Douglas L. Smith was taught at a very early age from his mother that reading was important. He would read anything and everything he could get his hands on. Then he fell in love with sports. In the eighth grand an english teacher once told him, "You are going to make and english teacher love you in college." Having no idea what that meant, his life moved on. He moved through high school playing football and wrestling. After high school he attended community college, where thanks to two english teachers his life changed. Football over after a stint playing very semi-pro football. He began working in education and coaching. Still an avid reader and now movie watcher, something struck him like a lighting bolt. He would read a book or get to the end of a movie and think to himself, "I could have done that better." So he began to write and then overly criticize his own work which he would eventually throw away. One day he let someone read a sample of what he wrote and they liked it. The rest is how you say...History.

Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure... than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy nor suffer much, because they live in a gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.
Theodore Roosevelt

I care not what others think of what I do, but I care very much about what I think of what I do! That is character!
Theodore Roosevelt