My father would have 85 years old today. Some of you already know the story of how I couldn’t write for ten years after he died. Many of you also know that he died from pancreatic cancer.
While he was ill I was working on what is now Death Likes Me. We’d drive back from him taking his radiation treatments and we’d sit and chat about my ideas for the characters and plot. He was always very supportive of my writing. When I’d get a rejection, and yes, there were plenty of those, sometimes he’d want to phone the editor and ask why they’d said no to this great story. He even turned the cold storage area under the garage into my writing nook. And he wouldn’t think twice about driving to the only office supply store in town that sold the printer refill cartridges for my Magnavox word processor. And he was my best sounding board for stories that popped into my head.
I’m happy that he got to hear about my idea for the Niki Webber series and today as I wonder what he’d look like now, I’ve thought about ways to pay tribute to him. Some people run or walk to raise money for a cause, and while I thought about going out and playing golf today…something he loved to do, bottom line is I’m a lousy golfer. I’ve finally decided the best tribute is to start work on the next Niki Webber story. So today I’ll be beginning on that project and I’m sure wherever he is he’ll be watching over my shoulder.