A Long Road
It has been a considerably long road that I have been on, but it finally got me to where I have wanted to be for a long while… publishing stories as novels for those who like to read.
I know exactly where this road started. In primary school we had a teacher who was older than the others, and to a very young class of students in grades one to three, she looked like Margaret Hamilton in the Wizard of Oz. She was strict, very demanding and she inspired fear in anyone who didn’t pay attention in class. Year after year, we fervently hoped that she would be replaced by a teacher with a more gentle and tolerant temperament. That didn’t happen, and I am now forever grateful that it didn’t. The reason is simple. By the time my classmates and myself finished primary school, we were able to spell, to parse sentences and to write essays and short compositions that were well constructed, readable and often interesting. We were taught about literature that existed beyond comic books, and when she read to us in class — we listened. We listened intently because her love of literature transformed her into someone other than our “grammar teacher.” Years later, when I went up on stage to get my university diploma for a BA in English, my first smile was for my parents in the audience. My second smile was in memory of Mrs Gladys Hackett… my primary school “grammar teacher” at Saint Barbara’s Primary School at Camp Picton.
It’s taken a while, but now that I am retired and have the time to write, I hope that the stories will find an audience for two reasons. First, it would be the source of great personal pleasure to give people a chance to spend some time with interesting characters in interesting situations. And second, if any profit is generated from the books, it is my intention to donate most of it in support of military veterans in need. For those of you who help this cause – thank you.