Leo Colson Who?

The Roaring Redwoods is published under my pen name Leo Colson.

The Colson is obvious isn’t it? C (for Charise) with Olson? I thought so.

The Leo is the cool part. So my Grandpa Leo is my dad’s dad. He was a wonderful grandpa to me. He passed in 1991 and his loss is still a void.

I used his name because I really think I got the writing bug from him. When I was in eighth grade, I needed some family history from his side. I just needed names and any dates he had. He wrote pages of anecdotes about relatives he remembered. It is typed on that lovely thin crinkly paper. With a typewriter!

Another time, he read a hunting story in a magazine and decided he could write up one his own stories. He was an avid hunter. Reader. Dog lover. Pipe smoker. He was also a pretty good cook. He showed me how to make curry beef one time and I wish I had written it down. I have never made it.

He built himself a desk and I happily received it after he passed. I use it everyday.

When I was about 20, I was trying to decide if I would move back to Texas or stay put in California. My Grandpa sat with me at the little kitchen table wedged in the kitchen and told me how he had wanted to be a Forestry Ranger and never did it. And if I would look back on staying in California and think “what if???” about Texas, then I should go to Texas.

And I did. (I also came back but never once regretted going for that 14 months.)

I have used his advice many times: “Will I regret not trying <insert riskier choice here>?”

And that led me to at least TRY this e-serial thing.

I like to think Grandpa would enjoy reading The Roaring Redwoods. And if he were still around, would be my coauthor. If none of that, I know he would approve me for trying.