Life After the Comma

On February 17th, 2005, I was given a little notebook by a girl I was dating at the time. We had only been together for nearly a month and she wanted to get me a little gift for my birthday. She picked out a little leather-bound notebook that she thought would fit my personality and encouraged me to start writing things down.   She said I should write quotes, occurrences, stories I’d heard, thoughts and prayers. Anything and everything.

When she handed me the notebook I opened the first page to see nothing but my name followed by a comma. She said it was an accident. She had meant to write a short message to me inside the book’s jacket, but decided not to, only after writing my name. She asked me to tear the page out, but I wanted to keep it. I liked the way it looked.

As the years went by the girl stuck with me (who knows why) and  after April 25th, 2009 I have the honor of calling her my wife.  I can’t describe how blessed I am to have her in my life. We are still growing up together between our two children. One here now and another on the way. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t have done half the things in my life without her encouragement and support, including taking on the task of writing.

And so today, on her birthday, I wanted her to know how much she’s meant to me. I’m gratefully for her love and I can’t imagine anything she would have written on my birthday, those years ago, would replace the gift she’s given me. A life with her. A life with our family. Our life after the comma.

Interview with Laurie’s Thoughts

I recently answered a few interview questions for the blog Laurie’s Thoughts and Reviews. Here’s a bit of the interview:

Does your significant other read your stuff?     I have an amazing wife and I value her opinion a lot. She was a great help to me throughout the entire writing process. I constantly bounced ideas and storylines off her. She always gave me her honest opinion. I talked to her so much about the book I’m positive she knew every line before she read it.

What book are you reading now?     The book I’m reading right now is The Edge of Sadness by Edwin O’Connor. I have just finished reading Everything Ravaged, Everything Burned by Wells Tower and was looking for another book. I came across this novel and the backstory of the book caught my attention. It was written in 1962 and won the Pulitzer Prize in the same year. As time went on the book went out of print and has only recently been reprinted. I can honestly say that although this book is extremely long (664 pages) and moves at a slow pace, this is seriously one of the most well-written books I’ve ever encountered. A great read and I hope it continues to gather momentum among new readers.

Visit the blog to read the whole interview. Thanks again for the opportunity.

Review from DogEarrin’ It

Gather Sticks Along the Way: A Novel recently received a review from the blog DogEarrin’ It. Visit their blog to read the full review. Here’s a portion of the post:

 I was able to see Mills’ vision and he wrote with a simplicity that is refreshing for a reader; not having to get bogged down with mindless details or irrelevant banter.  He was concise and clear with his words and made for a quick read with a nice plot that actually left me disturbed for a few moments throughout.
      Tyler Mills told his story in a way that was to the point and not muddied with unnecessary elements.  It was an easy read and had a great cliff hanger appeal with the ending! 

Thanks again for their review. Be sure to visit their blog and read the full review as well as thoughts on several other books.