Desiree DeCoste
Beaver Staff
Contractor by day, author by night.
For Mike Misevicius, becoming an author was always part of the plan. He just didn’t picture it being this soon.
The local owner-operator of All Star Builders & General Contracting had a plan to retire from his residential building company and live out his writing dreams.
The winter of 2012 changed those plans.
The local author’s contracting company had shut down for the winter months and with not much else to do he decided, why not?
His pen hit the paper, and he hasn’t put the cap on since.
Still operating his construction company, Misevicius has finished and published his first book with more already in the works.
With the preliminary release for his book Hearts of Men Nov.29 and a full scale release to come mid December, Misevicius is beyond excited and a bit nervous.
“This is all really new to me,” expressed Misevicius. “My expectations are really low and I’m just taking it one step at a time. It’s kinda neat because when you write a story it’s almost as if it doesn’t exist until someone else reads it, so this is giving it life which is nice.”
Having moved from Toronto with his parents when he was seven, Misevicius, at around five or six, would write jumbled up short stories and hide them and keep them under his bed.
“At a very young age, probably five or six maybe, I would write these jumbled up short stories and I would hide them and keep them under my bed,” said Misevicius “I had a very strong interest at a young age. But as I got older it sort of went away until about high school where in English class I started to enjoy creative writing again.”
For this local contractor, writing wasn’t always an interest but it ran in the blood line. Even with his mother making her living for a couple decades as a poet, he knew in public school he wasn’t a natural at writing.
“I always enjoyed writing in public school but I wasn’t a natural at it” Misevicius told The Beaver. “My mother is a poet and made her living for probably 15 to 20 years or a couple decades at least writing poems. I always watched her from afar and knew that one day I would write stories. I kinda always planned to do it once I was retired from my residential building construction company but plans changed and things happen for a reason.”
Thinking back on his time in English class, the local author had written a few stories which ended up being books.
“I was actually thinking about this story, Hearts of Men, and I actually wrote the first chapter in Grade 10 for a class project,” stated Misevicius. “I always thought I would elaborate on it one day because I had a lot in my mind about it. I wrote a few things in that English class that ended up being books, I’ve had these three stories in my mind for years and years and years so they were already written before I put them down on paper.”
The book, Hearts of Men, is a tale of seven unassuming, ordinary young men from all over North America. They awaken separately, one by one, in a vast, uncharted green wilderness. Disoriented and confused, they gradually stumble upon each other within the woods, and through their common plight, quickly grow close. Armed with newfound friendships and relentless perseverance, the group must endure immense fatigue, extreme hunger, psychological torment, and the unforgiving elements if they are to survive and unravel the mystery of where they are and why.
These men face unbelievable odds, as they travel the forest in search of freedom, truth, and justice.
For more information on ordering the book visit www.austinmacauley.com/us/book/hearts-men.