Some say that if you go back far enough in time everyone could very well be related to each other.  Please don’t tell that to my “Aunt Marie.”  She is now a retired schoolteacher in her late eighties.  I don’t know if she would have enough time to research all of those connections.

            Our family historian has been my dear “Aunt Marie.”  She has spent the better part of her life researching county records, state documents, gravestones, periodicals, and anything else that is part of public knowledge.  She has spent virtually her entire adult life composing the family tree.  What she turned up in our gene pool was surprising to all of us that now live several generations away from our ancestors.

            So as to not sound boring, I’ll simply cut to the chase.  As the story goes a Colonel William Casey was born in Frederick County, Virginia in 1756.  He migrated to Kentucky and had many fights with the Indians over the years as the property was being settled.  Through adulthood he was appointed a county judge and served in local politics.  Rumor has it that he was a mountain of a man, very kind, and the father of four daughters.  This is the start of what I’ll call a mighty oak with several enduring branches.

            His third daughter was named Molly, but nicknamed Polly.  His fourth daughter was named Margaret, but nicknamed Peggy.  The two branches of the tree that those two formed are what this article is about.  They traveled through Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Iowa.

            William Casey died in 1816 after serving in local politics in Adair County, Kentucky.  He never lived to see his great grandson which had been placed on a limb of the family tree by his youngest daughter, Peggy.  Born in Florida, Missouri in 1835, William Casey’s great grandson was christened Samuel L. Clemens…none other than Mark Twain.

            Being from the Midwest it is quite believable that Casey’s youngest daughter Peggy and her siblings traveled up and down the states that were bordering the Mississippi River.  Mark Twain made that tributary legendary in several of his tales.  Samuel Clemens was born roughly thirty-five miles inland from Hannibal, Missouri which was where he was raised during his younger years.

            At any rate the rest is history as far as Mark Twain goes.  He is a legend in American folk yore as an author, philanthropist, statesman, humorist, and traveler.

            I doubt that William Casey even cares that his great, great, great, great, great grandson wrote a novel after he turned fifty.  That was the limb of the tree that his third daughter Polly helped to form.  And I doubt if it matters that his far-removed relative grew up in modern-day St. Louis…only a driver and an eight-iron away from the Mississippi River.

            But don’t tell that to my “Aunt Marie.”  When she turned over all of the family tree information to me she said, “You know, Jim, you’ve done something that I’ve always dreamed about doing but never found the time.”

            Naively, I asked, “What’s that?”

            She said, “You wrote a book.  I wouldn’t even know where to start.”

            Something tells me that maybe she should start with William Casey.  He’s the mighty oak in this tale and she’s on one of those limbs too.

Did you ever wonder how to deal with the mischievous actions of an adolescent boy? As a parent, have you ever thought of what it might take to get your point of view across? How could any of that relate to the wonderful game of golf?

Follow the journey of two teenage boys, Justin Ventimiglia and Keith Pucchio, after they get caught committing a petty act of vandalism on one of the first days of their summer vacation. Experience what happens after their misstep lands them at Prairie Winds Golf Course on the east side of St. Louis.

Can the professional staff at the course mold the character of the boys? What on earth can a growing cast of golfing misfits show the lads? How will the characters deal with the deadly cancer disease? What role does a single-parent household play in all of this? Could a dysfunctional family situation solve the dilemma?

Enjoy the special relationship between a pseudo-Big Brother and an impressionable child in an enjoyable, heartwarming story about life and death. What can the old-timers that hang around the clubhouse teach the young boys? How will the kids react? And where do the lessons from the game of golf fit into all of this?

Read Finish Line, due out in late May 2008 from Xlibris. It is the second novel by James Ross set on Prairie Winds Golf Course. Feel free to visit his web site at http://www.authorjamesross.com for more information.

I read an interesting article that was published in an e-zine the other day. It went on to explain the varying lengths of written works and how those pieces were categorized. The purpose of the article was to explain how length can obviously equate to the cost of publishing a book.

At any rate, I thought that I would share a few of the numbers to those that may have an interest in writing. The number of words in a manuscript determines what sort of work an author has created.

• Short stories…………….under 15,000 words
• Novella……………………..between 15,000 and 29,999 words
• Short novel………………..30,000-49,999 words
• Novel…………………………between 45,000 and 69,999 words
• Plus or Super Novel……over 70,000 words

You can rest assured that the products that I will be developing will fall into the latter category. Lifetime Loser and Finish Line were both well over 100,000 words. Believe me, that is quite a challenge. Hopefully that is a comfortable length for those readers that enjoy a thorough story.