Terry D. Beck

Terry Beck

Writer. Talker. Fisher.

Like the rest of you, I was born. OK...yes, there's more. I arrived in a small Central Texas town in 1949, and came of age playing barefoot outdoors and chasing whatever caught my attention at any given moment. Growing up in a small town during the 50s and 60s was a familiar way of life to many of us, and my stories reflect much of that upbringing. Playing championship high school football (hey - it's Texas!) was glorious, and probably influenced my decision to become a coach. Life had other plans, though, and I found myself accidentally becoming a railroad man during the last glory days of the famed Santa Fe Railroad.

Oddly enough, for someone who saw himself as a football dude or a railroad dude, I always had an interest in writing about the life that unfolded around me, and preserving the stories I heard from those who went before me. My own misadventures seemed both dumb enough and numerous enough to add to the thousands of words that I recorded over the years, so I started writing those down, too.

After I retired and began sharing some of my yarns and tales with friends and family, they kept urging me to write a book. Surprised the heck out of me, but with the encouragement and guidance of some of my old classmates who happen to be in the writing and publishing field, I managed to get started. Turns out I had written so much down it wouldn't fit in one book, so we went with creating a series called A Gathering of Words.

So many of my tales centered around my 40 years with the railroad that it made sense to devote the first book. A Train of Thought. to telling those stories. If you think writing is work, just wait until you start turning this stuff into a book. If you're gonna write a book, you probably want to SELL a book, so I had to learn how to blog, tweet, and manage other social media like Facebook and InstaGram. I also learned how to sell by carrying books around in my car and showing 'em to anyone who would listen to me. I spoke at book signings and railroad dinners. I emailed old friends. It was like full time work again, except I had time to fish.

Anyway...it all worked well enough, because I sold all my books, printed more, sold all of them, printed some more, sold 'em out again, and kept going. Finished a second book, I've Been Thinking, and am about halfway through a third book, A Scattering of Memories, which would go a lot faster if I did less fishing.

So...I'm still selling books, and hope you'll enjoy sharing my journey, and maybe find a little insight into your OWN journey along the way!