Why Flat Creek?

I know you're thinking 'What on God's green earth is the Flat Creek Journal?' Well, let me tell you a little about old Flat Creek. Down in south Arkansas, just south of the little village of Norphlet, a small stream meanders through a large swamp. I guess if it were in west Texas, they'd call it a river, but here in Arkansas it's a creek. When I was a boy of eight, my family moved to a farm on the edge of Flat Creek Swamp. I spent untold hours roaming the swamp and fishing in the creek. During the six years we lived on the farm, I managed to find the perfect swimming hole, fight off several mean snakes, and get lost a couple of time in the swamp. It was a wonderful time in my life and I've never forgotten some of the wild and sometimes dangerous experiences I had roaming Flat Creek and the swamp.
I'm a writer, and those years of exploring Flat Creek Swamp color my writing. I know it's trite to say a writer should write about something he or she knows something about, but its true. Studs Terkel, when asked "What should a new writer use as a subject said two words, "Write remembrances." Well, I hope the Flat Creek Journal will give you an insight into a boy's world where his entertainment was his imagination. My first published novel The Red Scarf, has Flat Creek Swamp woven throughout. Over the next few weeks I'll include a few excerpts to give you the flavor of maybe, 'fighting with a bobcat' or 'stepping on a snake'.
However, my blog won't be all remembrances, and it will be added to at least five times a week. So stand by for a slice of life in the slow world.