Tom Wells
Although born in Michigan, Wells spent all but one year of his life in Texas. He grew up in Luling, Texas and graduated high school there. An early interest in sports and reading helped guide Wells to playing and learning about sports. He read every fiction and non-fiction book in the Luling school library about sports. This early interest in reading progressed from sports to mystery and science fiction - influences on his life to this day.
After graduating from UT-Austin in 1969 with a major in Physical Education and a minor in Mathematics, Wells taught and coached in the public schools of Texas for 10 years. During this time, he used his summers to obtain a Master's Degree in Physical Education from Southwest Texas State University.
At 28, Wells developed an interest in running, mainly to lose the extra 30 pounds he had gained since his graduation from UT. The running worked on several levels. His weight dropped; he became very interested in fitness, especially the physiology of fitness. This interest led him to apply for the doctoral program at Texas A&M University. Accepted into the program, Wells completed his PhD in 1982. As a side note, Wells claims he made a perfect score (800) on the mathematics portion of the GRE. This remains suspect as he was just a PE major.
Wanting to move into academia (think Christmas breaks, Spring Break, and Summer,) Wells and his family moved to Kerrville in 1983 to take a position at Schreiner College. During his tenure at Schreiner, Wells taught classes in Exercise Physiology, Nutrition and Exercise Performance, Introduction to Fitness, Sports History, Sports Sociology, Sport Literature, and Global Issues. In addition, to a few published and presented scholarly articles, Wells co-authored a manuscript of a diet and exercise book entitled, The Eat Right Occasionally Diet Program.
During his time in Kerrville, Wells presented programs on diet and exercise across the state as well as to various groups in the local community. He also lectured to various groups on politics and the media. Wells received the Margaret Hosler Excellence in Teaching Award in April 2002. This award recognized the outstanding teacher of the year at Schreiner University. He also received the 2003 Award for Excellence in Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity.
Literally, after reading On Writing by Stephen King, Wells began writing fiction in the summer of 2001 and completed Drop-Ins in February 2002. In 2004 he finished a second novel, Finders Keepers. With the amazing work of his agent, Laura Rennert, the manuscript of FK was shopped around to four major publishing firms in New York, but no cigar. At this point, Wells stepped away from a serious commitment to writing for a bit. But, he did manage to crank out a Young Adult novel (Strange Seasons: Summer), which was the first book of a proposed four-book Strange Seasons series. Rumor has it that Strange Seasons: Fall may appear soon.
Tom has two daughters, Colleen and Stacia. Colleen now practices Pediatric Neuro-Psychology in Omaha, and Stacia works from home providing the best baked goods in the Houston area and refereeing children disputes.
In addition to writing, Wells still enjoys reading, yard-work, and exercising in addition to spending a lot of time petting his three dogs Murphy, Molly, and Jeeves. On occasion, he sits in the early morning dark, drinking strong coffee while thinking of the amazing people and dogs who have impacted his life in such a positive way. He claims they know who they are.
