Today we’d like to introduce you to Russell Cowdrey.
Hi Russell, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
One of the biggest factors in how my life’s journey has gone can be laid at the feet of my mother. Her love of reading and her insistence that I learn to read at a very young age transformed me into a dreamer. When I was six, she told me to pick out two book clubs to join. I chose the science fiction/fantasy and history book clubs. I’ve had a love affair with both ever since, and this love has come full circle in what I am doing today.
Reading about ancient civilizations or exploring new worlds with Author C. Clarke or Tolkien helped me dream about and try to understand the broader world in ways that were different from my peers in the small Texas town I grew up in. It was my need to understand history that led me to expose myself to a lot of ideas and thoughts that have stuck with me my entire life.
By the time we covered Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘I Have a Dream’ speech in school, I already believed that his vision was the way the world worked. Little did I know that we still had a way to go to make it a reality, but that speech and my idealistic belief in the truth of it changed the trajectory of my adult life.
For college, I attended Texas A&M. The plan; get a degree in computer science and another in aerospace engineering. Why? To build the coolest toys I could imagine. There was one problem. My lack of advanced math skills.
I graduated with a BS in Computer Science and began a career as a software product manager, bringing new software to market. None of them were games or toys, but at least I was using my imagination.
Right out of college I got married. While driving down 35 one day, we saw a billboard looking for parents to adopt kids in foster care. We went to investigate, thinking that we would adopt one child while we were young and full of energy.
But, because we were so young, CPS made us become foster parents first.
Over the next three years, my Ex and I fostered twenty-five children. When you become aware of just how many children are in the system and how many will never have the stability of a forever family, you begin to think about more than one. That led us to adopted six of the twenty-five children. Our adopted kids ranged in age from four months to thirteen. We would later add two birth children to the family.
Going down this path has been the biggest blessing and challenge of my life. I could, and probably should, write a book about adoption and raising a multi-racial family, but I will offer those considering the foster-to-adoption path my two best pieces of advice here.
First, you must be willing to give of your time, your money, and your heart with the understanding that your efforts may never be acknowledged or appreciated by your children.
Second, it is not your job to make your children successful. With so many children, especially children that come from special circumstances or have special needs, your job is to give your children opportunities. Their job is to take advantage of the chances they are given.
If you can do the first, you have a good chance of facing the challenges that will come. If you understand the second piece of advice, you can hold onto some dreams of your own.
Our two oldest had graduated high school and were out of the house when our marriage failed. In an instant, I became a single dad with custody of six kids at home. During the transition, my next two oldest gave me ulcers. I bring up all this turmoil to demonstrate that I did the best I knew how but I was far from perfect.
While a single dad, I would meet the love of my life and later marry her. For the past twelve years, we have raised her son and my four youngest boys. During that time, I started one and then a second software company trying to bring some of my bolder visions to life. Both, for different reasons, would fail to make it to market.
During the shutdown, I discovered Kindle Unlimited and many of the amazing self-published authors out there. Inspired by their success, I decided to transition from a full-time technologist to an author. I still consult, but with the support of my amazing wife, I have been working hard for the past two years to make this new dream a reality.
Today, I am happy to announce that my debut novel: Ancient Civilizations, book 1 of the Lamentations and Magic series is now available to purchase on Amazon. The book was officially published on February 20th.
I set out to write a fast-paced Indiana Jones meets Stargate type of adventure with lots of archaeology and history. I believe I succeeded with one unexpected twist. As I wrote the book, its underlying theme became a story about a man, a woman, and an orphaned teenager that somehow form a family in the middle of the most amazing adventures.
I’m excited for this next chapter of my professional life, but just as excited to see how my family continues to grow.
All the kids are doing well, and some better than I ever dared to hope. Just last week, my oldest son, a giver of ulcers, got married. Two of my daughters are married with two kids each, and my two sons with special needs live mostly independent lives. They share an apartment near work while our three youngest boys are finishing college. The next thirty years should be interesting.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar, what can you tell them about what you do?
For twenty-plus years I worked as a software visionary, conceptualizing new products, managing the software development process, and marketing the products I helped to create.
Today, I still consult in those areas as well as cyber security, but I am working hard to become a full-time author.
My debut novel, ‘Ancient Civilizations – Lamentations and Magic book 1’ is currently on pre-order on Amazon and will be published on February 20th of this year. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.co.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
I love that Dallas offers every kind of cultural experience you might want. I love that my suburb of Dallas has a small-town close community feel, but that I can drive 25 minutes and get to all those big-city experiences.
Pricing:
- e-book 5.99 : https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BSBNNQJ4
- Paperback 16.99
- Hardback 24.99
- Consulting $150/hr
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.russellcowdrey.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/russellpcowdrey/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100086457739789
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-cowdrey/
