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I was young when I decided I enjoyed writing, twenty-three years old to be exact. I was in the Saudi Arabian desert, with nothing to do but wait for the oil drilling job to be ready for me to work, and read the bad paperback, pulp westerns and mysteries the oil drilling crew had on site. I have been a voracious reader since my childhood, and will read the back of a catsup bottle when I am bored. I read the really bad books, and from boredom and frustration of reading such poor quality literature, I decided that if they could sell those books, I could write something better. That was the beginning of a long journey to where I now am.

I wrote the book with pencil on yellow legal pads, and later had difficulty reading what I had written. I never did get it typed and submitted for publication. The world didn't lose anything by it never making it into publication, it wasn't that great,but I learned how magical it was to see my characters come alive, and begin to develop a will of their own. I couldn't write fast enough to see what came next. The characters finished the story, not me; I swear.

Life has a way of getting in the way of plans. Over the years, I sat down to write many times. It just didn't happen. Life kept interrupting. I left the international world of oil and began new careers, lived in new places, and continued intending to write. "Some day," I would say. "Some day" finally came, a few years ago.

I quit trying to come up with an idea that would shake the world and make the book an overnight bestseller. I just wrote something fun to write, and hopefully fun to read. I sat it in the most unlikely place I could imagine, Portugal, and created characters that were based on people I knew, in a fictional story. I put in fun elements of intrigue, mystery, lust and love. I brought the action to its peak during a grand ball, as the love interests were dancing on the top of the tower, looking down on the orchestra.

Okay, it wasn't a great book, but it was fun. I didn't really expect it to ever be published anyway, so what did it matter? I sent it out to publishers and started a scrapbook of rejection letters. To my surprise, I sold it; then another, and now another.

Life is funny. Sometimes it gets in the way, and sometimes it puts success in your way. You never know when that will happen, so be ready, when you have your first book published; make it a good one. People actually do read them. I now refer to my first two books as my two worst books. People look at me strangely when I say that. I explain that I keep trying to get better, and hope that all of the coming books will be better, but I never apologize for the first one. It will always be my favorite.

Learn more about this author, Will Kester.
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