Preflight Complete:
The Year I Stopped Playing It Safe

How many truly pivotal moments are there in a life? By my calculation, I'm on my eighth in a few years over half a century. I've served the government in some capacity since I was 19. After 35 years, I've retired with just enough runway for me to take off in a different direction. 2025 is the year I taxied.

Part of the runway meant rethinking where we live. Northern Virginia served us well for decades, but it's not where you stretch a retirement dollar. It took my wife and me a few years to explore which region had the best opportunities. We landed in the Raleigh-Durham area. We traded proximity to family for a lower cost of living and different opportunities for our children.

Then came the months of soul-searching. After all, I've been fitting writing into spare moments of energy and inspiration for years. Should I play it safe, consult and coast on my credentials? Or do I bet on the stories that have filled my head for decades?

Clearly, I chose the risky path. Now what?

2026 will be the year I take off. With two books finished and waiting and a third that is nearly complete, I will start releasing them in January. These start the Strand series, where I explore exotic technology's impact on American colonial society in the mid-1760s.

Coming out of Author Nation 2025, my 2026 goal is to write six to twelve books. Add those to the three in the Strand series, and you are looking at nine to fifteen books. Is that realistic? There are authors who publish at least as many in a year. Is that possible for me? Let's see how the year unfolds. Douglas Adams liked the sound of deadlines as they whooshed past. Goals are rallying cries as much as something to accomplish.

Writing is not that new of a path for me. I've been studying the craft and writing for decades. I've made friends in the indie author community who cheer me on. What has changed is that I now pursue it fully. Being an author is in part being creative and being a businessman. I've been both, though not quite like this.

Here I am, barreling down the runway. I don't know what altitude I'll reach. There will be turbulence. But that doesn't matter.

Keep your tray tables in their fully upright and locked position. Subscribe to Buzz Words and fly with me through 2026.