On Writing

Now that I've announced my love of writing, I guess I need to talk about it. My first book --Life as Opinion--started as a short story. I was in New York, on a recruiting trip. We were on the train up to Poughkeepsie, along the Hudson River, headed to the CIA. A NY Post was left in the next seat and I started reading, eventually coming across this short article about a retired man, who, after seeing a [stolen] van speeding down the parking lot of a Wal Mart towards his wife [who was pushing the empty buggy] dove, shoving her out of the way just it time. But not for him. He was killed, and the follow up story--interviewing neighbors, etc. was amazing. Besides being a great neighbor, father and friend, it turned out that the man had also been a war hero in Korea, even saving some of his soldiers by risking his own life.
I couldn't stop thinking about this man and what he did, and in a foggy way, it reminded me of something from my childhood....something similar, but not good....and there it was...the bookmarks for my story.
At first it was three pages, then fifteen, and eventually [three years later] 250...