Writing a novel was the furthermost from my mind during my career working in the clinical laboratory in a large university teaching hospital where I learned the skill of technical writing. It was a skill necessary to perform my job. I designed and wrote technical manuals and saw several projects published in the scientific literature. During the process I experienced the thrill of seeing my name in scientific print and learned all too well the pain of rejection. During a trip through North Dakota, I was stopped by a high railroad bridge that passed over a river and town. Valley City was the perfect setting for a story. I subscribed to the newspaper; I talked with the locals, listened to the radio, studied the landscape and watched the weather. I knew more about their town than my own. I couldn't hide my enthusiasm. Friends couldn't understand my interest in a far away place where I had never lived and didn't know a soul. It was weird. I was working on a story and nobody knew it but me. I took on the railroad, pawed through the legal system, got into the heads of the locals, and unrelentingly pestered the farmers, basketball coaches, music teachers and even the funeral director.  I talked to state officials in Bismarck. I talked to folks in Fargo. When the town was evacuated and threatened by a flood, I didn't sleep at night until I learned the town survived. This story is about surviving. There are many characters spread out from Seattle to the Twin Cities. They all converge on Valley City. Bridge Over the Valley is embedded in North Dakota but is also a compelling modern day American story with wide appeal to all fiction readers.