Young looks 'Down Range' at his first two books

A local high school teacher has made the leap as a self-published author, writing two books in the past two years.

Jack Young, originally from Colstrip, is Harlem High School's social studies teacher. He said that in 2016 he began writing his first book over summer vacation.

He said that even as a child he dabbled in some writing and enjoyed reading, having a vivid imagination that created larger-than-life worlds.

Then, after teaching in Harlem for a number of years, he saw many students graduate, as well as some who have died, and made the decision to pursue writing, Young said.

"I got to thinking one day, what did they have on their list that they didn't get to do?" he said. "Mine was writing."

In 2016, he said, he had the initial idea for his first book and began to jot down what-ifs and who was in it, in addition to some early chapter outlines, then once the school year ended, spent the summer working on the first draft of what is now "Down Range."

The first draft ended up being two entire composition notebooks, he said. After that he decided to begin retyping the draft on his laptop, changing the story around, rewriting the beginning and expanding the story to create the second draft.

Young said the first and second draft for the book took all summer and once the second draft was good to go, he decided to start working on his second book, "The Wolf," so he could give his eyes a rest from the first story.

During the following school year he alternated between the two stories, writing every day to get them done, he added.

Once they were complete, Young said, he began submitting them, sending them off to agencies and publishers, but it was going nowhere. That was when he decided to self-publish his book using Amazon.

"I may have curbed the traditional route," Young said. "I'm not trying to make a million bucks off of it, I'm not trying to make that Stephen King kind of money. But it feels good. It feels good to have written them. It feels good to hear people say that they've enjoyed it."

He added that it is pretty cool to have the school year back in session and people asking for a copy of his book.

His first book, "Down Range," is a mystery novel about two U.S. Army veterans with a lifelong friendship, Mike and Tommy, Young said. Investigations of kidnappings and murder leads the main character, Mike, to become a person of interest, Young said.

"He's got a mess to deal with," he added.

But at Mike's side is his friend Tommy.

Young said after serving four years in the U.S. Army he learned a lot about the bonds made while in the service. He added that he was a crewman on the M1A1 Abrams Tank working as a loader, then a gunner.

The story is not autobiographical, he added.

He said he went another way with his second book, wanting a break from the characters from the first.

"The Wolf" is a story of revenge, he said. A boy's father is murdered, so he comes back on emergency leave from the military to find the man who killed his father and get revenge, but he doesn't know how to find him, Young said.

Young said the books are available at Havre Book Exchange-Emporium in the Atrium Mall, some local businesses in Harlem and at Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble's online stores.  

He is holding a reading at the Aaniiih Nakoda College library at 7 p.m. today, Young said, adding that he will be reading parts of his book and holding a discussion segment for questions.

Young said he plans to continue writing and, once the school year picks back up in full swing, can get back into the routine.

His advice to young writers, he said, is to keep writing. He said he doesn't necessarily have a word count, but tries to write every morning and every night and not be deterred. If what he writes isn't good in the morning, he'll come back to it that night or catch it in the rewrite, Young said.

"One of the things about writing is you have to do it every day or else you get into a rut of not doing it," Young said. "It's time-consuming, it takes away from a lot of other things, but I chose to go down that road and everyone around me has supported me. You gotta get the words down, gotta get that butt in the chair, gotta read a lot, gotta write a lot."