Publishing, on the other hand, is a different kind of exposure, more scary in some ways and definitely outside his comfort zone. After all, teaching, though certainly his most important dream, is well inside his comfort zone by now. His students enjoyed the stories so much that they actually looked forward to grammar tests-and they scored higher on the semester grammar final than any of his previous classes! Their response to his writing made Bill wonder if there was a way to find time to write and still be the kind of teacher he wanted to be.Īnother force pulling Bill in the direction of writing has been (ironically) teaching, particularly his consistent advice to students to get outside their comfort zones and follow their dreams-advice he realized was somewhat hypocritical if he wasn't following it himself.
In some cases he got so caught up in the writing that he stayed up all night to finish the material. A few years ago a particular group of students inspired him to create grammar tests in the form of short stories, with the students themselves as characters. By that point, the increasing demands of teaching kept him from pursuing writing as actively as he would have liked, but his impulse to write continued to poke him from somewhere in the back of his mind. From high school on, he wrote short stories, a little poetry, and an earlier novel, finished in 1982. (It's a good thing that doesn't make him feel old-much!) Bill also sponsored the high school's literary magazine from 1992 until June of 2012, which gave him the opportunity to work with a number of young aspiring writers.Īlthough teaching has been and remains Bill's first love, he has also been drawn to creative writing of various sorts. (As a novelette, “Echoes from My Past Lives” will take an average reader about half an hour to an hour to finish.)īill Hiatt has been teaching English at Beverly Hills High School since 1981-long enough for some of his current students to be children of his former students. Either way, it’s a great read for someone wanting a quick dose of fantasy. “Echoes from My Past Lives” is a prequel to Living with Your Past Selves that will keep you enthralled whether you are a fan of the previous novel or are entering the world of Tal Weaver for the first time. What if his hallucinations are actually unprecedented echoes from his past lives? And what if the only way back to a normal life is to put his trust in someone who claims to be one of his past selves? Is this stranger in Tal’s own head really a past life version of Tal? And, if he is, does he really mean to restore Tal, or to take Tal’s life for his own?
Then one of the voices in Tal’s head begins to have a conversation with him, and Tal begins to wonder if there are worse things than being insane.
Tal begins to wonder if his life will ever be normal again. Hospitalization and treatment don’t help. Suddenly, he sees things that aren’t there, feels events, mostly painful and violent, that are not actually happening, and even hears voices no one else can. Coming of age can be tough under the best of circumstances, but as Tal Weaver discovers, it is even harder when you think you are going insane.
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