About
William J. Davis Books
For readers who simply want to be entertained.
I love the solitude of writing, but when I’m out and about, I take after my Grandfather Frank and talk to everyone. Writing thrillers is an intensely visual process for me. I see each scene unfold while listening to soundtracks. Also, the genre allows me to mix action, mystery, and suspense into a story that drives readers to turn pages. There are a lot of novels and novelists out there, and I truly appreciate your taking the time to give my work a try. I hope you find it enjoyable and entertaining.
Interests
Photography
I took up photography in 2008 and jumped headfirst into the hobby. Thanks to the help of some fantastic photography courses and an increasingly growing collection of equipment, I challenged myself to visualize an image, find out how to make it, and see if I couldn’t get it done. When I started writing full time, photography was one of the hobbies I had to let go.
Sewing
Sewing started as a curiosity. Trapping and relocating small animals around the house was the thing that started me down the sewing path. I needed something to throw over the cage during transport, and old towels didn’t work out too well. With my stepmother’s help and the help of my friends at Hobby Lobby, I made a couple of cage covers, one of which was promptly torn to pieces by an incarcerated raccoon. I have since gone on to design and make increasingly complicated items and enjoy the process.
Research & Study
All of my novels have some kind of distant location or travel or historical aspect to them, so I’m always looking for and researching interesting locations and events. I’m amazed at all the information online and how deeply someone can dive into a subject without leaving their chair.
Mechanical Repairs
I enjoy learning how to do things; I may not be any good at it, but I do enjoy learning. Even though we live in a time where broken items are typically trashed and replaced, there’s no better feeling than fixing something. I fix lots of things and often spend a lot of time researching how something works, what can prevent it from running, and how to fix the problem. Just like baking bread, sometimes I’m successful and other times I’m not.
Bread Baking
Bread baking was something that always fascinated me. From something simple to fancy, the process can be as easy or hard as you like. I bought a bunch of books and equipment, learned and experimented, and for those of you who’ve tried baking bread, the loaf didn’t always turn out right. I persisted and got pretty good at it. I don’t have time to do much baking these days, but every Sunday dinner, I wish I did.
Politics
Following politics as a voter is an eye opening and mind opening endeavor for me. The very process of listening to the things politicians say while watching what they do is fundamental to exercising my own right to vote. To watch the interaction between who argue and debate issues is enlightening, given how dead set one side or the other holds fast to their beliefs at the expense of another. Everyone should educate themselves.
Shooting
Shooting or Marksmanship is something I took up a few years ago. My focus is on pistol marksmanship, and I’m pretty good. I studied, practiced, and improved. I don’t make it to the gun range very often these days, but shooting is something I enjoy.
Trapping
Trapping and relocating small animals is a hobby I fell into out of necessity more than anything. We like to feed the birds around here, but birds aren’t the only animals that pull a chair up to the Buffett. I’ve caught possums, squirrels, raccoons, armadillos, and my neighbor’s cat. Sometimes I make little videos of their release.