Just home from a recent book tour in Minnesota, Lowell Volk knows how to balance work and play. However, hes having difficulty at the moment enjoying his recreational life because of a leak on one side of his pontoon boat.
The search for the pesky leak is frustrating, and Volk hopes to have the boat back on the lake soon.
In the meantime, the Pleasant View author is on tour for his second book, Luke Taylor: Westward Bound. It continues the story of his first book, The Taylors Civil War, about a family struggling with hardship during the Civil War.
In Luke Taylor: Westward Bound, the titles main character starts out on the run from Union soldiers after killing a carpetbagger from the North threatening to seize the Taylors land. In the books description from Tate Publishing, Luke races against time, Union soldiers and bounty hunters on his way to join a wagon train in Independence, Mo.
Volk never dreamed of being a novelist.
When I was in high school, if you would have told me I was going to sit down and write books one day, Id have told you, you were crazy, Volk said with a laugh.
Before retiring and moving to Pleasant View, Volk managed software engineers for General Dynamics. He spent a lot of time in Virginia, traveling for work. Thats where he became interested in the Civil War and in writing.
You could say thats really where I got started in writing, Volk said, adding that he did a lot of technical writing for the government.
As a result of traveling, I also read a lot of Louis LAmour books and liked the way he wrote and that he had some actual history involved with his fictional stories and characters, Volk said.
Though Volk had no intention of mimicking the world-famous authors writing style, he did want to include some actual history. Authentic battles and well-known people such as Stonewall Jackson and Jesse James are mixed in with fictional characters and stories in Volks books.
Volk is editing the fourth book of the series. The third book is already under contract with Tate Publishing. The fifth, and final, book in the series has yet to be typed into his Toshiba laptop, but storylines are already running through his head. An additional main character is added in the third novel. He meets up with Luke Taylor in book four, and in book five, they leave Independence and travel west, ending up, most likely, in Montezuma County.
Usually when I start writing, I know where (the book) is going to start and I know where its going to end, he said. Its just whats in between that I need to figure out.
He often wakes up in the middle of the night thinking about the book hes writing, and ideas come to him.
People have reacted positively to Volks two published books, even people who would rather not pick up a book. For instance, Volk mentions a friends son who is not a book reader but quickly read the first book, anxiously waited for the second, finished it, and is waiting for the third in the Civil War saga.
While much of Volks mind may be 150 years in the past, his wife, Mary Lou, has supported him 150 percent since he started writing. She even accompanies him on book tours and seeks out additional venues.
The Volks wont have to travel far for the next book signing. The Cortez Public Library will host a book signing from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, and copies of Luke Taylor: Westward Bound will be available as well as the first book, The Taylors Civil War.
Both books can also be purchased at Volks website, www.lowellvolk.tateauthor.com, or at Amazon.com.
Reach Paula Bostrom at paulab@cortezjournal.com.