THE FLYER SERIES

 

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ABOUT PATRICK ILES' WRITINGS

 

          From the time I got my first library card in elementary school, books of all stripes have been central to my life. Initially interested in the comic book genre, I eventually moved on to the short whodunits and biographies. After my football career ended (junior high), my focus returned to books and writing. In my junior and senior years of high school, I served as the assistant sports editor of the school newspaper and a contributing journalist of general interest stories involving the school. One of those stories won an award for highlighting the construction of a million-dollar gymnasium being built on campus. It was an honor, but I wasn't penning my Pulitzer speech just yet. The idea that I would write anything substantial going forward, hadn't sunk in yet and was quickly dismissed early in life.

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Note the journalism scroll on my class ring and ruby red birthstone

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          After high school, I enlisted in the Army and learned to shoot an M16 rifle with great accuracy, throw a live hand grenade, and fire an unguided anti-tank weapon known as the M72 Law. And as important as those skills were, there was one other skill I had to learn - type 30 WPM without errors. Yep, they type in the Army too. There was always something about the Wite-Out and correction tape that gave it away when mistakes were made. But somehow, I managed to pass that test too and unbeknownst to me, I had acquired another skill necessary for writing something more substantial.

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          During my college days, more layers of writing was added to my repertoire with a higher expectancy of proficiency. During this time, I worked at a library and the idea for writing a book was born. All of my books to this point involve places I have lived or visited, and many of the stories were inspired by my eight years of military service.

 

         In a twist of fate, I began writing my first book, Eminent Domain, during the summer leading up to my first, full year of teaching. I had graduated that prior December and found a teaching assignment from February to May. But because I didn't have a full year of teaching under my belt, I wasn't allowed to teach summer school (I was told). The rest really is history. Over the next month, I wrote the first five chapters of Eminent Domain, and that experience revealed what I had dismissed long ago - that writing was something I could really do. And so, I write.