Dan Hays, of Fort Worth, Texas , is a gifted writer who has been pursuing his craft for more than 20 years. While he was working for more than 30 years as a successful businessman in the oil and gas and real estate title insurance industries, his passion was always writing. But he had a writing block that he could not understand for many years. In 1985 he wrote a book about being the adult child of alcoholic parents. Several publishers were very interested; he felt he had “lost the thread of the story,” backed away from the book and did not return to it.

In 1987 Dan’s father died. In 1993, trying to understand his father better, he wrote a book entitled Nothing Left to Lose, about a critical turning point in his father’s life. Several agents expressed interest in the book. Again, he “lost the thread” and walked away from the book, puzzled as to why it had happened yet again. The pattern continued over many years, as Dan would try to pursue his creativity, but struggle at times to stay on his creative path.

Lost creativity is just one of the elements of the story he explores in his first published book, Freedom’s Just Another Word, which chronicled events around the time of his father’s death. It is the first of a cycle of 7 books about healing old wounds with his father, and discovering what blocked his writing for so many years. That cycle will culminate with Nothing Left to Lose, written from a perspective of forgiveness and admiration.

Me at about age 19	My Dad at about age 19