The ‘indie’ class of authors are in some ways like the ‘starving artists’. Many of them produce some very good works but because they haven’t established a “name'“ in the business, many go unnoticed. I mean, there’s only so much room on the stage, right? Some of the household names produce some fantastic work, obviously, or they wouldn’t be household names. It’s a tough business to break into, it takes a helluva lot of work and a truckload of talent to go with it. Writing novels isn’t easy, even if you love writing. It may be a writer’s life’s passion, but if you don’t write something others are interested in reading, and if it doesn’t have an impact of some sort, well, then there’s that. Some may write for the recognition, the money, and the fame, but I dare say if that is a writer’s motivation then they’re writing for the wrong reasons. There are a lot of good writers out there who are not Aldus Huxleys, John Steinbecks, Ernest Hemingways, or Truman Capotes. And the point is, they’re not trying to be. They’re writing with a purpose. And the purpose is to tell a story, a story that will intrigue readers, to instill emotion, to make them feel like they were ‘there’. Like they could see, and feel what was happening. Like they could feel the pain, the agony, the joy, the relief just like the characters were feeling. These writers draw readers into the story, so they’re not just reading, they’re experiencing. When the last chapter’s read and the cover closed, they don’t merely think ‘that was a good story, entertaining.’ They feel a sense of satisfaction, of relief, pride, or perhaps, joy. The same feeling the characters were feeling at the end of the story. If a writer can achieve that, then an epic story has been written. Writing for me is a passion. Of course it is or I wouldn’t have spent the past fifteen years writing a long, encompassing novel that required hours upon hours of research. It’s gratifying. It’s rewarding more than most life experiences. And it creates a legacy few can claim. My most recent work, “Between the Whistle and the Gun” is a story of the Choctaw tribe of native Americans. This was a difficult time for them, they had been forced from their homeland in southern Mississippi to southeastern Oklahoma. Life in their new ‘forced’ homeland was nightmarish. There was abuse not only from the outlaws and marauders but from the government itself. But in spite of it all, they prevailed as a people and a nation with the help of a native son and a few other heroic figures. It’s a fictional story based on real people. People who prevailed through unmentionable hardship and are still a tribe, a culture, and a nation. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy the story. C. Clayton Lewis