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THANKS SO MUCH FOR COMING HERE. FOR STARTERS, TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT YOURSELF.
I am a retired Army Master Sergeant, retired civil servant, and full-time American. Like the protagonist, I hate government waste. Taxes are one thing, waste is quite another. Patriotic, Christian, and service-oriented – that pretty much sums up who and what I am.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WRITING AND WHY DID YOU START?
I’ve been writing for publication for the past 22 years. Previously, my writings were academic history. I have been writing less serious formats for the past five years. I realized that historians only write for other historians and much of what they learn is lost to the average reader. I hope I have been able to provide truth and fact in a far more readable way!
TELL US ABOUT YOUR NEW BOOK, TO WALK THE DOG.
Joe is forced into retirement from the Army, virtually the only world he knows. It is one of patriotism, service, and selflessness. He enters the civil service and finds it to be a world of selfishness and lack of service. He tries to moderate that negative influence and almost gets gobbled up by the critters of the swamp. Given a chance to clean out a section of the swamp, he becomes almost swamp-like himself. Faced with the loss of soul, not to mention the love of his life, he is finally relieved by the President – did I mention colorful(?) – and finally gets to walk his dog. It is punctuated with descriptions of real and imaginary swamp critters, humor, patriotism, revenge, homelessness, and more twists and turns than a mountain road. A message from God – yes this is part of the factual part – completes the panorama.
HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THE TITLE FOR THIS BOOK?
I didn’t. I was going to call it Joseph and the Resilient Swamp, since the protagonist shares something in common with Joseph of the Bible – he is wrongly accused. However, one editor who saw it recommended the change since a theme of the book was the desire of the protagonist to retire and spend his days walking the dog. I hope you like this title better!
WHAT CRITERIA DID YOU USE WHEN SELECTING THE COVER FOR YOUR BOOK?
The overarching theme is the swamp. My favorite artist, Ms. Weezie Jones, helped me to develop the concept. The old soldier entering the swamp and facing who-knows-what suggests the great unknowns in the swamp. I wanted to show a swamp, but also the protagonist bravely leaving what he knows and venturing into the unknown, largely for the benefit of people he will never meet.
WHAT WAS THE MOST DIFFICULT SCENE YOU HAD TO WRITE IN THIS BOOK AND WHY?
Joe, the protagonist, becomes an alternative point to the swamp, and just as harmful. Transformed from the hunted, he becomes the hunter and looks for excuses to remove critters, both harmful and even not-so-bad. As a patriot, I want to provide the positive point of view, not show a patriot in the extreme.
WAS THERE A MESSAGE IN YOUR BOOK THAT YOU WERE TRYING TO CONVEY?
Why write, if you have no message, no “moral to the story? I considered that as I developed the story concept. The underlying theme is that if government is wasteful, its because we like it that way. We can complain, but if that’s all we do, while we are demanding ever more services, then WE are the problem.
WHAT IS THE HARDEST LESSON YOU HAD TO LEARN AS A WRITER?
Advertise. A writer can write the best book and get great reviews, but if nobody knows about the book, it cannot be considered successful since it has not impacted anyone. If anyone is going to write, he/she will have to embrace the world of the magical advertised word.
DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE FOR NEW WRITERS?
Don’t give up. If you need to take ten years to produce a great product, then take those ten years. Get input from people you trust. Edit, edit, and edit again. Bad, unintentional grammar mistakes are like a firehose on a flame.
ARE YOU WORKING ON ANY PROJECTS AT THE MOMENT?
Yes! My next book is (currently) called Amelia. It is a nonfiction story about a young girl immigrant who experiences becoming an orphan, a labor-filled childhood, gunfights, sickness, rustlers, the flu epidemic of 1918, prohibition, a son arrested for bootlegging, and finally death of her husband and one of her sons. It is also about the love story she experiences, climbing each mountain that life gives her and emerging triumphantly. Overall, the love story is what rings in the years of her life.
DO YOU HAVE A BLOG OR WEBSITE READERS CAN VISIT FOR UPDATES, EVENTS AND SPECIAL OFFERS?
https://www.amazon.com/Glen-F-Welch/e/B08GSTJDLH?ref_=dbs_p_ebk_r00_abau_000000
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