied heavily on the relationship between my wife and our now teenage daughter in crafting Sparkle and Honey’s characters. Because Sparkle was a teenage mom herself, they grew up almost like sisters. It’s hard, particularly with a mother and daughter so close in age, to be friends and still set boundaries. That dynamic is a telling part of their story.

WJ: Mr. Mojo Risin’ is the first book in a series you are planning. Tell us briefly about the stories to follow.

ST: You can get a lot of mileage if you cast three back-from-the-dead rock icons as your protagonists, especially if one of them chats with God and another is invisible. But that will only take you so far. Conflict drives stories.

In the second book, Agnew on Mt. Rushmore, Morrison and company confront a thermonuclear weapons designer who rolls into Vegas with a trunk full of suitcase nukes and a plan to extort billions from Uncle Sam. Along with his co-conspirators, a deranged U.S. Senator from Mississippi and the Prince of Darkness (Satan’s spent the last two decades moonlighting as a Vegas lounge singer), he’s threatening to turn southern Nevada, including some very expensive casino real estate, into ground zero.

In the third book, The Boys From Pahrump, lingering questions surrounding JFK’s death are answered when our heroes match wits with the love child of Marilyn Monroe and Adolf Hitler. Neither the Cubans, Kremlin, Mafia nor CIA were involved in the assassination. There was no sinister conspiracy. In my story, JFK got caught up in a good, old-fashioned love triangle, cuckolding a sociopath with a silly moustache.  Meanwhile, Adolf and Marilyn’s son is poised to fulfill his father’s dream of world domination. He’s smuggled thousands of vials of frozen Fuhrer sperm from a super-secret CIA vault, the first step in his master plan to breed an army of baby Hitlers and create the Fourth Reich.

I’m thinking about writing the fourth book (working title Erebus ex Machina) from Gladys Little’s point-of-view. That way I can shamelessly steal Vonnegut’s opening line from Cat’s Cradle (that he shamelessly stole from Moby Dick):

Call me Mother. My parents did, or nearly did. They called me Gladys.

I’m only a hundred pages in, and the story’s still writing itself, but I will tell you it ends with a burning Viking ship sendoff in the Bellagio Fountains.

I hope readers enjoy reading my books as much as I enjoy writing them.

 

 

 

The Word Journeys Book Blow-Out Sale: 9 Titles from Robert Yehling

This is one of my favorite times of the year. Kids are in school, visitors have left Southern California, the ocean and sun are warm… and tis the season for writing and writers conference.

On Oct. 2, Crawl of Fame, the memoir I co-wrote with Ironman Triathlon Hall of Famer and lifelong friend Julie Moss, releases to bookstores and online booksellers throughout North America. Published by Pegasus Books, Crawl of Fame is the remarkable story of a young woman’s unlikely crawl to instant fame, how her courageous performance at the 1982 Ironman elevated triathlon to world sport status, and how she’s empowered women and men, girls and boys since.

To celebrate the release of Crawl of Fame, welcome to the Word Journeys Fall Book Blow-Out! The perfect time to grab new reads for yourself, and load up on holiday gifts for others. Between now and October 15, we’re offering substantial buy-direct discounts on nine backlist titles, signed and inscribed by me as you’d like.

How the sale works:

• Choose your book(s), contact us (bobyehling@gmail.com or through WordPress) and pay via check (made to Word Journeys, Inc., sent to 2517 Via Naranja, Carlsbad, CA 92010) or PayPal (at the above email address).
• Indicate if you’d like your book(s) signed.
• We’ll ship immediately. Expect your book within 5-7 days of order.
• If you buy 3 or more books, take an additional 10% off the sales prices.
• Add $3 to ship 1 book, $5 for 2-3 books, and $7 for 4 or more books.
• Enjoy your bounty!

