Some people

set goals to lose weight or to run and finish a race. Jeff Martindale's

goal was to write and publish a book. He recently accomplished this goal

when his book "Random Thoughts: A Collection of Creative and Other

Writings" was self-published by iUniverse.com.

Martindale,

a Tennessee native and former Peachtree City resident, has always enjoyed

writing. Over the years he built up a vast collection of short stories,

essays, columns and poetry and he finally decided to publish those works

in a collection. His book features a number of stories set in the south.

The plots range from a man's internet chat with his deceased father to

a boy and his grandfather eagerly anticipating the first game of the new

baseball season.

"I am

very partial towards the easy-going, friendly aspects of a small town,"

said Martindale. The characters in his stories are average people dealing

with everyday problems and some of the characters and situations are autobiographical.

He had several of his short stories published in several on-line e-zines.

After amassing so many stories over nine years of writing, it only took

eight months to rewrite and edit his stories, find a print on demand service

and get his first book published.

Martindale

cites books like "To Kill a Mockingbird" and "The Catcher

in the Rye" among his favorite books and also favors authors like

Ernest Hemingway and John Steinbeck as well as more current authors such

as Michael Crichton and Stephen King.

Martindale

moved to Georgia in 1995 and got his MBA at the University of Georgia

in Athens. In 1996, he got an internship at Delta and eventually moved

to Peachtree City for several years.

"I loved

Peachtree City because it had a great small town feel and all the amenities,

yet it was still close to Atlanta," stated Martindale. Peachtree

City even makes a cameo in Martindale's next work. He is currently working

on a mystery novel that takes place in Atlanta and leads some characters

to Peachtree City for a short period of time.

"The biggest

challenge with the novel is the attention span," Martindale explained.

"It takes a lot of perseverance and dedication and it is challenging

to keep everything tied together."

Martindale

tries to write every day but admits it is sometimes hard to find the time

with a full-time job for Federal Express and spending time with his wife

and two small children. He is very proud of achieving his goal of having

his stories in print.

"It's

been a remarkable process. I never knew how hard it would be when I started,"

stated Martindale. "But the rewards have been tremendous. This is

a piece of me that will survive and perhaps one day my grandchildren will

be able to read what their grandfather wrote."

"Random

Thoughts" is available for purchase on-line at Amazon.com, Barnes

and Noble, Books-a-Million and Wal-Mart.

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