The subject of my next seven blogs will be the story behind each of the seven books I published. Each blog will include my inspiration for the book, the message of the book, and some side notes I want to share. I can best describe my inspiration for my first book by sharing the third chapter of my second book, The Greatest Book Ever Written:
Writing my first book was something that I never planned to do. One night back in 2018, I found myself in a dark place. By dark, I mean depressed, hopeless, worthless, empty, evil, angry, regretful, irreversibly disappointed, and basically all bad things short of suicidal. My wife was dealing with her second round of cancer.
Now you might think that those feelings were normal. That would certainly be the case if I didn’t realize the underlying cause for much of what I was feeling. I love my wife and was deeply concerned about the mental, emotional, and physical pain that lie ahead for her. That’s the point where I should have taken my anguish to God. Instead, I reviewed my life from a selfish point of view. My mind’s eye was watching every beautiful dream about my hopes for love and romance get squashed and destroyed. It was hopeless since I was old and would likely die soon. It was a tragedy written, directed, and produced by the devil himself. I called on God in prayer, but couldn’t find him. That took me over the edge, resulting in a burst of anger, causing me to break something. I added guilt and weakness to the negatives that were defining me.
I don’t remember any details about what happened after that night until the next morning. The only thing I could think of was writing a book about a man that fixes everything that’s wrong.
I believe God had planted a seed in me when I was a young boy. I’ve always been able to picture a cowboy in a white hat riding into town, dispatching evil and saving the fair maiden. As I grew older, reality set in. The cowboy didn’t always wear white because he wasn’t the ideal hero. The evil was not easily identified. Even the fair maiden was not spotless and without fault. As I grew older and wiser, I realized that only a perfect God as our savior, Jesus, could fill the shoes (boots) of my fictional cowboy. It’s only by following his lead that we can discern and then dispatch evil. It’s only through his love and grace that we can save ourselves, others, and that fair maiden. Finally, having done that, there is no need to ride off into the sunset. We are now living in the light.
I wanted to make my novel relevant to popular entertainment. The genre of crime in all its forms seems to attract more people than any other genre in books, TV, and movies. My personal disgust with the tragedy they saturate us with in an already tragic world motivated me to write about this genre. My perceived personal tragedy motivated me to fight back in a small way with a book that completely changed the outcome of tragedy.
With that background and my recent experience, I had all the motivation I needed to embark on a challenge that became the focus of my life. I believe God heard a prayer I never made. He knew what I needed when I didn’t even know what to ask for. As a result, the motivation for writing my first book was not only the therapy I needed, but the answer to a prayer I should have made. Even today, I can read passages from my book and feel the love and inspiration of God.
-Chapter 3 from The Greatest Book Ever Written
The message of my first book was the basic concept that good can conquer evil in the most profound and ultimate way. This was the message I needed at the lowest point of my life. It was the message I received and felt compelled to share. You can’t keep something that good to yourself. Everything seemed to come into focus the morning I woke up, knowing I had to write a book. I sensed love so real that it had to be true and so powerful that nothing could stand against it. My book title, Love, Truth and Power, exemplified my revelation. The subtitle Defying Destiny’s Demon is the application of that revelation in my novel. All of this was made possible by a loving God who wants us to know the truth and has the power to conquer all fears and challenges. That was my ultimate message.
As a side note, I’m ready to admit my blunder from the night before I began writing my book. As a young child, I remember expressing my anger by biting. Apparently, I had not totally kicked the habit. Except for one exception as a child, my biting was almost always confined to objects. Wherever you are and whoever you are, I want to apologize to that girl who was an exception. Flash forward to that fateful night and you find me trying to take a bite out of my cell phone. Why? Because it was handy and my anger had to go somewhere. I remember the strange look on the corner of my phone resulting from my teeth marks. I remember the days of torment trying to hide it from my wife. She had enough to think about, and I didn’t need to add to her problems. When I finally fessed up, knowing I would need to get it fixed or replaced, she was remarkably calm. Sometime the punishment we inflict on ourselves is enough. We don’t need the added wrath of God and wives.
On another side note, I remember the research and detailed planning as I began writing my book. I remember writing the first chapter before doing much planning or research. I wanted to set the tone of the book by providing a graphic story allowing my protagonist to show off his skills. A suspenseful situation at the beginning of the story can be more compelling than listing detailed information about the characters and surroundings. That can come later.
Since I need to give God all the credit, I kept a running list of many of the miracles of Jesus. I wanted to provide a similar miracle in my story to show that even in our modern society, God can intervene and save us from all evil. Of course, I had to make a few edits to make the miracles fit my story and my main character. I kept a spreadsheet detailing every miracle.
Finally, my original story contained elements of science fiction. Reconsidering and talking it over with my wife (who isn’t a fan of sci-fi), I switched to Christian history. The artifacts in my book are more readily explained through a Christian historical lens than a science fiction one. Even though I love science fiction, I wondered… How superior is the divine Christian truth to human-made science fiction?