What, Why, How: A. B. Funkhauser

WHAT?

I didn’t ask for things to work out the way they did, I just allowed myself to follow my nose and it led me to:

Careers in:
Politics; The Auto Lobby; Mortuary Science; Writin’ Books That People Might Want To Read.

Life on:
Planet Earth, by the lake (Ontario), not far from Detroit, Michigan (home of the finest annual classic car show in the world ‘The Woodward Dream Cruise’), in the shadow of Toronto’s CN Tower.
Liking:
Mocumentaries like the incredibly fine WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS (Google it);

CBC Radio One which features all music genres throughout the day beginning with pop for the morning drive and then classical for the mid day write;

Writing novels with the late Hunter S. Thompson on one shoulder and the late Kurt Vonnegut on the other;

Stalking deer in the woods…with my camera;

Cooking pasta with cool seasonings like cardamom.

Wishing that:
Dandelions grew somewhere else;

My cat could talk;

Nicky didn’t die in the last act of The Deer Hunter;
The Chevy Nova would come back, retro body fully intact;
The 69 GTO would come back, retro body fully intact;
Fellow fliers would stop lugging suitcases aboard as carry on (these hurt when they fall out of the overhead baggage compartment).

HOW?

With perseverance and an unshakable belief that I was on the right track even in times when I wasn’t and then pulling a hat trick to make it all right;

By not minding when things went wrong and loving it when they didn’t;

Through knowing the exact moment when it was time to leave and then doing so promptly and without drama;

Knowing there were no second chances, only a continuum that allowed me to make adjustments as I moved along;

Recognizing when I had what I wanted; and,

Permitting myself to enjoy the moment.

WHY?

The why of it is rooted in basic existence:  we’re here.  The rest is up to us.

A.B. Funkhauser is a funeral director, classic car nut and wildlife enthusiast living in Ontario, Canada. Like most funeral directors, she is governed by a strong sense of altruism fueled by the belief that life chooses us and we not it. “Were it not for the calling, I would have just as likely remained an office assistant shuffling files around, and would have been happy doing so.” Life had another plan. After a long day at the funeral home in the waning months of winter 2010, she looked down the long hall joining the director’s office to the back door leading three steps up and out. At that moment a thought occurred: What if a slightly life-challenged mortician tripped over her man shoes and landed squarely on her posterior, only to learn that someone she once knew and cared about had died, and that she was next on the staff roster to care for his remains? Like funeral directing, the writing called, and four years and several drafts later, Heuer Lost and Found was born. What’s a Heuer? Beyond a word rhyming with “lawyer,” Heuer the lawyer is a man conflicted. Complex, layered, and very dead, he counts on the ministrations of the funeral director to set him free. A labor of love and a quintessential muse, Heuer has gone on to inspire four other full length works and over a dozen short stories.

Her novels: Heuer Lost And Found, Scooter Nation, The Heuer Effect, Poor Undertaker, Dirty Dale. The Shorts: The Essential Heuer, Jack Bunny and the Rocket Man, Turd Meets Rock, Cassarine, Terra Nova, Ursa Major, Hey! Birdy, Birdy, The Hagfish Conundrum, Mutual of Omaha, Cheetahs in Flight, Lady Predator, and more…

 LINKS

Blog: abfunkhauser.com
Twitter: @iamfunkhauser
Facebook Author Page: Heuer Lost and Found
YouTube Channel: A. B. Funkhauser
Amazon Author Page: A. B. Funkhauser
Goodreads: Heuer Lost and Found
Geo Buy Link: http://myBook.to/heuerlostandfound