Joe

Biography

Joe Hinshaw grew up in Indianapolis Indiana. He was born during the civil rights period of our nation. Living through those turbulent times of the 1960s has left its indelible mark on his thoughts and the way that he sees humanity. He was introduced slowly to the family history. His earliest memory of it goes back to a family reunion in his prepubescent yours in a City Park in Lebanon Indiana. The memories of this event are very cloudy. The vision of a large tree on a big peace of white cardboard that was hand drawn is the clear surviving memory. He remembers tracing through its limbs until he could find his own name and see just what a large family it truly was. He remembers playing with family members who were mostly strange to him. Other than this one event he vaguely remembers going to his great Grandparents house one time while they were alive but at such a young age that he could not know now if it was real. He remembers meeting a great Aunt in Hendricks County Indiana that was purported to be over 100 years at that time. She had a small home in the country outside of North Salem Indiana. She spent the time they were together watching professional wrestling and yelling “Get Him” for this entire visit. In his teens his father received a letter offering a coat of arms and a book on the family. His father ordered one and about one month later it was received. The Arms were plastic and cheap but correct in its form. The book was not professional but had a lot of information in it. Out of boredom he picked it up and started to read it and follow the family tree once more. This began his interest and he decided then that he wanted to do a project of writing an historical fiction series based on the real stories of the family genealogy. His own family had been such a disappointment to him that he knew there would be some redeeming value to this process. His parents had been good people. There were dark areas with his siblings and some of the family that he would know. Through this he found that there were the characters that repeated themselves in each generation of his family. There were also those that interacted with the family that he would find in his own life from each generation. The stories are told with as much detail to history that he would find available to him. He would stay true to the stories themselves and choose his own path where multiple and differing possibilities would appear. The stories then have a fictional base to them to try to explain the possibilities of the events or reasons for some of these behaviors or migrations. The other element of the stories is pure fiction. This was added to make the stories cohesive and interesting. Even the fiction is based on possible scenarios that could be deduced or fabricated from the facts of the story. Either way, the reader should keep in mind that some of the stories are historically correct, some are from logical conclusions and some are pure fiction. He has also been a lifelong volunteer in children's and teen organizations coaching baseball, football, basketball, bowling, motocross, track and field and other sports as they arose. He was also a Cub Scout leader and later a Cubmaster and Scoutmaster of various troops. He worked as a substitute teacher K-12 and all levels for Special Education. His love of the outdoors and nature led him in other directions. Many of his writings turn to these fond days and conservation of nature and animals that are in danger of dire outcomes today. He has collaborated with some and worked alone on other projects. He does some of his own illustrating but his first books were illustrated by David Stuart Codling who is a friend and artist in the United Kingdom. Going forward he is open to all types of writing, collaboration and topics. He currently is writing on three series and various standalone books. I abhor arguing politics on line but have my own thoughts on current events and personalities. I think in this day that neither side will give an inch and those that wallow in the situations have long ago set their opinions in stone and will not change. I prefer to recognize this an agree to disagree and move on. it is in the writers chair that I have no argument and can put my own thoughts and beliefs on paper without argument. Truly I just want a better world in nature, humanity, politics, brotherhood and equality. My writings will reflect this unerringly I hope. I will end my first ever blog on this note and hope to stay true to it in the future.