Doc's Codicil
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When Wisconsin veterinarian Doc dies, his family and nephew learn that to inherit his fortune, they must decipher the cryptic codicil he added to his will—“Take Doofus squirrel-fishing”—and they can only do that by talking to Doc's friends, reading his book, searching through his emails and papers, and discovering the clues around them.
Doc’s Codicil is available in paperback, eBook, and audiobook format.
"Doc’s Codicil was the winner of the bronze medal for Humor in the INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards, 2015."
SBN 978-1-939371-83-6 (Paperback) ISBN 978-1-939371-84-3 (eBook) Humorous Family Life Mystery Publication date: October 21, 2015 |
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The Writing of Doc’s Codicil
Doc’s Codicil was my first novel. Started in 2006 and completed in 2015, it is loosely based on my years in large animal veterinary practice and a story my brother told me about a living nativity Christmas pageant that went terribly wrong. That story was too juicy not to use.
Doc’s Codicil is also based on Christmas letters I wrote. Each letter described the dumbest things I or my kids had done the previous year. Some letters still make me cringe. I once told my sons that they didn’t have to worry about making mistakes. I’d already made more mistakes than they were ever likely to make. A year later I told them that I hadn’t meant to imply that it was a contest.
All four of our children have attention deficit disorder. They were diagnosed while in grade school, but my wife and I weren’t diagnosed until 7 years after I left my veterinary practice. That’s my excuse for all the brainless actions and stupid situations described. If Doc does something asinine in the book, chances are it really happened. It’s also why I called the book fiction. I didn’t want to admit to what I’d done.
To provide an excuse for Doc’s (my) behavior, I invented the character Doofus for the book. Doofus became the patron fairy of wishful thinking and bad judgment. He was created during the second Iraq war, something I thought was a stupendously stupid endeavor, so I also made him a former presidential advisor. A thoughtful person will immediately see that Doofus and his propensity to “help” people explains much.
The year I attended my first Write by The Lake conference in Madison, WI, our smartest child (Josh in the book) had become an academic disaster. He gave up every time he hit a problem. Learning had been so easy for him that he’d never learned to study, and as classes became increasingly difficult as he grew older, he became terrified of failure. We didn’t understand what was going on, but it drove me nuts to see him give up on his dreams.
At least he had had dreams. His two older brothers’ only goal was to go to a college far from home. Beyond that, neither had a clue what he wanted to do with his life. When they had to fill out college applications, neither could decide on a major course of study. They’d still be dithering if I hadn’t filled that line out for each of them (I got one right, one wrong.) My frustration became the seed for the overarching plot of Doc’s Codicil: in your life, follow your dream. The path will not be straight or easy, but for God’s sake, work at it. It will be rewarding.
And that is why, without my knowledge or intent, my family became a major theme in the book. My family was Doc’s family. Even one of my aunts became “Gert,” a sage but curt source of counsel for Doc’s kids.
As I look back on my family life, the thing that stands out most in my memory is laughter. I hope the book brings a little of that into your life, too.
Doc’s Codicil is also based on Christmas letters I wrote. Each letter described the dumbest things I or my kids had done the previous year. Some letters still make me cringe. I once told my sons that they didn’t have to worry about making mistakes. I’d already made more mistakes than they were ever likely to make. A year later I told them that I hadn’t meant to imply that it was a contest.
All four of our children have attention deficit disorder. They were diagnosed while in grade school, but my wife and I weren’t diagnosed until 7 years after I left my veterinary practice. That’s my excuse for all the brainless actions and stupid situations described. If Doc does something asinine in the book, chances are it really happened. It’s also why I called the book fiction. I didn’t want to admit to what I’d done.
To provide an excuse for Doc’s (my) behavior, I invented the character Doofus for the book. Doofus became the patron fairy of wishful thinking and bad judgment. He was created during the second Iraq war, something I thought was a stupendously stupid endeavor, so I also made him a former presidential advisor. A thoughtful person will immediately see that Doofus and his propensity to “help” people explains much.
The year I attended my first Write by The Lake conference in Madison, WI, our smartest child (Josh in the book) had become an academic disaster. He gave up every time he hit a problem. Learning had been so easy for him that he’d never learned to study, and as classes became increasingly difficult as he grew older, he became terrified of failure. We didn’t understand what was going on, but it drove me nuts to see him give up on his dreams.
At least he had had dreams. His two older brothers’ only goal was to go to a college far from home. Beyond that, neither had a clue what he wanted to do with his life. When they had to fill out college applications, neither could decide on a major course of study. They’d still be dithering if I hadn’t filled that line out for each of them (I got one right, one wrong.) My frustration became the seed for the overarching plot of Doc’s Codicil: in your life, follow your dream. The path will not be straight or easy, but for God’s sake, work at it. It will be rewarding.
And that is why, without my knowledge or intent, my family became a major theme in the book. My family was Doc’s family. Even one of my aunts became “Gert,” a sage but curt source of counsel for Doc’s kids.
As I look back on my family life, the thing that stands out most in my memory is laughter. I hope the book brings a little of that into your life, too.
