Today we’d like to introduce you to Travis Tougaw.
Hi Travis, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’ve always known I wanted to be a writer. From a very young age, I’ve been drawn to stories and story-telling. I remember reading a Michael Crichton book as a teenager. I got to the last page and looked at the clock, and I was surprised to see it was 2:30 in the morning. I had no idea where the previous five hours had gone. And, I knew I wanted to give that type of experience to someone else. I majored in English in college and commissioned as an officer in the Air Force when I graduated. I continued writing, mostly essays and short stories, and read a lot of books about writing and went to writing conferences. While in the Air Force, I taught at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and I had the opportunity to work with other writers and people who loved the written word. That was a formative time for me.
My last assignment in the Air Force was a deployment to Afghanistan. I used some of my downtime there to write a novel. It was a spy thriller, about a photojournalist named Vince who helped an actress smuggle documents out of North Korea. I was proud of the way it turned out, but I never got any interest from agents or editors. Vince stayed with me as a character, though; I liked his commitment to justice and his willingness to take risks in pursuit of the truth.
By this time, I had a family and left the Air Force. I had less time for writing, though I still did some from time to time. I wrote a children’s fantasy novel that my boys enjoyed but that is pretty awful, if I’m being honest with myself. I also wrote the text for a picture book. I got a lot of interest in it, but nothing ever came to fruition. One agent told me she stopped “just short of falling in love with it,” so she couldn’t represent it. Another agent corresponded with me via email for weeks, asking questions and offering suggestions for revisions. Then, he ghosted me. I thought he wanted to represent the work, but I never heard from him again.
While that might not sound like success, the experience with the children’s book made me believe I could be a professional writer. I continued with various projects until the summer of 2021, when the U.S. withdrew its troops from Afghanistan. As I processed what the withdrawal meant and how successful the war had (or had not) been, I realized I needed to write about it. As I outlined the plot, I realized the main character needed to be someone of integrity who would doggedly pursue justice. I remembered Vince, from my first novel. I made him a little older and gave him a new job, but he was the perfect fit for what I wanted to write.
In 2022, Cindy Bullard of Birch Literary and I signed a contract for her to represent Foxholes, Vince’s new novel. In 2023, I signed a contract with Black Rose Writing (based in Texas) to publish Foxholes and two additional books in the series. And, this year, I saw the publication of Foxholes (January 2024) and Captives (June 2024), and Last Call will publish on November 7, 2024.
It’s been a long-time coming; it’s a good 30 years since my Michael Crichton moment. It’s been an incredible journey, and it’s opened a lot of doors for me to meet new people and get involved in an industry I’ve always admired.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
There are a lot of obstacles to becoming a published author. One is finding time to write. Most authors are doing their work as a labor of love, but it doesn’t pay the bills, so you’re doing it on top of a full time job, time with family, work in the community, and so on. For me, I had to dedicate an hour a day to writing after work and make sure I stuck to that schedule. But, I couldn’t get to that schedule until my children had gotten older. I discussed some of the other obstacles before, but one thing that always strikes me about publication is that you have to find the right people with the right manuscript at the right time. My agent closed to new submissions shortly after I signed with her; had I waited another month to start sending Foxholes out, we likely never would have formed a partnership.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I write mystery/thriller novels. That’s the genre that I like to read the most, so it’s what I gravitate to naturally when I write. When I started writing Foxholes, I knew it had a military element to it, but I didn’t want it to be a typical military thriller. I wanted to tell it from the perspective of an ordinary guy who ends up in extraordinary circumstances. I didn’t want Vince to be a super-soldier or someone who could kick down doors and intimidate people into telling the truth. I wanted to see what would happen if I gave him a desk job as a paralegal and had him make mistakes during his investigations. Just an average guy who is able to achieve something because he doesn’t give up and he’s willing to try anything. I’m very proud of the way that novel turned out and the way that it set up the rest of the series. Admittedly, that’s not for everyone. (One early reviewer didn’t like Vince because he’s dependent on other people.) Some people like superhero-esque characters. For me, I like seeing what happens when a person like you or me gets the opportunity to achieve something incredible, despite their lack of superpowers.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I was (and am) incredibly introverted. I’ve always liked learning things and solving puzzles, which is part of what draws me to writing. I also grew up in a military family; we moved a lot. I went to eight different schools from kindergarten through my senior year. I spent a lot of time as a “new kid.” That meant I spent a lot of time in my own head, in worlds that I would create. I also learned to listen to other people’s stories and find ways that we could connect. Beyond writing, I also loved playing basketball (though I was never good at it), and for a while during my teenage years, I had a keen interest in politics, though I outgrew that over the years.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://travistougaw.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/travistougaw/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084872761573
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/tb2gaw
- Other: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Travis-Tougaw/author/B0CJTCYXGX
