Pink Moons, Old Tools, And Legacy, Part Two

Eight years ago today, my dad passed away from pancreatic cancer. So I thought I would take a moment to revisit the concept of legacy, specifically my legacy. Last year I talked about what I wanted it to be. And it was two fold:

• I want my books to carry on and be read after I am no longer around to market them.

• I want to be remembered as a good person.

Over the holidays I was talking with my Mom, and she spent some time talking about how after my dad passed away, she got so many letters from people my dad had touched during his life. Folks from around the world reached out to share memories and give thanks for what he had done for them. The oil industry is fairly close community I’ve come to gather, and tons of folks had been helped by my Dad along the way.

Damn, that resonated with me. It struck me hard and heavy that I want that. When I say I want to be remembered as a good person, obviously I want my close friends to remember me that way. But I want the LadyWife to get letters, emails, calls, all that, from folks telling her how I helped them get published, or helped them through their writers block. Or how they took a gamble on actually publishing that book because of my mentoring them. Anything like that.

Saturday I was invited to come out to the downtown library in Montgomery for a couple hours as their author guest of the month. One young man came out to talk to me, and we sat there for over an hour with me answering his questions. He had just finished his first novel and needed some direction. Then Perty Nerdy did some live streams from a con out west, celebrating her first paneling experience. She said I helped her set that as a goal for herself for 2024, and gave her the road map on how to go about it.

Those are the sorts of things I to do more of. It's why I do my Transparency Project and my Education page. All free, because I want to pass along the help I have received along the way.

I want my books to be enjoyed after my death, yes. But I also want the books of people I helped and mentored along the way to carry on for generations to come. For the creatives I have come into contact to reach their definition of success. I got to be there when Nancy Knight was given an award for all she’s done to help writers during her storied career. And I want to leave this world having left an impact like that (if I leave an impact even a 100th as powerful as hers I will count myself incredibly lucky). I think that would make my dad proud.

Will it happen? Who knows. But I do know I am going to just keep being me, and lending a hand anywhere I can. And hopefully I can be a positive force in some peoples lives, enough so they will reach out to my family during a dark day, and give them a little bit of light.

What more can a guy really ask for?