"Riding the Memory Trail" by Landis Wade

– How much will you take for that?

We still have pictures of us posing on horses, all cowboy-like.

Landis Wade writes light-hearted legal thrillers, mysteries, and essays. He is a recovering trial lawyer and host of Charlotte Readers Podcast where he has conducted more than 500 author interviews. His recent novel–Deadly Declarations–has won ten awards, including Winner in the 2022 American Fiction Awards and the National Indie Excellence Awards in the mystery categories. In 2023, he released The Write Quotes series–8 books on writing that feature inspirational and practical quotes from 500+ author interviews in 33 U.S states and five countries. His essays have appeared in five earlier anthologies by the Personal Story Publishing Project.

Author’s Talk

Landis Wade

I’ve enjoyed writing personal stories for The Personal Story Publishing Project and the timing of the “Sooner or Later” prompt could not have been better for me. When I read the prompt, I was in the process of putting my house of 30 years on the market. Not sure I was ready for the act of downsizing and leaving our neighborhood, the prompt reminded me that sooner or later, it was bound to happen, so it might as well be while I still had some gas in my tank. 

It wasn’t until the young couple showed up at the yard sale that I found my way into the story I needed to write. It felt good to be a part of their beginning by gifting them objects as seemingly trivial but emotionally resident to me as a few cowboy hats. They were making memories. I was just a little further along the memory trail than them.  

Writing this story helped me deal with and make sense of a life-changing moment. It’s one of the reasons I’m drawn to write.—Landis Wade