A writer like your father

It doesn't happen any more.  No one here knew my father.  But when I was growing up, I was often asked if I was going to be "a writer like your father".

I never knew how to answer that question.  

Which father?

The smart, creative man who could charm anyone he met?  The man who got me an adult library card when I was only 11?  The man who allowed and encouraged me to read every book I could get my hands on, fiction and non-fiction?

Or the man who was chronically unable to meet his deadlines?  The one who could manipulate anyone into lending him money he had no intention of paying back?  The one who got so used to embellishing his life story that he even modified the truly great things he did?

In retrospect, I realize that the people asking the question knew only the first man - the charmer.

My biggest fear always was that I would turn out like the second man - the scoundrel.

Instead, I became a different kind of writer.  I write software code.  It is surprisingly creative.

But there are programming rules, and hard deadlines, and charm cannot save you if your code doesn't compile.

No, I am not a writer like my father.

I am my own kind of writer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Smith_(author)  - my father

My dad is in Wikipedia.

My dad, Warren Smith, was an author.  Not famous, but known in paranormal circles and in Iowa where we lived.  He wrote more than 60 books - paranormal under his name and a pseudonym, westerns and romances under pseudonyms.  He also wrote for magazines and newspapers.

My dad died May 2003.  Maybe it's the month or season, or that I'm unemployed as I was when he died, but for some reason he has been on my mind.

I entered his name in Amazon search and came up with 2 of his books for sale, This Hollow Earth and UFO Trek.

The reader comment for This Hollow Earth  made me proud.  "This book will open your eyes, to the secrets and inhabitants of the Hollow Earth. Derro, dwarves, UFOs, just who is down there? Evidence is given. A must for collectors of occult or just plain odd books. Very hard to get a hold of, if you find one keep it!"

I also found two other authors named Warren Smith.  In fact, another was a Warren B. Smith.

Curious as to what his B stood for, I tried Wikipedia.  And found my dad!

They had his middle name wrong.  It really was Billy, not William.  I have the birth certificate to prove it.  But it was definitely my dad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warren_Smith_(author) 

I don't know if Wikipedia will accept my changes, but I fixed the middle name and state of his birth.  If they accept those changes, I'm going to dig up the list I have of his books and get them all entered.

My dad is in Wikipedia.  I think that is pretty cool.