A dad who was a bank robber to writing while being a long-haul Ice Road Trucker with MJ Preston

He discusses what it was like growing up with a dad who was a bank robber, knowing his dad tried to murder his Mom, going to school under an assumed name, marrying his love of and becoming a long-haul truck driver including on the worlds longest ice road where he wrote some of his best-selling books in his mind  While I am in a pretty good place, I do look back on a childhood where my father was a wanted bank robber, and both my brother and I had to attend school under an assumed name. Sanity ensued when my mother sent us kids to go stay with an aunt and uncle while she tried to forge a new future with a new man who would step in as stepfather. My father's reaction to this was to kidnap my mother and her boyfriend with the intention of killing them. This was interrupted by a police takedown that would result in a 10-year conviction for armed robbery. With my father incarcerated, my mom moved across the country to a new life and sent for us kids.  We grew up with little. By the time I decided I wanted to get a degree in writing there was no money or support available. Alternately, I met a young woman, at the age of 18. That changed my course and focus. Having a little boy, I decided I need a career, so I enlisted in the military and worked on writing as a sideline.  I served 12 years in the military, was medically released after enduring three leg operations, and went through a pretty rough transition from soldier to civilian. By this time I was a husband and father of three boys. My wife and I did the best we could, and eventually, I signed up to get my transport truck license. I trucked all over Canada and the USA. All the while I began work on finishing my first novel. Much of written on the steering wheel of a transport truck.  I published my horror novel, The Equinox, independently in 2012 and had no plan of writing another, until I was invited to run the world's longest ice road. I went from Long Haul to Ice Road Trucker. In Canada's Northwest Territories, between February and April, thousands of trucks drive over giant frozen lakes to resupply diamonds mines just below the Arctic Circle. These much-needed supplies have to carry them for the year. As I drove this majestic landscape, the cracking and popping ice beneath my wheels, I was mesmerized by a night sky painted with twisting curtains of the northern lights. The ice glistened lit the way in brilliant hues of green and red and even blue. Across this 18 hour trek. wold packs ran alongside me. Wolverines watched in wait and ravens ruled the track. All the while I was pumping that first novel with fellow ice road trucker, while I found my inspiration for my second novel, Acadia Event. I published that the next year, also independent, and then I got down to work on my third book, Highwayman. Highwayman is about a serial killer with one ambition. To be the most infamous killer of all time. This fictional story was born out of three years of research and the story spans two books. Highwayman and FOUR. Both were picked up by WildBlue Press and as an added bonus, they also asked for my two independent novels.  So here I am, 55 years old, having written four books and a fifth in progress, I can say that I am an author. I don't know how long I will keep writing, likely until the well runs dry or life winds down. But here we are.  FIND MJ HERE: Website: http://mjpreston.net Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/MJ-Preston/e/B005JTQMZY Publisher Page: https://wildbluepress.com/mj-preston-author-bio/ --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/becoming-parents/message