Here are the titles:

Voices: The novel about rock music legend Tom Timoreaux, his rising star daughter — and emergence of his lost love-child, set to the backbeat of the past 50 years of rock and roll. Nominated for the Independent Publishers Book Award. 5-star ratings from Amazon. Regular price: $18.95. Sale: $12.00

Just Add Water: Biography of superstar surfer Clay Marzo, who lives with autism. Clay’s inspirational story of becoming one of the world’s greatest surfers, was a finalist for the Dollie Gray Literature Award. Regular price: $16.95. Sale: $12.00

When We Were The Boys: The memoir of rock star, singer-songwriter-guitarist and award-winning film producer Stevie Salas. This coming-of-age story focuses on Stevie’s turn as Rod Stewart’s lead guitarist on the 1988 Out of Order Tour — and how it launched his great career. Regular price: $17.95. Sale: $12.00.

Beyond ADHD: Written with Canadian ADHD expert Jeff Emmerson, Beyond ADHD looks at the many deeper causes of our diminishing attention span, the current rush to diagnose as ADHD and treat it with powerful drugs — and numerous ways to change lifestyles and embrace attention-growing attitudes and activities. Endorsed by Dr. Allen Frances, mental and behavioral health expert and chair of the DSM-IV committee. Hardcover. Regular price: $35.00. Sale: $25.00

Writes of Life: Using Personal Experiences in Everything You Write: Winner of the Independent Publishers Book Award, this book is for writers, students, educators, and anyone using their own stories in essays, journals, fiction, memoir, poetry… anything you write. Features 80 exercises. Regular price: $12.95. Sale: $10.00

The Write Time: 366 Exercises to Fulfill Your Writing Life: “The best writing exercise book on the market,” Poets & Writers said. Every day, a new exercise to stretch your writing muscles, explore new genres, and refine your skills. For authors, journalists, casual writers, educators and students alike. Features motivational quotes from authors and much more. Regular price: $16.95. Sale: $12.00

For lovers of poetry, lyric and essay, we also bring three poetry-essay titles: Shades of Green, Coyotes in Broad Daylight, and Backroad Melodies. All feature more than 60 new poems and essays, with elements of love, nature, relationship, ecology, music, the deep woods and the open road. More than 30 of my poems also appeared in journals. Regular price for each: $12.00. Sale: $10.00

 

 

 

We invite you to jump in, get some holiday shopping done early, find something for yourself to read and enjoy, and indulge in the Word Journeys Book Blow-Out !

When the Cold War Collides with Love: Interview with Author Steve Gladish

Sometimes, we arrive at the idea for a novel and promptly write it, moving from concept to cover in a short period of time. In many ways, that’s the hook of independent publishing.

That has not been Stephen Gladish’s experience. The Tucson, Arizona-based author of the forthcoming Tracking the Skies for Lacy (On Sale August 28) has spent the past decade working with a central premise: his adventures with the Air Force’s Sixth Weather Squadron, and how romance, faith and harrowing missions seemed to mix.

Like many authors, Gladish struggled with deciding when to finish and release his work. First, there is a lot of story; Tracking the Skies for Lacy is the first of three forthcoming romantic military adventures in the series. Second, his protagonists weave in and out of all three books, creating a delicious read to mind and heart that takes awhile to present as seamlessly as Gladish does.

Most of all, Gladish wanted to get it right. Now, the retired English and writing instructor in the Arizona Department of Corrections system brings out the beautiful, thrilling and ultimately redeeming story of Luke and Lacy, and their windy road to romance. He also brings us the lushness of Polynesia, harrowing thrills of chasing tornadoes, a critical return to Vietnam, and more, in typical Gladish fashion — large, sweeping, ringing with imagery, and constantly working the heart strings.

Tracking the Skies for Lacy is coming out in time for us to reload on our summer reads. Perfect timing, as the enduring warmth of this story feels like a day at the beach — but one that makes us wiser when we finish reading.

Word Journeys: You went through a few ideas before settling on the final title, Tracking the Skies for Lacy. Could you elaborate?

