As I sat, ready to sign my very first traditional publishing contract, I took the time to look back.

My writing journey has been a lot like my life. It hasn’t been a journey traveled in a straight line from beginning to the present. Zigzags sometimes led to dead ends, but other times led to some amazing detours. Those unanticipated detours can be an author’s delight, and sometimes less so, but always interesting.

I remember the excitement and anticipation at the beginning. Writing was everything – getting to know the characters in my stories, putting them in harm’s way, and then imagining how they would deal with it.

If you’re a writer, you know what I mean.

Then, when the story was finished, I wanted to do like Winston Churchill said, “To fling it on an unsuspecting public.”

Facing the mounting pile of rejection slips, I made the decision to become an indie author, and self-publish. It was one of those great adventures that meant learning about marketing, speaking in public, and setting up booths at book and craft fairs.

After publishing three books with another service, I decided to cast my lot with BookLocker.com for my fourth, Lion’s Head Deception. It was a good choice. The quality of the printing and support is what an author needs, and it’s priced right.

Now, fate leads me down another path on my writing journey. I explored that novel, Lion’s Head Deception, written over three years ago and, as I looked at the storyline, the plot really crystallized for me. The result is what has been called a creepy thriller, and who doesn’t love those? It got that creepy label because it is also a conspiracy thriller, and just may touch on the privacy and surveillance issues we deal with in our lives now.

As, I sit here, looking at the now signed traditional publishing contract, I want to thank all who have helped me along the way, especially the good folks at BookLocker.com.

Chuck Waldron’s literary roots, planted in the American Midwest, are now warmed by Florida’s sun. Author, dreamer and storyteller, he writes about places visited, sights seen, and people met. The rest is pure imagination: dreams of places yet to be visited, sights yet to be seen, and people yet to meet.