It is one thing to consider one’s development as a writer, to identify initial inspirations and follow up with training and development. However, when I speak of ‘evolution’, my thoughts turn more toward how I have changed as my progress as a writer has gone forth.

I ‘wrote’ short stories and simplistic poetry prior to going to college. My grandiose desires to go into film-making led me to the University of Miami in 1980 where I majored in that along with screenwriting and creative writing. It was obvious in retrospect that I had strong creative impulses but lacked a definitive plan. In fact, a screenplay I wrote for a class centered on two film students and their trials and tribulations, ending with the screening of a work and notice by someone of Hollywood-style importance. I even stole the final line from ‘Casablanca’ to tie in the whole ‘love of film’ theme. It was derivative of the youth films of the 80’s, nothing entirely original but mostly personal.

Let’s skip several years as I have previously identified my development as a writer in several blog posts. When we move forward to 2014-15, I found myself searching for something new to tackle after having two contemporary crime fiction novels published. When I dove into historical crime fiction, it was based on a love of history and research. The first book was initially a standalone until it developed into a series (at the suggestion of a publisher I spoke with at OWFI). The notion of ‘character development’ extended beyond the story arc of one novel. In that series, the time span is from 1934 to 1954. I learned how to tap my own feelings of aging within such a time frame.

Moving forward, I developed a new series with a new character, one demonstrably closer to me and my sentiments. In “The Day of Calamity”, Harold Bergman and I share a religion, a birthday, and a capacity for introspection. Unlike him, I am NOT a veteran, nor have I worked for any law enforcement agency. He is just short of 30; I was 62 when that book was published.

However, this is a different sort of historical crime fiction. There is not a lot of gunplay, no excessive amount of smoking, and no cheap bottle of rye in a desk drawer. From the perspective of not wanting to be derivative, that made sense. But there is a lot more to it than that.

I have to consider where I’ve come as both a writer and a person. By definition, ‘evolution’ does not automatically imply ‘maturity’, although that may occur. To have a deeper affinity with one’s writing does not by nature indicate a better writer, although that is the hope. What I believe can occur in this symbiosis of person and creative effort is a stronger understanding of self. This certainly has happened in writing a series but I believe this is true also for any writer who continues to focus on the work as more than just something to eventually be published. Perhaps a natural extension of that inner being as an instrument is an extension of the soul of the musician.

People will go on pilgrimages during their lives, at times not even being aware they are doing so. Moving forward is a way to respect the building blocks of the past, to reach toward a higher objective, yet as well to stop on the road and appreciate the ‘place’ where one stands.

There may be more in the rear-view mirror than there is in the windshield. I know the journey still continues.