Stephen B. Gladish: The military weather focus of Tracking the Skies for Lacy began long ago with my tours of Tornado Alley. Then I extended the scope to chasing tornadoes, monitoring nuclear detonations, flying helicopter rescue and attack missions, and making white water rescues. The unique romance of Luke and Lacy spanned all the new adventures and held them together. And each one of these chapters involved tracking the skies.

WJ: Where did the central idea for the book come from?

Tracking the Skies for Lacy author Steve Gladish

SG: In addition to my childhood inspirations, and my lifetime interest in weather, I wanted to call attention to the importance of weather in everybody’s lives. I served in the USAF 6^th Weather Squadron (Mobile) and the Severe Weather Warning Command in the early Sixties. I want to take the reader through the sheer adventure of Luke growing into a man, just as the military venue designs it. From a weather warrior, he graduates to become an officer and a pilot, one of the few who came home from the Vietnam War psychologically unscathed.

WJ: Tell us briefly about Tracking the Skies for Lacy.

SG: Tracking the Skies for Lacy begins with a cloudy sky, metaphorically speaking. Lacy’s wealthy family moves to Luke’s hometown and they attend the same school, Park Avenue Prep. Lacy is beyond beautiful, and Luke, a handsome star student and athlete, is drawn to her. At age fifteen, Luke is confronted by class structure for the first time: Lacy is told by Mr. De’Luca, her father, not to have anything to do with any boy beneath her status. Thanks to Mrs. De’Luca’s compassion for Lacy, Luke and Lacy have years of hidden closeness.

Lacy goes on to Stanford University, while Luke follows a family tradition and joins the Air Force. Running a military gauntlet of tornadoes, nuclear atmospheric explosions, wartime helicopter actions, and white-water rafting dangers, Luke follows his quest to bring back the love of his youth. Lacy graduates from Stanford University, then shocks everybody by joining the Peace Corps. A wealthy girl, she lives in huts, rides on rundown old buses. A future with Luke? Luke could be swallowed up by Lacy’s family and disappear. Lacy has to give up a total life style to turn the corner.

Two years later, Luke comes home for a two-week R & R respite from the Pacific Nuclear Proving Ground/Marshall Islands. He had fallen in love with the beautiful and educated Talia Su’sulu, a Samoan teacher. He knew there would be no cross-class clash. But then there was Lacy…

Author Steve Gladish in the South Pacific – the setting for much of ‘Tracking the Skies for Lacy’

WJ: The dance between Luke and Lacy becomes the romantic tension that holds throughout the novel.

SG: Our hero falls in love with Lacy, grows up, and becomes a Sixth Weather storm chaser. He and his military sidekicks locate and record deadly tornadoes while saving numerous people in the nation’s Tornado Alley, and then they are island castaways recording nuclear detonations all over the South Pacific. Lacy is miles ahead of Luke. He plunges into college and intensive helicopter training. Now as an officer, Luke and his buddies hunt down the deadly enemy in Vietnam, and then attend a reunion where Luke finally connects with Lacy. But the story is not complete until he and his buddies coordinate a stunning rescue as white-water guides on “The River of No Return.”

WJ: Could you talk about how you transferred your experience into the characters of Luke and Chance?

SG: Sure! It was primarily in the military part of the story. Luke and Chance had advanced training in upper atmosphere weather, as I did. We worked alone and isolated and became close for that reason as well, a camaraderie and brotherhood you see in the book. I feel we need a lot more of that today. In Sixth Weather Squadron, we repeatedly surveyed the drastic damages of tornadoes. Saving lives was a key part of our mission. Across the world, pilots and aircrews depended on our weather reports and forecasts. We had mission and meaning in our lives. We got hooked on it, to be quite honest.

