Teri, the mother, was surprised when I hand-delivered her two books. It made the whole process special. My friend and I stopped in Gary’s Tavern afterwards, and while we shot several games of pool, he munched on chicken gizzards, while I ate a $3.50 cheeseburger.

As we drove out of Wilber, my friend said, “You know what we should do next time we deliver one of your books to a small town? We should bring a camera along and record our time in small-town Nebraska.”

I’ve always wanted to place my books in every city, town, or village in Nebraska, so don’t be surprised if you see me coming to your town. I just wish I would get funding for such a venture!

In the past, several loyal friends have invested in my many projects. I now have a webmaster, a business promoter, and a core group of friends who have sent me cash donations. If you want to be a part of my behind-the-scenes support group, feel free to either check out Donate to Storm Haven,  or simply send me your support by way of the mail, 6139 Kearney, Lincoln, NE. 68507. Any little amount would help get me on the road with this new project.

Sad, but oh so true. I once ran into a kid down at Havelock Park who said, “Geesh, with all the books you’ve sold over the years, why do you still live in Havelock?”

He had mistakenly read something on Amazon which indicated they had sold over 2.9 million books, and he thought it applied to my books! I wish! But the fact of the matter is, although I’ve been writing, editing, typesetting and publishing my own books for the past 15 years, I am still no closer to my goal of being a full-time writer. I still work for a local printer as a courier/delivery driver, and every month I struggle to make ends meet.

I once joked that if someone kidnapped me and demanded a large ransom, I was going to be out of luck. Yes, let me know how that one worked out, okay?

My friend once bought me a T-shirt which said, “When my ship finally comes in, I’ll probably be at the airport!”

So, this writing and publishing books is not a get-rich-quick-plan. It is a lot of hard work and once in a while, I get a letter or a word of encouragement that keeps me going just one more mile down this long roadway.

The kid now claims I inspired him to write his own book, and surprisingly, he is up to Chapter Five!  The book is called Wild Hearts, and it is about something this kid is passionate about: Pitbulls and dog-fighting.

The kid has done his research, too! It is really a unique story, taken from the view of a Pitbull named King, and a delinquent boy named Charlie.  The kid-writer calls me his “Grammatizer,” but little does he know, that I knew nothing of grammar or punctuation when I first wrote my first book, 8-Ball back in 1982. 

I am currently seeking an artist to ink or paint me an emblem for the cover of this particular book, so if you know of any, please send them my way!

He wrote, “I just read Scratchin’ on the Eight Ball, and I cried. I haven’t cried since I lost my baby a year ago. If you haven’t touched a million kids like me by now, don’t worry, you will one day!”

The kid, now 17, wrote to me again on Saturday evening just to check in with me. His timing couldn’t have been better. While most of my books have been self-published and marketed on a dental floss budget, I did have one book published by a New York publisher in 2003. It sold 10,000 copies, and then the company folded. So the book came back to me.  So, now I venture once more to put my books in the hands of kids like this one. Who knows? Maybe some day I will touch a million kids with the words that I write. I can only hope so.

Today I happened to be writing about a 30-year-old lady who fell in love with me when I was just 17. She ended up in the Regional Center over the whole affair, then escaped and stole a car one night in her desperate mission to come the church where I worked as a youth pastor, and marry me!

I just finished writing that part and took a break to check out my website. Ironically, I had a comment posted by Troubled Girlfriend! When I emailed my webmaster to ask him about it, he immediately deleted the file and emailed me back, saying it was Spam and contained a virus! Go figure!

I think it will be called, Behind the Eight Ball, a fact-based book about the author. If anyone else has a better title, shoot it my way. I might consider it.

Well, Nick now has the Flip camera, so as soon as he feels comfortable using it, we’re planning on shooting the two scenes of the play. I hope to add a third scene to this, so we can show the whole thing at the Joyo in the spring. I’ll invite the Dodging Bullets back as we are using their music in the background of the tape, and then we’ll end that particular show with a live, one-kid monologue delivered by Alex.

In the meantime, I have already found an actor, Ben, to play Collin for a third scene of the play, which I hope to start rehearsing soon.  I’m still looking for some 14-16 kid to play Randy, the bully, who has a small part in this scene, but one that needs to be very convincing.  

What do I do in my spare time? Well, I’m working on 4 books at once! I’m just finishing up Stag Heart Book Two, Rivermoon, The Life of Reason Nelson, and a new book about a kid who contacted me one night on the Internet and got me to chatting  about my old war stories about the days of my youth work. Those chats continued for four nights, and by that time I realized I had enough material for another book!

While searching for video equipment, I happened to get a message from a Facebook friend, and one thing led to another, and I ended up taking this kid one of my Bloody Mary books. Since then, the kid, Kody, has been chatting with me for the past four nights. I had no idea how chatting actually worked! But man, I can actually tell stories on this Facebook page! I just hope I haven’t bored Kody stiff with my long-winded tales of days gone past. 

Can anyone of you out there who knows me, imagine how long a chat would have to be to hear one of my stories?

I owe a great thanks to Dwight, the owner of the Joyo, for he made the whole thing possible by allowing us to put on the show. I also owe the Dodging Bullets a big, “THANK YOU,” for they were well-received by the audience and they took their roles as promoters of the show seriously. 

Last but not least, my cast were a great crew to work with. Denny Ladue floored me with his performance as Detective Shepherd. Cheri Marti nailed her role as Miss Thurston. Nate, Alex, and Brandon did an exceptional job of portraying the troubled kids in the play. And now that the show is over, I’m planning on having it taped so we can present it to a larger audience.    

A special thanks to Dennis Buckley of the Neighborhood Extra and Roger Yant of Around Town, and also to the folks at Ground Zero. With their coverage for the play, we had an audience of over 300 people for the two nights of the show! 

Another special thanks to all my old friends from Havelock who came to show their support. It seems like yesterday when I sat down there at Havelock Park debating the great mysteries of life with you!

Be sure to check out the article about the play in the Neighborhood Extra, too!