Guide at Hoover Dam for 17 years 20+ year veteran of the US armed forces ( Air Force, Army + National Guard ) Disabled ( 2015 ) Wondered why there was not a modern book about Hoover Dam, read a couple of books about writing, couple of historical articles about WW1 battle of Belleau Woods, merged what I knew about the Colorado River flood of 1905 and the construction of Hoover Dam and just started writing a short story about all 3 time periods.

Didn’t realize how hard it is to write, didn’t realize until the novella was finally finished that the time periods are 13 years apart ( 1905, 1918, 1931 ) and that the chapters total 13, didn’t happen on purpose. Always liked history, thought I could weave a story around the events I knew something about. People before the Greatest Generation did some amazing work also.