Fiction authors are dreamers. Dreaming is essential to what we do. We dream up characters, we dream up settings, and we dream up stories to tell about our characters in these settings. We also dream people will read and enjoy our books. I dream of someday selling thousands of copies of my books and becoming a successful author, but even if I don’t, I will never stop writing the stories I have in my head. When I meet other authors, I realize most are like me. No matter what line of work they are in, they dream up stories they not only want but feel they must tell. As Maya Angelou said, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.”

I’m taking a break for the next two weeks from writing about fish, but for those of you who enjoy my wildlife posts, I‘ll continue my fish profiles soon.

Next week, I am thrilled to welcome author Lawrence Shimkets who has agreed to write a guest post for my blog. Lawrence is an acclaimed microbiology professor and researcher from the University of Georgia, and he will explain how an award-winning microbiologist became an action-adventure author.

I met Lawrence (Larry) Shimkets on LinkedIn, and we’ve corresponded about storytelling, writing, and promotion. I’ve met several other authors on LinkedIn, and while most of us have “day jobs,’ we feel driven to write and a need to tell the next story formulating in our minds. We are dreamers.

Larry is currently in Costa Rica teaching genetics in a classroom in the Monteverde Cloud Forest. Last month, he attended a microbiology conference in London, and a few weeks earlier, he and his wife spent time kayaking through the Florida Everglades. Larry travels the world and collects a rich array of settings he can use for his adventure novels.

I am reading Larry’s novel, Malice in the Palace, and it is a fun ride. I highly recommend it. Larry tells an exciting story, and I can only guess at the next dream burbling in his mind, waiting to be told.

I am in the process of writing my next novel, and I think about it constantly. Storytelling doesn’t follow a linear path for me. I write an outline, but part way through the manuscript, when my characters do something I don’t expect, I throw away the outline, and my dreams follow the twists and turns of my characters’ actions. Dreams are good. I’d be lost if I couldn’t tell my stories.

Please visit my blog next week and help me welcome Larry Shimkets as we get to know him better and learn what drove a world-renowned microbiologist to step away from the microscope, sit down at the computer, and dream up a thrilling adventure tale.

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Robin Barefield is the author of three Alaska wilderness mystery novels, Big Game, Murder Over Kodiak, and The Fisherman’s Daughter. To download a free copy of one of her novels, watch her webinar about how she became an author and why she writes Alaska wilderness mysteries. If you like audiobooks, check out her audiobook version of Murder Over Kodiak. Also, sign up below to subscribe to her free, monthly newsletter on true murder and mystery in Alaska.