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THE BOOK’S PREMISE:

In his first ever book, Finding Virginia follows David’s search to regain solid ground after being hit by the same economic woes that have shaken America’s middle class — the dot.com bust, real estate crash, college debt — problems suddenly compounded by his father’s failing health during the summer of 2011.

A true story, his journey takes an unlikely and compelling path that includes romance, humor, jeeps, and reflections on a coming-of-age summer working at an island resort in 1986. His stories weave into an entertaining and satisfying whole, a bumpy ride cushioned by an underlying optimism that characterizes the American spirit.

WHY DID I WRITE IT?

A couple years after I launched eWillys in 2008—a website for vintage jeeps that I ran for seventeen years—my readers asked me why I helped people and listed their jeeps for sale for free. I responded that it would take a book to explain it all. Apart from that, I always wanted to write a book. All that combined to form the impetus behind Finding Virginia.

I learned a great deal writing this first book. One thing I underestimated was my tendency to overwrite. I also started too many sentences with clauses. I learned the hard way the effort necessary to proof the book, as my first edition included quite a few spelling and grammatical errors. Thankfully, this book sold initially to jeep friends, so several of them banded together to send me corrections. Now, I read all my books from back to front, one sentence at a time, to spot errors.

Another important outcome of this first book was my Aunt’s help. A retired architect, she’s an avid reader and a detail-oriented person. She also loves puzzle solving. She recognized Finding Virginia had some issues and jumped into help. We learned we worked well together and had fun with the projects. It’s become a thing we enjoy doing together, even if it is ‘work’ (though it’s our idea of fun).

I have read through each sentence of each book to my aunt over the phone. Yes, she has incredible patience. She finds problems and, most of the time, has ideas on how to correct them. She’s not afraid to write “boring” across a bad part of the book (which is incredibly helpful). Like I indicate elsewhere. I’m not a great writer, but I put in the effort to create good books. If you enjoy my books, my aunt deserves a fair amount of credit.