Former local news director publishes novel

SANDUSKY — Former WLEC-AM 1450 news director Jeff Wilkins said he's getting a good reaction so far to his first novel, "Watching the Asparagus Grow," which is set in a fictional Lake Erie resort during the 1960s and 1970s. "I've gotten about four or five reviews, and they have all been favorable," Wilkins said. "They said they could picture themselves growing up in that part of Ohio." Wilkins was the radio station's new director in the 1970s and left in 1978 to become a United Airlines flight attendant. He eventually co-owned bed and breakfasts in Maine and California and also co-owned a gay bar and restaurant in Cleveland, Over the Rainbow and Beauregards. Beauregards was the name of the restaurant inside the bar. He's now a snowbird who divides his time between Florida and Ohio. A psychic in Hawaii told him about three decades ago that he would write and publish a novel. "I was meditating, and I heard the words, 'Write the book'," Wilkins said. Wilkins obediently began writing and the words just flowed, he said. Wilkins describes his book as about a make-believe Lake Erie summer resort forced to adapt to social change brought by Black people and gays. The protagonist is a white person with a Black wife. Wilkins said he was closeted while working at WLEC but came out as a gay man when he started his flying career. "Things were very different back then. You just weren't out in a small conservative community unlike many gay kids today who come out at an early age," Wilkins said. "Looking back, it was the best thing I could have done for myself. Finally admitting the truth to my family and friends allowed me to be my true self. It was very freeing." Wilkins credits his travel experiences to giving him a new outlook. "After traveling to many different countries and meeting people from all walks of life, people of color, with different faiths and beliefs, I realized the world was not the same place as I had believed," Wilkins said. "Instead, I changed my view of the world around me and my perspective of others. It's something that has stuck with me ever since." Wilkins' books are available at the usual online bookstores such as Amazon and Barnes and Noble, in both print and ebook editions. The Kindle ebook only costs about $4. Wilkins said he chose to self-publish and found the process to be easy. "I hired a book editor from Cincinnati, an interior layout artist, and a New York cover design artist, Jerry Todd, who has designed covers for many James Patterson novels." An Amazon Ads specialist helped him with marketing. Wilkins said if the book does well, he'll bring his radio voice out of retirement to record an audiobook. "Who better to tell the story with the characters' voices than someone who has written the words, right?" he said.