William Altmann
Bio
I've been an engineer. It's provided me with travel to many places and stories of people. That, with my passion for history, have given me many stories to write. And I do love to tell stories! I have written 17 books since early 2020.
Stories (20/0)
Climbing with Dad
I remember two mountains I climbed with my dad. The first time I wondered how on earth I’d make it to the top. The second time I didn’t break a sweat at all. They were both long climbs. I guess it depends on what you’re doing while you put one foot in front of the other.
By William Altmann2 years ago in Families
Drawing Us Out
My dad was a mechanical engineer. He was an award-winning mechanical engineer who worked his entire career for one company – the paternalistic era of Eastman Kodak Company. What does this have to do with my favorite bedtime story? Well, let me tell you…
By William Altmann3 years ago in Families
Powerful Stories
Stories. They are what powers me. Stories I write and stories I read, but mostly the former. I get the juices going when a story comes to mind, then scurries around in there for a few days, then jumps out onto the page. It lands there and then looks back at me – right in the eye. Sometimes it sneers, sometimes it grins, sometimes it laughs or even giggles. Then it hides, under the top of the paper, waiting for someone to come and tickle the first words back to life.
By William Altmann3 years ago in Humans
Horizontal Hopes
I’d been climbing that damned hill nearly every day for two years. Sometimes I found things to eat along the way, but usually getting to the top was the best I could do. I had tried to climb in the morning in order to avoid the rain, but not too early else all I would see would be mist.
By William Altmann3 years ago in Humans
Shoulder Ship
I only caught a glimpse of it that first time, in the cafe. When I’d handed him that latte, he had turned away to go to the front door, and there it was, on his right shoulder. A beautiful sailing ship, crashing through waves, indomitably exploring the ocean’s unknown reaches.
By William Altmann3 years ago in Confessions
Hibernation
“Hibernation? You call this ‘hiberation’?” My sister was visiting from the frozen north. She used the term as if it should be in all caps. Or maybe even a country of its own. She had come down here to central Texas for a bit of relief. Lucky for both of us that she didn’t come down last month. Her eye-rolling was about the limit of what I could deal with whenever the topic of Texas and cold came up.
By William Altmann3 years ago in Families