22-1/2 years ago, while looking through some old boxes I put away in storage, I came across some old notes from the girls I attended school with at West Craven Middle in New Bern, N.C.
I spoke with Valerie (my son's mother) about a story I was thinking of, where two students like one another but do not know it. Valerie told me I should do it, I should write it. She was very encouraging in my writing. I had written poetry for her since we began dating and one short story. However, it would be 21-years after we split that I would finally put my thoughts to paper, or in this case, my words, onto the computer.
Sometimes it takes life-changing events to make you chase after the dreams you thought you had long forgotten. But, I never have and never will forget the memories that will always sleep peacefully in my ocean of a mind.

I came up with the title after I wrote the rough draft of the first chapter. My son asked what the title was, and I said it, "What he thinks, What she thinks."
The reason I chose that for the title is simple. It is the typical story of what a boy thinks about a girl he likes and what a girl thinks about a boy she likes, written in their own words and perspective of their feelings for each other. So the title is "What he thinks What she thinks" in a nutshell.

While working on my other book (What about Paul and Lydia?) I was at the Chatham County Community College Library in Pittsboro, N.C. When my son noticed me staring off into nowhere. He asked what was wrong, and I told him I was stuck. I had so much more to get done with this story, and I needed more time and more experience in writing and editing. So at that moment, on January 15, 2017, I began writing the rough draft of the first chapter of what would become my first published novel

Inside the book and on the website, I have it dated January 15, 2017 - December 31, 2017. But in all honesty. If you take all the days I worked on the book and piled them together, one after another, It would be somewhere around 7 -to 8-months. I spent a month re-designing two websites and then a month working on some video projects before getting back to working on the story. It was towards the end of summer when I worked on the book every day. So, from around August through December 15, it was an everyday writing session.

No, I purchased the photograph of the girl used on the front cover from a website called storyblocks.com. I think I paid less than $5.00 for it. I then spent the better half of a day designing the cover. I would tweak it several times until the final product that you see now. Understand, this is what I have been doing for years. I have a YouTube channel where I have been teaching people how to work within Photoshop and other programs, so I was not about to hire someone to design a cover I knew I could do on my own.

I captured the photo of the author from a video I made on ‎Tuesday, ‎January ‎2, ‎2018. Unfortunately, I had no one at the moment to take a picture of me, so I made a video and posed in front of the camera a few times. I chose one out of four snapshots I took. The picture is not as high quality as it would have been if I had someone take a real camera photo. So I had to use what I had, and that was my cell phone, which was an Android Mini, and it took great video and pictures.

As for the editing, well, I had someone in mind, an old friend, but it did not work out. I did it on my own. The one good thing about editing your own book is that you can change and add things as you edit. I used Microsoft Word 365 to write the story, and the add-ons, Grammarly and ProWritingAid to help me during the editing process

The last month, I say from mid-November until Mid-December, I read the story about ten times and edited it every single day. I even re-wrote a complete chapter as it did not flow with the storyline.

So, people wanting to write or design covers need to have the willpower to dive in there and get it started and stick with it.

Writing is my passion, and I love it. However, when I am writing something for the woman I love, it makes it that much more special when you can make the person you are with shed a tear of joy over the words written about her on paper.

I've only had a couple of people in my life tell me I cannot write, but you know something. My mother, sister, and son's mother, Valerie, told me years ago not to listen to anyone who thinks I cannot write. They are nothing more than jealous of the fact that I can do something they cannot do.

I have never been discouraged by remarks of those who dislike or do not care for what I have achieved in my life, as they are my goals, not theirs. So those discouraging words from family or other people are nothing more than words of emptiness.
If you take away anything from my story, I hope you take this.
Do not ever allow the bitterness of others to discourage you from chasing your dreams, no matter what that dream is.

Sure. I have three books I am currently working on. So, please keep an eye out for them. And I hope you enjoy this book as much as I wanted to share my memories with all of you.

Absolutely. I spent about a week on it. I designed the site with Classic ASP, SQL Server Back-end, CSS, Javascript, and HTML. I love developing websites. It makes me feel good when people enjoy what I have made, just like what I said about the cover design. I saw no need in having anyone else do something for me that I could thoroughly do myself.

Update: From the end of 2021 to the beginning of 2022, I started designing the new website from a template I found online. I adapted it to work with the flow of my blog and other parts of the previous site. I hope you enjoy the new look, and I look forward to 2022, hoping it is the year I release my new novel with a publishing house. Here's to all of our dreams, and may they all come true in 2022.