WJ: Typically in romantic adventure novels, the story is set in one or two truly romantic places. In Tracking the Skies for Lacy, though, you mix it up. We’re in Chicago, Oklahoma, Vietnam and Northern California — quite a mix of landscape and feeling — but we’re also in Samoa and briefly in Hawaii. Luke falls hard for the simple Polynesian life. Tell us how the paradise settings fit into the story.

SG: In my view, Polynesia was not only a visual paradise, but also a beautiful family-oriented place. The grandfather, or matai, guided the family. Children were raised by the whole family. One family could adopt other kids with no paperwork. Life was gentle. Lovemaking was natural, innocent, and an accepted part of the island culture. Unlike the U.S., there were no constant comparisons of income or status or the homes in which everybody lived. There was little unrest or unhappiness with one’s job, or career, or position. Natives were natural teachers, nurses, caregivers. Trained teachers were prized, valued, and respected far more than teachers here. Church leaders and pastors and ministers were treasured, churches filled with white-clad Polynesians who sang with a childlike devotion and a sublime beauty you have to hear in person to believe. I really wanted to present this life in the novel.

WJ: If you were to bounce around a library, comparing your novel to others, what would you come up with?

SG: Many of Louis L’Amour’s stories, like Sackett and To Tame a Land, carry an innocent young man with strong moral values into situations where he must prove himself as a man in order to win the woman he loves. And all American literature for boys begins with Huckleberry Finn, the story of an innocent boy running away from his Pap and into freedom. Herman Melville’s Typee, the first romance novel based in the South Pacific, has an innocent and moralistic hero as well. The Jason Bourne character from the Robert Ludlum series has parallels with Luke LaCrosse: masculine qualities, adventurous and ambitious, needs to win. Furthermore, Luke’s odyssey, like Ulysses’, involves one challenge and temptation after another, tortuous romance sailing through numerous reversals, crashing , picking himself up, setting sail again.

WJ: The two principal romantic interests, Luke and Lacy, as well as others, hail from the Chicago area, where you also grew up. Even though you have not lived in Chicago in many years, it still holds you in many ways. Could you share what the city means to you, and the sentiment you wove into the novel?

SG: Frank Sinatra once sang, “Chicago is my kind of town.” And then he repeats it. Hey, it is my kind of town too. Any time I leave, Chicago tugs my sleeve. It is the kind of town that won’t let you down. Carl Sandburg was right: Chicago is a big-shouldered man. He is stormy, husky, and brawling. He is a wildly delinquent Paul Bunyan the Lumberjack, remembered around the country with a twenty-foot high statue. He can outwork anybody, and fiercely wields an axe left and right, up and down, to reach his goals. Whatever he destroys he builds up with something else new.

WJ: Your novel provides a fictionalized account of military service we often don’t hear about — forecasting the weather and studying it. Since you were a ‘tornado chaser’, a member of the Sixth Weather Squadron, what is particularly concerning to you about climate change today?

SG: I spent a lifetime of study, especially on the cruel euphemism “global warming,” a blurred, imprecise way of “dumbing down” the debate. The real definition is catastrophic climate change. Global emissions of carbon dioxide exceeded 400 parts per million in 2017 — the highest in the 800,000 years they can study scientifically — and has been climbing for fifty years. It signals the build-up of human-related greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels and forests.

Orwell said, “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” That’s where we are right now — telling the truth in the face of those who wish to deny climate change to hang onto their vested interests. The world faces multiple catastrophes: sea level rise measured in feet, not inches, staggeringly high temperature rise with four hundred consecutive months of above-average temperatures, permanent Dust Bowls, the desertification of the West, massive species loss, more intense and severe hurricanes, masses and clusters of tornado outbreaks, the vast enlargement of Tornado Alley, and other unexpected impacts such as the violent rainstorms in Italy October 2011 which inundated towns of the Cinque Terre, Vernazza and Monterosso.

TRACKING THE SKIES FOR LACY releases worldwide from Christian Faith Publishers on August 28. It will be available through bookstores, Amazon.com, and other online booksellers and e-book sellers.