Retirement

(Originally posted February 22, 2013)

How do you plan to spend your retirement? The path you choose is bound to define your remaining years.

Will you take up golf? I tried that myself. Or will you go looking for the hobby that is just right for you---choosing from the many thousands of activities that bored retirees have used to fill their empty hours? I've done a bit of that too.

And, of course, there is travel. The wife and I have explored places from the left coast to the right, and lots of sights in between. We did our mini-Grand Tour of Europe and lived in England. In our retirement we've been there, done that, and enjoyed it all.

Then, on the eve of my fiftieth high-school reunion I was unexpectedly hijacked by SECOND CHANCES. Before long that introduction to Tanner, along with other stories about the friends I made there, had become THE TANNER CHRONICLES---which in turn had become something of an obsession. What began as timid scribbles on yellow pads had morphed into serialized website stories, then ebooks, and now Print of Demand paperbacks.

It has been a slow, sometimes bumpy learning process---creating the eight novel-length stories that sit on my shelf. But with my English teacher traveling partner on board for the ride, acting as proofreader, editor, and critic, retirement for me has become a matter of too-few hours, not too many. Though I may have run out of golf to play or places to see, storytelling has proven to be a different matter. Chances are I'll run out of hours before I run out of Tanner stories.