From Photograph to a Publishing Contract

In July 2023, as I went through old photos deleting them off my phone, this photo appeared. My heart skipped a beat followed by a calm of peace. I remember the day I took this picture on June 30, 2022. It plays out like a vivid movie in my head from the frustration I was experiencing to the moment the last hug was given.  

Let me take you back to that day. While I was in Lubbock checking on a disabled friend, I stopped by Market Street before heading back to the house. Frustration soon took over while I was in the store because I could not locate the one item I went in there for – which now for the life of me I cannot recall what that grocery item was. Go figure. All I know is I kept going down the short aisles avoiding other shoppers because I have always been a social distancer in situations like that. The frustration continued to build to the point I was going to leave my cart in an aisle and walk back to my car in the heat. You’ve had those moments, right?

Then I turned down the last aisle. Like the flick of a light switch, my frustration melted away like a snowman quickly disappearing in the sunlight. My heart jumped a beat and I smiled. Sue, beautiful as always was bent over talking to her husband who was sitting in a motor cart. When she looked up and saw me, our smiles met and I walked up to her and enveloped her in a hug.

Hugging Sue is like grabbing a warm ray of sunshine followed by cuddling a puppy. The excitement in her voice at seeing me was rich with treble tones. We caught up in a quick fashion. And the big question came. Sue asked me about the book. This time I gave her a better update. I had been revising the book and I felt good about it. With ever her ever-encouraging words, she spoke with support and told me that she and Jim would help me in any way they could. To be honest, I would never take advantage of that extended offer.

Then she pulled out her phone to show me a video of the Hunt daughters. It was like being transported in time watching the old film reel. Immediately, I recognized Jo Ann who was smiling in the video holding a doll right up to her small face. Her life had come back in those brief seconds as I stood there watching the video on Sue’s iPhone. For a few brief seconds, my breath was taken away.

My life once again changed in that moment, as it has so many times before. A moment of getting lost in a grocery store. A moment of finding a person who has meant the world to me with her support of my writing of the Hunt book. A moment that trumped what proceeded this encounter and what was to follow.

As we parted ways with hugs, I drove home in silence reflecting on that moment. I woke up the next day with that movie reel playing in my head along with reflections of that serendipitous moment occurring the day before. I had to make a move. I could not let fear stifle me anymore.

With every ounce of my being, I sat down at my computer with my coffee and turned on Arctic Outpost Radio AM 1270 to inspire and calm me, I started the outreach process of overcoming my fear to getting a publisher. I began by contacting longtime semi-boss, Kristine Hall on where to start. She gave me three publishing names. I contacted them all with queries and sent them the manuscript.

I waited. I waited. I had my first overnight stay in the DFW airport due to flight cancellations. Then finally I got to Kentucky, toured some whiskey distilleries with friends, went to a dog show where I met Hope, a beautiful Great Dane, and drove in cemeteries looking for angels as it rained. I tried keeping my mind off what I had just done before leaving for Kentucky. Kentucky, by the way, has always felt like going home.

Upon returning, I heard from two. One was radio silence.

I was astonished when one publisher asked me the one question I was not expecting. When I responded back to him with an honest ‘no’ and what my concluding thoughts were on who killed the Hunts that’s when Loren Steffy emailed back that he was interested in publishing the book given I make two changes. Immediately, those changes felt right.

The publishing contract is another story, along with everything else that happened in the latter part of 2022.

Photos are powerful reminders of moments in time. This photo reminds me of the one time I conquered my fear. A fear that I dreaded doing, something good actually came from it. It led to a stranger’s reading of all the years of this complex research turned into the best story I could craft and seeing this story’s worth in being told.

Am I still fearful? Hell yes! I am deeply scared others will hate it. The Hunt story was challenging to tell.

Do I still need to conquer my other fears? Hell, yes! Don’t we all?

I share this because many of you have your own fears to conquer. It may take a moment encounter, like mine did, to get you to move in a direction that literally scares you to the depths that’s keeping you frozen in place like I was. My bestest advice is to pay attention to the small moments in your life because you will never know what that one moment can lead to if you listen. Listen with your heart. Listen to some inspirational music. Have a fab cup of coffee in hand or even a shot of whiskey. Take the leap by seizing the moment. Because you will never know what it can lead to.

As a side note – remarkably, the one thing that stood out from that family reel was Jo Ann holding the same doll she had on the morning after her parents were murdered. As with my book which has many questions, another question I now ask is, how did the doll wind up with Jo Ann in the newspaper photo that came to haunt me over these years?