How it all began

Writing a novel has been on my bucket list for almost as long as I can remember. When the pandemic hit in 2020, I lost my job as an ESL teacher and was slipping into a dark place. It turns out my identity was pretty tightly tied to being a productive member of the workforce. That’s when my best and oldest friend stepped in and said, “Remember that bucket list?” I’m referring to my wife Janet, of course — just like Frank in Old Friends, I married my college sweetheart the same weekend she graduated from college (how’s that for a coincidence?), nearly 37 years ago. But just reminding me of that bucket list was not enough to get my butt off the couch. So for Christmas that year, Janet enrolled me in a MasterClass taught by Margaret Atwood, one of my all-time favorite authors. That’s what finally got me writing (I’ll say more about that in a future post). So I can truly say that I never would have written a novel without Janet’s love, inspiration, and encouragement, just like it says in the acknowledgements. Thank you, Janet, for believing in me!