A long time ago a bunch of my running friends, including my partner-in-crime, Shawn Sweet, met at the Hair of the Frog Brewery to brainstorm the first Grand Rapids Marathon.
The Frog is now known as "The Hideout." Lots of runners still hang out there, enjoying refreshing adult beverages. But today, I want to talk about another group that I'm proud to be a member of. The Hideout Authors Club.
Nothing formal about it, but there are four of us who hang at The Hideout and have published books. Dan Manning, who about 12 years ago lost his IT job at Meijer in a big reorganization, started his own computer support business, and also started writing science fiction stories, then went on to publish about six books so far. Dick Bagge is the senior member, and has a couple novels set in the times of The Crusades. He's a real historian, and even though "chronologically gifted" he continues to act like a much younger man, sharing his goals and ideas with the rest of us. Vic Foerster wrote a great collection of Isle Royale stories called Naked in the Stream. While you're reading, you can actually hear the twigs cracking under your feet as you navigate a forest trail. And me. But you've read my newsletters, and lots of you have a copy of my book too. (opportunity to buy it in every newsletter--but you knew that.)
The common thread here is this. Passion. It's something that we all share at The Hideout. The brewers' passion for the art of brewing. The authors' passion for sharing our stories. The runners' passion for fitness, fellowship, and fun in the events we create and participate in.
