I kind of knew that once I retired I would need something to occupy my time and my mind besides playing golf and video games. I tried selling real estate for a while and I enjoyed doing that until Covid hit and it became frustratingly difficult to show and sell houses. I was writing this blog at the time and becoming involved with an on line Cubs fan news site where I wrote stories and a column. The owner/editor then changed one of my stories to something that didn't represent what I had written so I thanked him for the opportunity and walked away. Another Cubs fan site, owned by Sports Illustrated, then asked me to join them but it was apparent that it was going to involve way too much politicking and work than I was looking for so I said thanks but no thanks.
It was at that point that one of my friends suggested that I should write a book. I laughed and said right, like I have that ability. I couldn't help but remember that in my years of travelling for business I always thought it would be fun to catalog the experiences I had growing up during a time of dramatic change in our world. When I sat down and started to put together an outline it became clear that the first twenty-one years of my life were pretty interesting both personally and historically. Thus The Smartest Generation was born.
It ended up costing me more money in free books that I gave away to friends and family I had mentioned in it without securing any signed release to do so. Who knew I should have done that but nobody sued me and the reviews from those around me was pretty positive so I was thrilled. I wrote it for my amusement and not to become a best selling author which was a good thing because I didn't become one.
Many people wanted me to write a sequel covering the next forty something years of my life but I wasn't really interested in doing another of the same, plus any stories I had to contribute to the historical timeline would have likely ended up with me, lawsuits, and potential police investigations so I put that idea on the back burner.
Homecoming came about from a movie my friend Tom Barnicle and I started to write years earlier. I had always wanted to adapt it to a book but when I started to write it I wasn't feeling it at all and things ground to a halt. Coincidentally I did not attend my high school fiftieth reunion around that time and wrote a blog about not going because of my lack of interest.
A couple of friends from high school, Deb Lata Turner and Nancy Cole Polancich, read my blog, and my comments on Facebook, and admonished me for not going and for having the attitude of not caring. They said I should have gone and then if I didn't enjoy myself I could say what I wanted at that point. That got me thinking about a story line that was different from our movie version and it ultimately led to the book as written. I thanked them for the kick in the pants I needed to write it and for caring enough to reach out to me.
Much to the surprise of almost everyone that knows me I now had two published books available for folks to buy and, thankfully, I was still just writing them for my amusement and not for record income because this book sold tens of copies. However it did sell and that was exciting. Keep in mind that I did almost nothing to promote either of these books other than write about them on my blog and post the blog on Facebook and Instagram. So the world I was reaching was pretty limited to say the least.
My brother tried to help by sending his company's confidential mailing address for authors that he represents but I honestly didn't want to make the effort to send out anything. Plus I wasn't interested in getting an interview on Good Morning Dubuque or a review in the Humboldt Tribune. Word of mouth was the most successful way people found the books and I was good with that.
Once again many wanted me to write a sequel to Homecoming but I had other ideas in my head and that would be possibly for a later effort. I really wanted to write a book about the music I grew up with in the sixties and seventies and the impact it had on our world. The Beatles changed everything when they hit the air on Ed Sullivan but they weren't the only ones to have an impact. I had the idea in my head but I couldn't get it transferred to paper in a way that was as interesting as I was imagining it so I sadly shelved that idea.
I became frustrated that I couldn't come up with an idea so I started to write, one day, a book from the perspective of a dog about her life and the humans around her. It was kind of fun and funny and I rather enjoyed writing it but about a third of the way into it I decided that it had limited appeal and and it wasn't what I really wanted to write about at that moment.
For those that know me or are regular readers of my blog you know that politics is an important part of my life now. Not my involvement in it but my view of it and what I consider the injustice we as Americans are seeing while most of us are doing nothing about it. I suddenly thought one night while sleeping, what if we could change the course of an election so that it gave us a different option than what we currently had.
Thus my third book, A Sudden Change was born. I actually had a different title for it originally but I realized it was limiting me in what I was writing because I was trying to stay within the boundaries of the title and not letting the story develop. Changing the title opened up a whole new direction for the book which I hope you enjoy should you decide to read it.
It is a fictional account of a Presidential election from the perspective of being inside the political campaigns. It also brings you inside how the FBI and DOJ operate and how hard it is for them to do their jobs when the behind the scene power elite in Washington are involved. I was going to table it when Biden stepped down this summer because I thought it was too close to what I had been writing but my first editor ever back in high school, and my oldest friend Jeff Beebe, told me no, you must finish this book. So I did.
It is available exclusively on Amazon.com through the link below or by looking up books and typing in my name, Dan Marich.
This was an interesting book for me to write in a few different ways and while the bar is pretty low I think it is my best work so far. I will be posting this on Facebook and Instagram but I do not have any account on any other social media sites so if you are inclined I would love for you to post this blog on one you do frequent to help me reach a wider audience.
As always, thank you for your kind words and for your support for my writing.
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