Wednesday, April 9, 2003
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Wednesday, April 9, 2003 |
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Former PTC resident publishes collection of stories and assorted writings By MICHAEL
BOYLAN Some people set goals to lose weight or to run and finish a race. Jeff Martindale's goal was to write and publish a book. He recently accomplished this goal when his book "Random Thoughts: A Collection of Creative and Other Writings" was self-published by iUniverse.com. Martindale, a Tennessee native and former Peachtree City resident, has always enjoyed writing. Over the years he built up a vast collection of short stories, essays, columns and poetry and he finally decided to publish those works in a collection. His book features a number of stories set in the south. The plots range from a man's internet chat with his deceased father to a boy and his grandfather eagerly anticipating the first game of the new baseball season. "I am very partial towards the easy-going, friendly aspects of a small town," said Martindale. The characters in his stories are average people dealing with everyday problems and some of the characters and situations are autobiographical. He had several of his short stories published in several on-line e-zines. After amassing so many stories over nine years of writing, it only took eight months to rewrite and edit his stories, find a print on demand service and get his first book published. Martindale cites books like "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Catcher in the Rye" among his favorite books and also favors authors like Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck as well as more current authors such as Michael Crichton and Stephen King. Martindale moved to Georgia in 1995 and got his MBA at the University of Georgia in Athens. In 1996, he got an internship at Delta and eventually moved to Peachtree City for several years. "I loved Peachtree City because it had a great small town feel and all the amenities, yet it was still close to Atlanta," stated Martindale. Peachtree City even makes a cameo in Martindale's next work. He is currently working on a mystery novel that takes place in Atlanta and leads some characters to Peachtree City for a short period of time. "The biggest challenge with the novel is the attention span," Martindale explained. "It takes a lot of perseverance and dedication and it is challenging to keep everything tied together." Martindale tries to write every day but admits it is sometimes hard to find the time with a full-time job for Federal Express and spending time with his wife and two small children. He is very proud of achieving his goal of having his stories in print. "It's been a remarkable process. I never knew how hard it would be when I started," stated Martindale. "But the rewards have been tremendous. This is a piece of me that will survive and perhaps one day my grandchildren will be able to read what their grandfather wrote." "Random Thoughts" is available for purchase on-line at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million and Wal-Mart.
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