I started getting paid to be a writer back in 1983. I was a 19-year-old that decided I wanted to be a freelance writer and that was that. So off I went.

My first sports assignment was a high school playoff game in Odessa, Texas. I still have the press pass for that one laying about somewhere. I covered two golfing events that included then PGA stars in Midland for one-day events. The same magazine had me do a story on the Odessa Meteorite Crater.

On the fiction side, I nearly sold a short story to a brewing company based on their use of a giant Armadillo raiding stores for their beer in a series of commercials. They were discontinuing the magazine but the editor said he loved the story and would have run it if there had been one more edition left to print.

My first fiction sale turned out to be scripts for the Elite Comic Books series, Seadragon. I still have a photocopy of that first check. Yes, its the same character that I would later write the novelization for not too long ago.

I went on to become a full-time sports writer and editor. Then a novelist and publisher. Its been a nice run these past 42 years. But I can see the finish line not too far off in the distance.

I have about a dozen novels I want to write before I’m done. There’s a couple of screenplays too. My last three projects are going to be non-fiction books, which will give me a total of five.

The first one will come out in 2031 and celebrates the 150 years of Steele, North Dakota. I hang my hat in this town now, and had lived here in the 1970s. One of the first things I did when we moved back was start letting it be known I wanted to do this and folks have been getting me photos, stories, and other items for the project.

I have two sports non-fiction projects that will follow. The Dallas Cowboys will play their 75th season in 2034. Once that season ends I want to release a book commemorating the franchise’s history. I’ve spent the last two years writing about the team over at www.insidethestar.com and its been a lot of fun.

The Los Angeles Lakers will complete their 75th season in Los Angeles in the spring of 2035. Not long after I’ll release a book about their silver jubilee too.

And that should be my grand finale. I’ll be 71 then with over 50 years of writing on the books. Over 20 novels, five non-fiction works, dozens of short-stories, and thousands of articles in newspapers, magazines, and online.

That’s a legacy I’ll take great pride in — once I get there.

For now, I’m rounding the turn and starting down a 10-years-long homestretch. I hope you’ll come along and enjoy the ride with me.