You might be wondering how 30-year pool veteran Rudy Stankowitz, who teaches training seminars all over the world, found the time to write his debut novel, "Blades of Glass."
"Discipline, discipline, discipline," says Stankowitz. "If you want it bad enough, you have to make time for it."
He first started the project in 2008 with just two chapters. Fast forward six years and his wife, Joy, stumbled upon the unfinished manuscript. He reread what he had saved, and it seemed better than he remembered. So, with his wife's encouragement, Rudy dedicated at least an hour every night, whether at home or in a hotel room, to completing the draft. He spent another year on the rewrites until finally, he was happy with the finished product.
"I wanted everything to be perfect," says Stankowitz. "This is really a book that came exceptionally close to not being a book at all."
RELATED: New Book Celebrates the Beauty of Luxury Pools
As a self-proclaimed horror fanatic, it's appropriate Rudy's debut novel falls into the psychological thriller/ horror genre. The book is about a man named Darius who suffers from a rare identity disorder that has given him an insatiable thirst for blood. He goes on a murderous rampage, and the police of Lewisville coin him the "Lewisville Vampire."
Meanwhile, an emergency room nurse, Willow, believes she has seen the murderer's face, but her sanity — after being diagnosed with work-related PTSD — is questioned by authorities. When she finds out her blood type is next on the list, she seeks to restore her credibility and identify the killer before it's too late.
The book is getting great reviews online, with a 4.8 out of 5-star rating on Amazon. "I was locked right in from the start," says one review. "I could not put this book down," says another.
A sequel is also on the horizon. "I've gotten a few dozen requests for a sequel," says Stankowitz. "I'd like to give it a shot."
