Ask the Author: Jeff Gaura
Answered Questions (11)
Jeff Gaura
I am up to chapter 5 on the next book: From Centurion to Centurion. It is, by far, my best work, according to my focus group. I had to pause to start learning biblical Hebrew. Not that I am fluent or anything, but I spent two hours a day for 30 weeks to get a place where I can better grasp the Jewish history side of our God.
Jeff Gaura
I have already submitted to a published and had approved a book that will be released next year called "Letters to and from Eternity." I should have died on April 10, 2020, and this book is the result of the mystery that resulted from my continued existence. It is a series of short stories and one of them is my personal story. Hope you like it.
Jeff Gaura
On April 11, 2020, I should have died. The fireman on the scene who retrieved what was left of my bicycle verified that. The doctor who looked at my blown lung, seven broken ribs, and A/C joint verified it as well. A trip back to the crash site at the first anniversary of “life number two” convinced my wife as well.
I was at peace as I contemplated the end of my days as my bike and I flew off a CCC era bridge near the Blue Ridge Parkway and down towards the riverbed below. During the brief time I was airborne; I concluded that if my life story was to end and my gravestone declared that I lived only fifty-four years, I was okay. I had a great life. I was ready to meet my Maker.
My wife tells a different story. She says that my angel was working overtime on some last-minute messaging because God told him it was not my time. That story you will find at the start of the book.
Laying in a hospital bed for a well-conditioned athlete and contemplative author is intimidating. But my thoughts took me away from my circumstance like a bubble bath does at the end of a day. I was rich and had reached nearly every goal that I had ever set, and my bucket list had more lines in it of checked-off accomplishments than outstanding dreams. Yet, I was compelled to address the impending nature of eternity. My wife’s opinion was judged to be right; for reasons that I will perhaps never know, it was not my time.
However, I complicated the process with old habits. I am a trained physicist. I built and sold a trendy business and made lots of money. I am a successful athlete. Yet none of those achievements orient my soul to look at eternity. After a thoughtful analysis, I drew my first conclusion. I needed to get up early each day, when no one would interrupt me, with the purpose of reading and writing. My new working hours were 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. Mid-afternoon naps would now be a requirement as I caught back up in the missed slumber.
More than five hundred days removed from that wreck, I look into the mirror and see a different Jeff. I am a published author many times over. I have returned to riding my bike at breakneck speeds and competing, but I will never forget what that crash did to my view of self and the world. Getting the nerve to get back on a bicycle wreck that should have killed me was convincing. Anything is possible with enough nerve, with a sprinkling of hard work to cover up the taste of a lack of confidence.
I was at peace as I contemplated the end of my days as my bike and I flew off a CCC era bridge near the Blue Ridge Parkway and down towards the riverbed below. During the brief time I was airborne; I concluded that if my life story was to end and my gravestone declared that I lived only fifty-four years, I was okay. I had a great life. I was ready to meet my Maker.
My wife tells a different story. She says that my angel was working overtime on some last-minute messaging because God told him it was not my time. That story you will find at the start of the book.
Laying in a hospital bed for a well-conditioned athlete and contemplative author is intimidating. But my thoughts took me away from my circumstance like a bubble bath does at the end of a day. I was rich and had reached nearly every goal that I had ever set, and my bucket list had more lines in it of checked-off accomplishments than outstanding dreams. Yet, I was compelled to address the impending nature of eternity. My wife’s opinion was judged to be right; for reasons that I will perhaps never know, it was not my time.
However, I complicated the process with old habits. I am a trained physicist. I built and sold a trendy business and made lots of money. I am a successful athlete. Yet none of those achievements orient my soul to look at eternity. After a thoughtful analysis, I drew my first conclusion. I needed to get up early each day, when no one would interrupt me, with the purpose of reading and writing. My new working hours were 3 a.m. to 6 a.m. Mid-afternoon naps would now be a requirement as I caught back up in the missed slumber.
More than five hundred days removed from that wreck, I look into the mirror and see a different Jeff. I am a published author many times over. I have returned to riding my bike at breakneck speeds and competing, but I will never forget what that crash did to my view of self and the world. Getting the nerve to get back on a bicycle wreck that should have killed me was convincing. Anything is possible with enough nerve, with a sprinkling of hard work to cover up the taste of a lack of confidence.
Jeff Gaura
I am a pretty normal leader in that I have unresolved conflicts in my life. I have broken relationships that I wish I could go back and fix. I have regrets of the actions I have taken. Sure, I have taken them to the Lord and to my friends for help and counsel, but I often find myself yearning for that which is realistically unfixable. After all, I am made in His image. The characters and stories I tell often have a root in the conflicts within my own life that are not fixed.
Jeff Gaura
If I answered that, I would have to shoot you.
Jeff Gaura
Can't write a book? Start with a short story. Can't write a short story? Write a page. Can't write a page? Start with a paragraph. Can't write a paragraph, write a single word. Ruminate on it, and don't be shocked at the amazing outcomes.
Jeff Gaura
Work out. By far, the most effective strategy is to take my racing bike to a nearby grocery store parking lot and taking off on a long ride through the country. I have already figured out that when I keep my heart rate above 150 for more than two hours, I burn through all of my body's glycogen store, and my mind starts getting "super clear." Whatever writer's block I had goes away. All I need to do is burn 2000 calories, first!
Jeff Gaura
No. Not a horror story person.
Jeff Gaura
For most of us, this answer changes with experience and age. For my first book, the answer was related to the accomplishment of taking a fictional tale of some length from idea to published work. For the last book, it was the discovery that writing can help us heal from the wounds of our past.
Jeff Gaura
There are really two answers that I can offer that include an explanation. Tolkien's Middle Earth would be the first, since my persona and personality would thrive there. I am physically strong and exceptionally fit, as a result of all my athletic pursuits, and I would be a leader. I also would say that I would like to visit Eden, before the fall. Each time I see a wonderful landscape that appears not to be touched by mankind, I speculate what it might have looked like before the fall of Adam and Eve. This insight would alter the way I write. I can already think of three different short stories in my book, "Letters to and from Eternity," that would be different if I only knew what Eden was like.
Jeff Gaura
I started reading Not Forsaken by Louis Giglio literally a few hours ago. I don't script out books to read. I am a member of the One-book-at-a-time club.
About Goodreads Q&A
Ask and answer questions about books!
You can pose questions to the Goodreads community with Reader Q&A, or ask your favorite author a question with Ask the Author.
See Featured Authors Answering Questions
Learn more