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     As a child, on many nights I would lie down on the lawn, and just stare up at the night sky.  I would watch for shooting stars, and marvel at the white band of light that washed across the sky.
     One night, when the sky was clear, and the stars so brilliant you could read a book under their light, mom came outside and lay down on the grass beside me.  We just watched the sky, and then I asked her what the bright band of light was.
     She explained that the light was caused by billions of stars in what was known as the Milky Way Galaxy.
     I WAS HOOKED!  Billions of stars!  So thick that their light looked like a florescent bulb across the sky, with a few really bright spots!  I was awed at the beauty, and wonder, and majesty of it all.
     Momma had only a high school education, but was a prolific reader.  Her dad, my grandfather, had a subscription to National Geographic, and had every issue from number one through the time when I was a teenager.  She loved those books, and traveled the world through their pages, as I did in years to come.  That's where she learned about the Milky Way.
     I learned to read in school, but mom taught me to READ!  To read with feeling and understanding!  To read like I was a character in the book!  To use my imagination, and SEE the images and lands and people the book talked about.  I became a prolific reader, especially once I discovered Science Fiction books at about the age of 8!
     WOW!  I could travel to distant planets - see mysterious objects in space - meet star travelers!  What wonderful adventures I had.
     I went to many a Saturday Matinee at the local movie theater to watch Buck Rogers fight the evil Emperor Ming.  I grew up with Tom Corbet Space Cadet, and Captain Video and his Video Rangers, and every science fiction movie ever made.
     How funny it is to watch some of those old movies now.  Yet, at the time they were made, the technology in them was glorious!  Computers hadn't been invented yet, and were only a dream in writers eyes.  Yet their portrayal in the movies of the time was fascinating!
     I have lived through the beginning of the computer age.  I was privileged to install and service, first, second and third generation solid state (discrete component) RCA Main Frame computer systems (Yes, RCA did make mainframe computers!) 
     Sytems that took up whole rooms - plural - and had to be climate controlled. 
     Systems that had core memory, and a large computer was 10k - that is, 10,000 octal (base 8) words!  We envisioned a "home computer" occupying a whole wall of a house. 
     Never in my wildest dreams, at the time, could I have conceived of a pocket calculator, much less a laptop computer!
     I have lived through the beginning of the space age.  I remember the horror that we felt when sputnik was launched in 1957.  How could Russia have beaten us into space?  What else would they do?
     I remember listening, on my amateur radio receiver, to the 'beep, beep' of sputnik as it orbited the earth.  A little moon, orbiting in space!  Even then, we, the science fiction aficionados, KNEW that we were on the way to the moon, and the planets!
     I remember Laika, the first living object to orbit.  And Yuri Gagarin in 1961, the first human to fly in space.  I remember Alan Shepard's sub orbital flight, and John Glenn's successful 3 orbit flight.
      I have grown up watching the exploration of the moon!  And the discoveries made in the heavens through the Hubble Space Telescope.  The billions of galaxies discovered in the "empty" area of the sky that Hubble explored!
     I have dreamed!  And do dream of the day when we, ordinary people, will be able to visit space, even if only for a short period of time.  Visions from the movie "2001" dance in my head!
     It will happen!  Probably not in my lifetime, but, it will happen.
     Until then, I will dream of space, and write of wonderful adventures, as we, humans, step out into the unknown of far distant stars and worlds.

     I have written technical papers and manuals for a couple of the companies I have worked for.  Usually under threat of bodily harm if I didn't get them done!
     Writing was never one of my 'things'.
     I designed, and built, test equipment and fixtures over the years.  I knew how they worked, but, for some silly reason, my employers wanted to know how they worked too!  So, I was forced to write.
     I also designed and built some specialized micro-controller units for use at some Christian radio stations I did volunteer work for.  And, of course, I again was forced to write some instructions for their use.
     Until 2 years ago, I had never tried writing any of the stories that were running around in my mind.  Really felt that I couldn't write.  English was not one of my favorite subjects!  So I just didn't try to write any fiction.
     I have written a lot of computer software over the years.  That was no problem - it wasn't English! 
     In 1997 I was forced into retirement with a VERY bad back - fusion, rods and screws, etc - and had a lot of time on my hands.  But it still took me until 2007 to even try my hand at writing.
     It started with a dream I had on Nov. 14, 2007 (really!) that I thought was neat, and thought, "Wow, that could make a really good book!"
     I decided to give it a try. 
     The first paragraph took me a week to write.  The first page took over 6 months.  The first half of the first story I started, 'Whadawedonow', took a year.
     Then, one day when I sat down to write, things just started to click.
     I had been putting off trying to write dialogue because I thought it would be really difficult, and I didn't think I could do it.  The first part of the story was written as the 'Commander's Log'.  Well, you can only write so much of that.
     The day came when it was either start writing dialogue, or quit writing.
     So, I took fingers to keyboard, and..........
     Doggone!  This is EASY!  The words just started to flow!  That was the point I thought I might really be able to write.
     I have come to enjoy it.  There are days when I have writers block, and can't get a word on paper.  There are other days when the ideas, and writing, just flow freely.

     Will my writing ever amount to anything?  Only time will tell.
 

I would urge those of you who have wanted to write some kind of book to just 'DO IT!"  You'll never know whether you can or not, UNTIL YOU TRY!

Jorge