It’s interesting to stop a moment and think about the genesis of The Wilson Chronicles. But I have published other books as well. So, where do the ideas come from?
My first book, Surviving The Radicalization of America, began as a thought to rebut the radical turn America was taking back in the late nineties and early two thousands. There were plenty of issues: Iraq war, abortion, hate filled speech, far right and far left politics begining to highly verbalize, and the diminishing fourth estate. I saw these and I felt the need to write down what I thought, hence, the book is an early version of how I perceive our culture and the changes we are experiencing. Its a hard read today, since I don’t really write like that anymore. But still, the jist of it is still accurate and it is interesting to see that the things I talked about are still on top of the agenda today. Makes me wonder about our species and change.
The second book, Growing Leadership; Managing Developmental Chaos, originated as a means to talk about how we take people from workers to supervisors to managers to leaders. I was in the USAF for twenty five years and participated in some superb team building, training, and actions that provided a clear path to leadership. In the private sector, I found the urge was to push people to leadership, but not necessarily give them the tools they needed. I worked at combining the best of both to arrive at a process that works. It is a joint leader/follower book, but it can be used by one person to improve their individual leadership.
The third book, Principled Leadership; A Balancing Act for a Lifetime, was one I published as a followup to the first leadership book. It isn’t enough to become a leader, you have to sustain it through all the trials and challenges that come your way. I know for a fact that without standing on principle, the chaos of life, from small problems to false allegations, can overwhelm you. But standing on principles provides a clear and strong grounding and means to sustain your professional and personal leadership through any storm.
The fourth book, The Siege at Azulon, was my very first attempt to break out of the serious mode and write a work of fiction. Its a story set in a fictional place, with kings, princesses, fair maidens and knights, along with the occassional witch. This was probably one of the books that I had the most fun writing. Reading it now, I can see my writing style was not ready for it, as it is a hard read. But the story is good and it ties into my chronicles work. The genesis of this was purely to write about an idea I had for a group of people from back in the days of castles and nobility, to create an action story along with romance.
The fifth, sixth, seventh and future Wilson Chronicles books are a joy to write. The story originated from a dream many people have – what would you do if you suddenly became ridiculously rich? That was the beginning, but it was not enough. There had to be a purpose and a cause for the story, not just someone becoming a hedonist. So, the cause of saving our species from an asteroid strike (something that is in the news regularly), then saving us from extinction, became the catalyst of the story. However, I am more interested in the people in the story, so it eventually morphed into a fiction story encompassing romance, action, adventure and science fiction.
I do love to write, but equally importantly, I love to dream, keep the imagination alive. Nothing can be imagined that cannot be done. It is in the action of people that we achieve our results. Do we work together? Do we stay true to our values? Do we continue to place belief and faith in God at the center of our life?
There are a lot of questions to pursue. I hope to be writing about a myriad of subjects for years to come. I do hope you enjoy the works.
Glenn
Glenn Jackson, Author 