Robert M. Starr

Robert M. Starr is a two time Certificate of Merit award winning author!

As a native Texan, I grew up at the edge of a small town and roamed the woods with a freedom that might be impossible today. Even now, I feel more at home and infinitely safer in wild places than I do in cities. I don't suppose a kid could grow up in Texas without dreaming of being a cowboy, and I lived that dream on a Nebraska ranch.

I also dreamed of being World Champion in a Formula One racing car; I won my first road race as an amateur on England's Snetterton Circuit and my second as a professional through the streets of Austin, Texas, during the River City Road Races run as a part of the annual Aqua Festival. That dream ended for lack of funds, probably because I failed to listen to the good advice of my oldest friend.

So I "settled down" and married. My wife, Alyssa, and I have three grown children, a son and two daughters, and four grandsons. We love to hike and camp; I built a "squaredrop" camper from scratch; we've taken it camping in eastern Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana. I still have a tongue compartment to build. A few years ago, we bought a tandem kayak, and I dream of building a small wooden cruising sailboat (I'm building a 1/8th scale "proof of concept" model as time allows).

I began to write in high school and worked professionally as a photographer and newspaper writer for a brief period after I returned from military service in the U.S. Air Force. My first experience with book publishing was as editor of the Jacksonville College yearbook; later, I sold a magazine article about a neighbor and the hunting rifle he helped me accurize. Now we live in eastern Washington, and I "lie for a living" by writing the kinds of fictional stories I like to read.

I can't really say how I come up with new ideas for stories. I try to write stories that are both entertaining and relevant, either historically or in the context of current events. I tend to "live" in the stories as I write them, and my wife patiently endures being a "widow" while I work. One of my books, A TURN TO WINDWARD, began to germinate in my mind as a result of the rise in the trafficking of young girls. Two of my books, UNTIL SHILOH COMES and A WALK IN THE WILDERNESS, have won writing awards. THE MOUNTAIN VALLEY WRANGLER, is a traditional western set in the Wet Mountain Valley and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of Colorado. THE CIMARRON KID is a western set in Bozeman, Montana - the coming of age story of a young deputy. TRAIL TO WYOMING, begins with a cattle drive from Texas to Dodge City, Kansas - the adventure continues from there. My latest release, RAID ON RUSTLER GULCH begins with a battle between U.S. soldiers and Comanches on the Llano Estacado in the Texas panhandle; two captive girls escape in the confusion of battle and seek help from the Army commander.

A very satisfying bit of feedback for a writer is to hear that a reader "couldn't put it down until I finished it." The first time I heard that was from a cousin who intended to read a chapter or two before going to bed. She read a bit, turned out the bedside lamp and tried to sleep, read some more, turned out the lamp again and repeated the cycle until she reached the last page. I still owe her a night's sleep, but I haven't figured out how to pay that debt.

The second time I heard it was from a "senior editor" at a publishing house I thought was going to become "my" publisher; she stayed up all night and called me very early one morning to tell me she loved the story and needed "one more signature" to offer me a book contract. She must not have been able to convince the person holding that final pen, because I got the book back a few weeks later with a generic rejection slip - disappointing, but a very common occurrence for writers.

I suppose it is fairly common for writers to develop an informal audience among family, friends and people in their local communities during the course of developing skills and polishing stories into marketable manuscripts that will sell in a broader geographic arena. But in listening to the reactions and paying attention to the criticisms of those who did read my stories and were willing to offer honest feedback, I've begun to have success that is spreading beyond family, friends and folks I go to church with, through the "word of mouth" advertising that results when people like what they read. Learning from some of the bestselling authors I've met through writers' conferences in the area surrounding Spokane, I've grown, not only in writing skills, but in the marketing skills needed to actually sell the stories I write. It is not unusual for an author to spend years becoming an "overnight success" with a bestselling book. Writers write because they "want to" or "need to" or "must." Those who succeed do so because they never give up.