I am stunned to hear that the novelist Tom Clancy has died
at age 66. I never met him, but he and his work has been present at
some of the key moments of my life.
I was first
introduced to popular, adult novels when my father all but forced me to
read his favorite book, The Hunt For Red October. I loved it as well. Back then, I was a
young teen and had not really graduated from reading whatever the teen
novels of the time were, long before the current crop of wizards and
vampires became all the rage.
When I graduated from the
University of Delaware in 1994, I was pleasantly surprised to learn
that Clancy would be our commencement speaker. I remember it was
somewhat controversial because the school had to pay him, unlike the
school officials and local politicians who normally spoke at graduation
(what ever happened to that Joe Biden guy?)
More
importantly, I vividly remember what he said that day. He spoke of his
dreams of becoming a writer that got side tracked by marriage, family, and
everyday concerns. He told us of how, even as an insurance broker, he
kept pursuing his dream. At age 37, he published his first novel, The
Hunt For Red October, and the rest is history.
When I
heard him speak, I had no idea how I would make a living after college.I
eventually wound up working in computers just as it became the industry
to be in. Later, I had the dream of being a commercial pilot. I even
earned my commercial pilot's license, just as that industry became the
place
not to be.
After working as an
employee of one company or another for nearly two decades, my
dream was to be my own boss and set my own schedule. I haven't
written a book yet, let alone sold millions of novels, but I too have
achieved my
dream. Like Clancy, I started writing professionally at around age 37,
when I also had a marriage, children, and plenty of everyday concerns.
I
never cared much for Clancy's politics, nor did I think that most of
his later novels were as good as his first few (or the movies for that
matter). But the lesson that Tom Clancy taught me on that beautiful May
day in Delaware is one that I will pass on to my children.
