The Journey Begins: Writing PK

When I began writing PK, I wasn’t trying to write a bestseller. I wasn’t even thinking about an author website, let alone a blog.

I simply wanted to write the best novel I was capable of writing, whether anyone ever read it or not. It has been in my head for a long time. Usually that’s my process. I write and rewrite in my head and then all of a sudden one day it comes pouring out.

It took me about six months to put my first draft together. Then, slowly, more chapters came into my head, sometimes in the middle of the night. I’d wake up and make a note on my phone so I wouldn’t forget it.

For more than four decades, I’ve worked on the other side of publishing. As a journalist, editor, publisher and CEO, I’ve spent my career helping tell other people’s stories. Along the way, I’ve edited thousands of articles, worked with countless writers and watched ideas come to life in print.

Writing a literary novel, however, was an entirely different experience. Plot, character development and dialogue all presented new challenges. Ironically, dialogue gave me the most trouble. It never came naturally to me, even though I can talk for hours.

And I loved every minute of it!

I loved researching the places that inspired the story and making them feel authentic. I loved building a story that asks difficult questions instead of offering easy answers. I wanted to write the kind of novel that would keep book club members debating all the way to the parking lot.

But more than anything, I wanted readers to care deeply about the novel’s young protagonist, Silas Ashford. I wanted them to cheer for him when he found hope, cry when he was hurt and celebrate each small victory as he struggled to overcome bullies and abuse. If readers close the book feeling like they’ve walked beside Silas on his journey and are still thinking about the story long after they turn the final page, then I’ve done my job.

One of the most valuable parts of writing PK was returning to the places that inspired it. I walked streets I hadn’t seen in decades, stood where important scenes unfold in the novel and revisited landscapes that had lived only in memory. Some details came back exactly as I remembered them. Others surfaced at unexpected moments. Those visits didn’t change the story, but they deepened it, adding textures and emotions that only come from standing in a place where life once happened.

Although PK is a work of fiction, authenticity mattered to me. I wanted readers to feel the rugged, often cold setting of Manistique, a logging and paper mill town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where the novel is set. Being there again reminded me that memory is a powerful force. Sometimes standing in the same place decades later reveals details you never realized you’d forgotten.

Walking into my father’s old church and seeing signs advertising the pasty sales the women’s group had been holding since the 1940s brought back vivid memories of helping them in the basement kitchen. I could still picture the women in flour-splattered aprons working the assembly line, each with a well-practiced task, and, of course, the unmistakable smell of a hot pasty fresh from the oven.

Writing the manuscript turned out to be only part of the journey.

Learning today’s publishing world has been an education in itself. I’ve attended workshops, studied the submission process, read countless articles, researched literary agents and learned from authors who have successfully navigated the path to publication. Every step has reinforced that writing the novel is only part of the journey. Finding the right home for it is another challenge entirely.

Researching literary agents, preparing query letters, writing a synopsis and learning the submission process have given me a new appreciation for every author who has traveled this road before me. Publishing a novel isn’t a sprint. It’s a long game built on persistence, patience and the willingness to keep improving.

So why build this website before PK has even found a publisher?

Because I believe readers should be able to see the journey, not just the destination.

Most author websites begin after publication. Mine begins before that happens. I want to share the process honestly, including the excitement, the uncertainty and everything in between. If an agent requests pages, I’ll celebrate the milestone. If I receive another rejection, I’ll learn from it and keep writing. Every published author once stood exactly where I am today.

This website is also a place to preserve some of the writing that came before PK. Over the years I’ve written newspaper stories, magazine articles, editorials, columns, poetry and personal reflections. They were written at different stages of my life, but they all share one common thread: a belief that stories help us better understand one another.

Whether PK eventually finds its way onto bookstore shelves or not, writing it has already been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It reminded me why I fell in love with writing in the first place and challenged me in ways I never expected.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you’ll join me on this journey as I share the road from manuscript to publication. Wherever the journey leads, I’ll do my best to tell it honestly.