I kind of backed into writing historical fiction - I grew up loving straight history, and reading historical fiction about any historical period which intrigued me. I got a degree in English and finished up in the military in a career field which required a lot of writing: broadcasting and public affairs. In 2002 I began contributing to a mil-blog, Sgt. Stryker's Daily Brief, where I could write about basically anything that took my interest. Fans of the blog began to comment favorably, and ask me when my book was coming out! So, I put together a little memoir, just to get everyone to stop asking ... and then I did a series of essays about a historic wagon-train journey, and my readers and fans encouraged me to do it as a novel. I had so much fun doing that, I did another ... about the German settlements in 19th century Texas, which turned into a trilogy, and then a sprawling cycle that a reader called "Barsetshire with cypress trees -- and lots of sidearms."