You're probably reading this because a book brought you here.

This is the winding road that led to that book.

​​

Chapter 1​

​

You're young, passionate about writing. What do you do?

Move to Europe, of course.

First came Ireland. It was small, unthreatening.

Will had played the oboe in high school.

He wasn't great, but decent enough to land

some music jobs in Dublin

(see his 22-year-old fingers shaking with terror

in this video from Irish TV).

​​

Followed by four years in Paris.

Reading and writing in the American Library.

Working nights for an American law firm.

Writing in cafes. It's what you do.

He was a late bloomer. There was so much he needed to read,

so much crappy writing that he needed to flush out of his system.

Where better to do that than in Paris.

​​​

Chapter 2​

​

Back in the U.S., he started a weekly program for

National Public Radio, Theme and Variations.

He would read the classics,

pair them with music on a shared theme.

Read some of his own stories too.

He produced a radio documentary honoring

the last living World War I veterans.

 

But the itch to travel, who can resist?

He became a freelance reporter.

Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Africa, the Middle East.

You don't get rich that way, but it's a great way to find adventure.

Fell in love with Afghanistan.

He decided he needed to live there.

​​

Chapter 3​

​

And so he did, working as a communications officer

for USAID programs during the war.

For five years he flew around on helicopters,

interviewed farmers, saw bombs and bloodshed.

Channeled it all into his first novel, We'll Live Tomorrow.

​​

And so it goes.

What we live is what we become.

What we dream is what we do.

If we're lucky. And Will has always been pretty lucky.

He's currently the proud father of a YA novel, Our One Great Thing.

And there's a lot more YA fiction where that came from, so stay tuned.