Tom E. Sechrist's Web Site

Read a Sample Chapter from 'The Stones of Snamuh'

Date of Birth: March 5, 1965 in Dalhart, Texas.
Age: 36
Height: 5'11"
Weight: 180 lbs.
Hair: Black with a touch of gray at the temples
Eyes: Blue-green
Marital Status: Wonderfully, blissfully and happily married for 17 years to his wife, Angie.
Children: Johnathan (16) and Nikkie (13). Smoke Dawg (Tom's three year old black lab.)
Occupation: Maintenance Technician/Author.
Residence: Sulphur Springs, Texas (about 80 miles northeast of Dallas).

Tom graduated from Mt. Vernon High School, Mt. Vernon, Texas, in May of 1983. In August of that year Tom began his freshman year at East Texas State University (now known as Texas A & M, Commerce) majoring in Music/Drama with a minor in business administration. In 1984 a dorm room fire, a broken hip and a drinking problem persuaded him that it was time to move back home, get his head together and figure out what he wanted to do with his life.
During his year and a half stay at E. T. S. U., Tom met Shon Anjennette (Angie) Perry. To say that their relationship got off to a rocky start would be an understatement. By their own admission, Tom and Angie, when they first met, literally could not stand one another.
After Tom's return from his wild days of college life, he and Angie began dating off and on. Tom would pursue Angie, receiving a very cold reception for his efforts. Tom would grow tired of the chilled reception to his advances and would move on. About this time, Angie would become interested in Tom and began pursuing him, receiving much the same cold reception that she had given Tom.
This back-and-forth, cat-and-mouse game consumed the greater part of the first 18 months of their relationship until finally, despite their seeming incompatibility, they were married on October 21, 1984.
Their first child, Johnathan was born on June 19, 1985 and their daughter, Nikkie, was born on April 12, 1988.
Tom has held many occupations in his life, which include convenience store clerk, machine operator, Disc Jockey, News Director, plumber, electrician and currently he is a Maintenance Technician for a major dairy products production facility.
Writing has been a passion within Tom since the age of 13. As a boy he was cursed with a short and violent temper, which would cause him to lash out when he was angry in such ways as punching walls, brick columns, etc. It was then that a speech teacher took him aside and suggested that instead of punching something, why didn't he try writing a short story about whatever had angered him. Tom began writing very violent short stories about various incidents and/or people who had angered him. In these early short stories Tom found that the act of creating a story and writing it down appealed to him and he began expanding on the core of those initial short stories until complete novel-length manuscripts were produced and a release was found for his temper, not to mention a way of gaining control over it.
Having a short and violent temper was not the only curse young Tom suffered. He was also plagued with a severe inferiority complex so most of his writing was kept secretly tucked away for 23 years. He was so sure that his writing was terrible that he dared not let anyone else read his works.
So Tom continued to write simply because he enjoyed writing, but he never entertained any thoughts of becoming published despite encouragement from his wife and other family members.
In April of 1998 he began writing "The Devenshire Chronicles", his first attempt at a true Fantasy/Adventure story. Very early on in the writing of the manuscript Tom knew that this project was different from all the other novels, short stories and plays that he'd written before. As Tom said, "There was something different about "The Devenshire Chronicles". Something about it 'clicked', it 'felt' right. I knew, very early on, that this manuscript would be the one I would use to answer two questions that had haunted me for 23 years: "Am I good enough? Do I truly have 'the gift'?"
In February of 2001 Tom got his answer. Crossroads Pub.com accepted the manuscript of "The Devenshire Chronicles" Book One: "The Stones of Snamuh" for publication as an e-book.
What is the one single piece of advice Tom gives to any new, aspiring author?
"Never give up. Never stop trying…ever. You aren't beaten until you beat yourself by giving up. Believe in yourself because if you don't? No one else will either."