Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that I would publish a book. It seemed like something that was beyond my reach. What astonishes me the most is that I soon discovered that this type of thinking was the one thing that always got in my way. It took a lot of dedication, perseverance, determination and imagination- but here I am. The encouragement I received from family and friends was paramount to my journey. That support system was amazing and often gave me the strength to keep going.
When I was a child, my mother would read to us and make up stories. She always encouraged our imaginations and I would often find myself with paper and crayons laying out elaborate sequels to movies we had watched together. Soon, I was making my own stories, I suffered from an overwhelming fear of the dark and would always beg mom to leave the bedroom door cracked as the little sliver of light seemed to comfort me. Most nights, I found myself awake for hours after everyone had gone to sleep, unable to turn off my over active imagination. To battle these insecurities, I would tell myself amazing stories as a distraction and was able to start controlling the narrative to my fears. Most of those stories still live rent free inside my head.
The Star Skimmer story had a different origin. When I had kids of my own, (Three awesome boys that are all pretty much men now) I would tell them amazing stories. One of them that I would spin for my older boys was about two brothers that made a rocket ship in their back yard out of things from around the house. A vacuum cleaner, a toaster, an old washing machine- I'm sure you get the drift. Once they had figured out all the mechanics, they would fly the ship to the moon and back. Obviously this was inspired by a movie I watched in my youth called "Explorers". But this was the backbone of what would eventually evolve into the Star Skimmer adventure.
When my youngest son was ten, just like his brothers before him, he would beg for a bed time story. Then, all at once, the Star Skimmer story was born. We would sporadically engage in this ritual for the next two years. My son's mother and I never married and my visitation with him was limited due to the distance, but we made it work. I would even get the occasional phone call, asking for the next part. One day, halfway through the telling, my son turns to me and says- "Dad, I think we're in book two.". It was at this moment that I realized that I needed to write this epic saga so the rest of the world could enjoy the story as well.
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