Hays Williams

Welcome to my website. I hope you will return often to see what is new with Jenny and Pete.

My life has been pretty ordinary, except for the usual childhood fears. When I was a child, my family was very poor and we had to walk almost everywhere. Although we moved a lot, there is one place that stands out in my memory; we lived in a little house just outside of town and down the road from a wooded area. To get to town, we had to walk past the woods, and I hated that.

There was a man who lived in the woods with a bunch of dogs. I realize now the man might have been homeless and the dogs were probably strays that he cared for. Back then, all I knew was that I was afraid to pass those woods. The older children warned me: “Watch out for the dogman . . . he’ll get you.” And that terrified me even more.

I had no idea the dogman memory would someday give me the idea for a book, or that I would one day tell this story to people I might never meet.

People have asked me “How long have you been writing?” The correct answer is: since high school. A friend on the school bus complained about her English assignment—to write a poem. And it was due that very afternoon. “I can’t write a poem,” she fretted. “Sure you can,” I told her. To prove my point, I wrote a poem in study hall and slipped it to her. She read the poem to the class as her own creation. The teacher praised her and announced she would get an A. Beth felt terrible and confessed to the class that she didn’t actually write the poem. I don’t remember what grade she received, but her teacher appreciated her honesty.

Just before my high school graduation, my history teacher made predictions for each of her students. For me the prediction was: “You will become a writer” because of a short story I wrote as my term paper.

I followed her lead. In college I majored in journalism and creative writing, and served as editor and writer for the college newspaper.

Through the years I dreamed of writing stories and books. I wrote a few short stories, but I didn’t try to publish them. Then life got in the way and I stopped writing for pleasure. Later, I did a lot of business writing for employers, which was no great pleasure. Almost twenty years after high school I pitched an idea for a human-interest column to a local newspaper editor. He loved it and I really enjoyed writing that column. I’ve also written news features, a hospital newsletter, and various types of business communications.

However, fiction has always remained my first love—especially children’s fiction. The launching of The Jenny & Pete Mystery Series is a lifelong dream fulfilled.

Hays Williams