iUniverse author and musician Don Tolle discusses his memoirs, “For the Record”

iUniverse takes great pride in presenting Don Tolle, author of For the Record. Don’s exciting memoirs chronicle his career in the world of music, comprising a wide spectrum of working for a record company to becoming a recording artist himself.

For the Record is a memoir of my career in the music business that spans forty years, beginning in the pre-internet age of the 1970s, and continuing on up to the present. A time that included various stints as an artist, songwriter, promotion man for A&M Records, record producer, founder of my own successful independent record company, and music publisher. It’s been a fascinating career that has resulted in several number-one records, millions in sales, and touched most of the peaks and valleys in between.

I’ve never attended a writer’s workshop, or have a particular literary influence that I’m aware of.  But all writers and authors are influenced by what we read, and I’ve been reading books for as long as I can remember. In reality I’ve been writing all of my adult life, as a songwriter from my teenage years, keeping a daily journal through most of my adult life, and now as an author. All writing is drawn from the same well, and writing a book was a natural evolution for me. As a songwriter, I am keenly aware of the economy of lyric, the thrill of developing an inspired idea, and admirer of the well-turned phrase. This has no doubt had a strong influence on my writing style.

I have always felt that there was at least one book in me, but was stumped for years as to what it might be. The options seemed endless. About four years ago I had an epiphany. All things have a beginning and an end. “Your challenge is to begin, anywhere, about anything, and then follow the work. It will lead you to your book.” And that is exactly what happened. I had undertaken an ancestry search at the time, and was most fascinated about letters written by a few of my ancestors a century or more before. And so I began, first with a narrative about my childhood years on up to the time I entered the Navy in the latter half of the 1960s. It was a kind of record of my childhood and young adult experiences that I knew my daughter and grandsons would treasure. It also provided me with an opportunity to practice my craft and to jump-start my writing, which in time led me to write my memoir, For the Record. It took the better part of two years for me to write.

The most important message of my book is to believe in your dreams and follow your intuition, though outward appearances may sometimes suggest otherwise. Challenge and adversity will test your faith, but they are in reality an opportunity to achieve your heart’s desire. For only in measuring up to and overcoming the challenges that will surly come your way, will you achieve your dreams and fulfill your life’s purpose.   

iUniverse will be back with Part Two of this fascinating blog very shortly!