I started writing seriously when I entered seminary at Boston University in 1972. There I was published for the first time -- a series of poems in an alumni journal, work lost long ago. As a parish minister, though, I became a disciplined writer, having to produce a sermon each week, a literary and theological task.



The challenge was to write at the intersection of human experience and divine response. During this period I wrote many short stories, song lyrics, poems and two nonfiction manuscripts. One manuscript, Dancing on the Edge, was accepted for publication only to have the offer withdrawn. On the strength of this success, I stopped writing for several years!

I left parish ministry and entered the field of psychotherapy, working in community mental health where I published a few papers on my experience as a clinician, including one on a patient suicide.

In 1986, I started working at the University of Rochester Medical Center where a focus on academics accelerated my development as a writer. In the next 20 years, I co-authored two professional books and wrote over 60 papers and book chapters. The rigor of mentored writing and excellent editing taught me a great deal about the craft.

During my academic career I remained interested in fiction, but did little more than collect ideas and make notes. In 1990, I did extensive work on a story idea and then stored it all away in a folder. I returned to my notes years later. They became the basis for my first novel, Darkness is as Light (2005), which was based on a personal vignette told by a former patient. I couldn't get the story out of my mind and reworked it in several creative nonfiction workshops and finally transformed it into the backbone of a novel about a middle-aged man sorting out the truth about his mother's death. I wrote Darkness in exactly one year.

While completing Darkness, I started thinking about my next book. Pumpkin Hill (2007) ia the story of how an automobile accident affected the lives of six people: a young minister and his wife; an older couple in a loveless marriage; and a single mother with a mentally-ill son.

My third novel, Charlie No Face, was published by Savant Books and Publications in 2011. I enjoyed this writing project more than any other, perhaps because it gave me the opportunity to speak with the voice of Jackie, the 11-year-old protagonist. And it is set on my hometown. I was honored that this novel was a Finalist for the National Indie Excellence Award (2011).

I followed Charlie No Face with Chimney Bluffs (2012), which was based on an online news article about parents who had lost a son tragically. It is the story of three people who are finding their way back from individual experiences with loss and grief.

I am very excited about my latest work, More More Time (2015). The title comes from a game I used to play with our oldest granddaughter. In this story, Maxwell Ruth, a cantankerous, old high school history falls down his basement stairs. Soon thereafter he starts hearing this phrase over and over again -- endingtimeendingtimeendingtime -- and his life is changed forever. In this story we learn about the lives, loves, losses and triumphs of six characters, each searching for something. As always, though, the clock is ticking and time is running out.

I am very excited about the release of this novel. The characters are lively, funny, at times, a little bit lost or wounded, yet resilient and hopeful. Through them, I explore issues that we all have to address in our lives. How do we make relationships work? What is the impact of loss or suffering on our lives? How do we use the time allotted to us, even though we have no idea how much time we actually have? I think that we are always wrestling with these questions; we are always looking for answers. It is through this process that we make sense of our lives and give them meaning.

Common to all of my work is an abiding interest in the common struggles that make us human -- loss, fear, hope, uncertainty, connection, separation, meaning, seeking, questioning, love, guilt, wonder, joy and storytelling. I think we are all storytellers. That is how we make sense of our lives and the world around us. When I write, I feel that more than anything else, I am trying to make sense of life, trying to explore its meaning. And, of course, I am trying to tell a good story in the process.

Sincerely,
David B. Seaburn
Author of
     Charlie No Face (Savant 2011)
     Chimney Bluffs (Savant 2012)
     More More Time (Savant 2015)