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 Keith Mac Donald: you
can call me "Mac:
In my younger days, I wanted to become a police officer, but after a 4-year wait and after being accepted as a rookie, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts decided that Affirmative Action
was not being adhered to. There were seven of us who came within days of being sworn-in. I quit the auxilary force in disgust and went off to Florida: USF.
I learned how to write at South Florida, and although I
didn't have much interest in the technical aspects of the
language, my professors told me I had a flair like no other
freshman they'd ever read.
I decided to write humor -- just
as a hobby -- and did so for the next 15 years.
In 1999, I had humor columns appear in several New England
newspapers and decided to pursue a writing career. I founded
the online group The NetWits in
1999. The 'Wits still exist to this day and have a membership
of over 200 strong.
The slogan I used was: "The NetWits: because together
we'll accomplish even less!".
In 2000, I began writing for a humor portal and several
other content-heavy websites. It was a great time for
me. I could pay my mortgage and the household bills just
by being funny! I took lessons from Marty Nadler,
former head writer for "Happy Days".
Before I knew it, I had a literary agent and The NetWits had a book deal. I was able to hob-nob with dozens of famous comedians and other comedy writers and columnists.
Then...my father died. His death was a major blow to me
and my writing career. I realized I had been writing not
just to be a funny guy, but also to make him
proud of me. When he departed, I felt like I had no need
to write any longer.
In 2002, I regressed back to my teen years. Perhaps it was mid-life crisis...maybe just an excuse not to write, but nonetheless I plunged into musclecars and the classic car hobby.
I purchased a 1972 Pontiac GTO and worked on it daily. It became my safe place and allowed me to heal from the loss of my father.
One day, as I was cruising through western MA, I realized he was okay and after that, so was I.
I moved to VA to escape the long winters and began to
write again. In 2004, I re-wote my novel, "Woodward
Avenue" with my friend in Australia, James Richards.
Then I met Milt Schornack at a car show in Massachusetts.
About 6 months later, Milt's son, Jim contacted me and
we agreed that I would write Milt's biography from his
early days through his time at Royal Oak Pontiac. My agent
sold the rights to McFarland Publishers in NC - a great
company BTW - and in 2006, the book was released.
While many authors continued to write books about Chevys, Mopars and Fords, I found that the Pontiac crowd was slow to buy them. Perhaps it was because there were already 3-4 good Pontiac scribes and many books on the market, but I quickly soured on any more books about Ponchos.
Again, I took some time away from writing, but it has always called me back.
So here I am.
I hope The Big Block
Blog will be one of your bookmarked
faves. I know I am really looking forward to wrting these
blogs. I apologize for the ads, but if I'm to write anything
substantial and new to the classic car hobby, I truly
feel that I will require some form of compensation for
my travel time, writing time and other expenses. I am
grateful to those who have already began to support this
weblog!
Thank you and enjoy!
Keith Mac Donald
Editor and webmaster
Blurb:
I remember thinking, "Where can it go from here? How
can they possibly make a better-looking car than the 1970
line-up of cars?"
Click here to read the
entire blog and comments!
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