FLEMINGSBURG — Fleming County resident James Colgan will be releasing a short novel on Feb. 3, 2021.
The book is called Going Upriver to Burnside and is a story about a man named Jimmy Ray Rawlings, who farms in Burnside before going off to World War II. While fighting in the war, Rawlings is injured while trying to protect a superior officer and spends a year in the hospital. After his release, he begins a long journey home and going “upriver” to his birthplace.
The book is being published by Mannison Press.
Colgan recently released a short story called Silas in the Old Barn: A Christmas Tale, about a scruffy tabby cat named Silas that wanders into an old barn. In the barn, the cat discovers a young couple and their newborn baby. Silas climbs into the baby’s crib and helps to calm the child. During the night, the cat meets many strangers who come to visit the baby and eventually leaves a magical gift with the new mother before departing.
According to Colgan, Silas in the Old Barn: A Christmas Tale is available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Etsy and by contacting Colgan. It was published through IngramSpark.
He also offered some advice for those interested in writing a book.
“Obviously, though, the writing comes first, and there are literally hundreds of books and online programs for learning how to approach writing and actually do it,” he said. “And everyone approaches it differently and different things work for some people and not for others. I.e., I know some writers who write every day for a set period of time, usually four hours, whether they know what they’re writing about or not. That doesn’t work for me. For me it all starts with a basic idea, maybe just a germ of an idea, for a story that I let percolate in my head for a while and then go from there.”
