Pandemics, Deserts, and Linguistically Challenged Narrators

Pandemics, Deserts, and Linguistically Challenged Narrators


A writer should be satisfied when their months of research and labor reaches the peak with the words, “I’m published.”

I certainly had to join that elite crew with my most recent novel, “We Were Young Once …,” a fact-based novel of human and drug trafficking. But I must admit that reaching the “You are published” era was a two-edged sword. Indeed, I am happy beyond description but also frustrated that the road to publication can also be the road to perdition.

Unbeknownst to any of us, that unseen enemy we call Covid-19 was not on the horizon when my manuscript was sent to the publisher, but it was. Like any other business we take for granted, the COVID quarantines and the new term we had to grow accustomed to, “PPE,” had an impact on the publishing world. Editors, business managers, clerical staff, art departments, etc. were all impacted. Accordingly, their business and mine slowed down. What we originally thought would be a May Day rollout for my new book got tossed under the bus—Covid-19 had spoken.


Problem two then popped up. “We Were Young Once …” is set on the New Mexico/Chihuahua border in the vast Chihuahua desert. I envisioned a cover with a couple in their 20's pictured in the desert setting in a somewhat forlorn pose. Alas, the art department was at a loss when I mentioned the beautiful Chihuahua desert and its importance to this novel. We more or less resolved our little dilemma when I sent photos from my research trip to Big Bend and Terlingua, TX for them to clarify what “our” desert looked like.

This is the river crossing used by the protagonist. 

This is a picture I took on my visit to Big Bend and Terlingua Texas that made it on the cover of the book. 

Then came the finale. I intersperse my spoken dialogue with Spanish language words… not more than ½ of 1% of the total word count is Spanish. However, the narrator of the Audio Book, and a very accomplished person, is not a Spanish speaker. 


Nevertheless, after a lot of back and forth, “We Were Young Once…” will be on the market on August 31, 2020. 

This is the second of the Border War series, starting with “Color of the Prism.”





Visit us at www.thomasjnichols.com.

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