Veteran reporter turns talents to writing fiction

Since college in the 1960s, Texas native J.R. "Bob" Campbell has given a lot of thought to publishing a work of fiction. But until a move to Missouri last year, there wasn't much time for the veteran newspaper reporter to refine the thousands of words he wrote years ago.

Life, as it often does, got in the way of getting his biggest writing project off the ground.

"I just decided that if I was going to accomplish anything in literature it would have to be a lifelong effort," Campbell said of his first book, "The Byrds of Victory," which became available this spring as an e-book. In it are stories Campbell has carried with him beginning with a stint at a Colorado newspaper -- one of many in a 40-plus-year career as a reporter at about a dozen Texas and Midwestern media outlets.

Now a freelance writer for the Southeast Missourian, Campbell researches and writes stories covering local faith issues and church events, community news and entertainment. In today's paper, he wrote about the upcoming remote control model aircraft weekend. Recently, he has written about the scheduled tour of six Jackon churches, area automobile cruise-ins and the area's festivals and fairs.

Campbell landed in Cape Girardeau in 2013 when his wife, Ruth Campbell, took a position as the newspaper's education reporter. Unable to find a satisfactory full-time local journalism gig, Campbell turned his attention to his long-form creative writing skills and started editing and merging two novellas that make up "The Byrds of Victory."

Campbell has covered everything from politics, government, crime and courts to human interest stories, though his book pulls from smaller events in his own life, including wheat harvests and the character and experiences of his father.

"The Byrds of Victory" provides a first-person narrative of the World War II-era life of a West Texas Marine, blacksmith and union leader nicknamed Preacher in "I am a Freight Train," one of novellas. Preacher's son, Benny, is the main character in the second novella, "The Fields are Ripe for Harvest," which is told in a "classic, naturalistic style," according to the book's Ohio-based publisher, Price World Publishing, "through only what the characters do, say and experience."

The last name of the family in the book is Byrd. Victory is the fictional small-town Texas setting, reflecting the real town of Amherst, Texas.

While studying journalism in college, Campbell took English classes and began considering writing a book. Some time passed that included Campbell working for the Amarillo Globe-News in Amarillo, Texas, and a few wheat harvests. "Swath" was the title of the novella he wrote soon after, and that now has evolved into "The Fields are Ripe for Harvest," a title Campbell took from the Bible. Campbell's father was a Marine in World War II and, Campbell said, "an interesting guy. I used what he told me to write the book, and a lot of it I imagined."

During his years as a reporter, Campbell hooked up with a literary agent from New York who he said encouraged him to write another novella. "I Am a Freight Train," the section based on his father, came from that effort, although until recently, neither of the original manuscripts sold, Campbell said.  

Through editing and rewriting since coming to Missouri, Campbell merged the novellas into the two-part book. Now he is looking forward to seeing some success come from the e-book's release, he said. He also has had several short stories and poems published in addition to the book.

The book is available for purchase on iTunes and Google Play and for e-readers such as Amazon Kindle, Nook and Sony Reader.