Michael E. Williams has always liked to write. But for years, it was always just a hobby, something to fool around with or take a couple of classes in.
Not anymore. Now, with the publication of his first book, it’s officially a profession.
“There were times when I would get depressed and think ‘Am I ever going to get this done?’” said Williams, an Emporian who grew up in Madison. “But I just kept myself coming in about two o’clock, I kept working.”
Now it’s out, or at least partially out. “The Legends of Blue Feather: The Evil One” is actually the first book of a trilogy. The story centers around a shy girl named Jennie who finds she is an American Indian princess and the only hope for defeating a villain known as the Evil One.
The Town Crier bookstore has agreed to carry the book and will take a waiting list of customers until it comes in. Williams said he hadn’t approached Hastings yet. The book can also be ordered online at Amazon.com.
Williams worked at Modine Manufacturing for 26 1/2 years before leaving in 2002 to work three days a week for a retail store. Suddenly, he had a lot more time to write. It became a way to fill his evenings, but he never really thought seriously about publication until a friend looked at one of his manuscripts and said ‘You know, you ought to do something with this.”
He took “Blue Feather,” which had taken a year to write, and began searching out publishers on the Internet. BookSurge, a publishing company owned by Amazon.com, ended up being the one that called back. The book needed some work, a representative told him, but the story was good.
That didn’t mean the work was over.
“They had an editor go through my book,” WIlliams said. “He had several suggestions, so I spent the next several months revising the book.”
Even writing the book had been a bit of an adventure. Five chapters into the story, his hard drive crashed, taking the book with it. Naturally, he hadn’t saved the story elsewhere. He learned.
So why an Indian story? His fascination may go back to childhood games of Cowboys and Indians, and it certainly got fanned into flame when he had a chance to read a little history.
“I guess I always felt the Indians were wronged,” Williams said. “In my books, maybe there’s still a chance to make them look like heroes.”
The location of the story is never named, although it could be the Dakotas and the northern Rockies easily enough. For story purposes, it’s a battlefield, first between the Evil One and Jennie’s ancestor Blue Feather, then between the returned villain, Jennie and her companions.
Some of the battles that went on in the background were less than epic. Williams still remembers with amusement how a character’s repeated use of the word “thingy’s” sparked trouble with the editor.
“I misspelled it on purpose,” Williams said. “But several times throughout the book, the editor would correct how I spelled it to ‘thingies.’”
The second book in the series should be ready by spring. It has a title, but Williams isn’t ready to let it out yet — it might give away some plot points in the first book.
“I’ve learned so much from this one,” he said. “Once I finish the second one, it should really go smooth, I think.”