HIBBING — After hiking four plus miles through the woods north of Grand Rapids, Duane Schwartz and his wife, Betty, came upon a former resort, Joyce Estate, once owned by millionaire loggers from Chicago.
The unique property, located in the heart of the Chippewa National Forest, sparked an idea for a book.
“When we came onto the main compound of the estate and walked around the corner and saw what was left of the old resort, I could see this whole book right then,” said Schwartz, who lives in rural Bovey. “I went home and started to write. It took about three and a half years to write.”
Schwartz, who has always been a history buff, could picture a fictitious story involving mobsters during Prohibition days. Schwartz has always been fascinated by stories of Al Capone and John Dillinger and the Prohibition and Depression eras.
“Cobb’s Landing,” which is the title of Schwartz’s book, provided a safe haven from the gangster wars for organized crime leaders from Chicago during the 1930s. The retreat’s close proximity to Canada allowed for bringing in illegal booze.
One of the main characters, Jacob Bell, was from a town near Cobb’s Landing. Needing to put food on the table, Bell applied for a job there, even though there are rumors around town that gangsters own it. The story follows Bell’s life and the life of his grandson.
From business owner to writer
The Schwartzs owned a trucking company and traveled about 2 million miles in less than 10 years.
During their time on the road, they listened to countless books on tape. This got Schwartz, who has always been interested in writing, thinking about creating his own stories. He started writing short stories, which expanded into novels.
“It has been a long time dream, but I have always been way too busy,” he said.
“Cobb’s Landing” is Schwartz’s first published book. Now retired, he is currently writing two other books and spends 12 hours a day writing.
He described developing this story as a lot of fun and very hard work. He said the real challenge comes after the book is written with trying to get someone to publish it. It’s difficult receiving one rejection after another, he noted.
But Schwartz realizes that even famous authors, such as John Grisham and Stephen King, faced challenges with their first books. So he remained optimistic that a publisher would find the story captivating.
Schwartz was speechless when he received an email from a publisher who wanted to make his dream of being a published author a reality.
“I had to take it to Betty to read. I couldn’t talk,” he said. “She was tickled about it. She was my encouragement during the entire process. She must’ve read ‘Cobb’s Landing’ 30 times in different versions.”
Having the book in hand after publication was a magical feeling. From owning a restaurant to running a trucking company, Schwartz’s biggest thrill has been writing.
“It’s very exciting – it really is,” he said. “It’s one of the thrills in life.”
Schwartz described writing a book as creating “a whole new life.”
“You have your imagination and your ideas and you put them down on paper — that’s like one child being born,” he said. “When you get someone interested in it, it’s like another one. And then when it shows up in your hands, it’s like a whole new life. I don’t know how else to describe it.”
Interesting characters take over ‘Cobb’s Landing’
The best part of writing the book for Schwartz was developing the characters.
“To actually sit down at the computer and find out that they have a mind of their own, if you develop the characters well enough, was fascinating to experience,” he said. “I don’t know if every writer goes through this or not. I have a feeling they do. They find that the characters start writing the story.”
There were times the characters would go in a direction that Schwartz didn’t like, so he would have to straighten it out.
“You have to be like a parent and say ‘no, this is not where we are going,’” he laughed.
When asked what it would be like to be a character in the book, Schwartz responded, “I wonder sometimes if a writer isn’t all of the characters in the book, at least in his mind at one point or another.”
Schwartz said the story is relevant to a wide range of ages.
“Being a mob theme, there’s quite a bit of language in it, so you don’t want youngsters reading it,” he said. “Young adults to old guys like me would probably be interested in the theme of the book.”
Anyone who liked the F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel, “Great Gatsby” or the Godfathers series would most likely enjoy this book, he said.
His main goal would be that people enjoy reading it.
“That’s what I write for, and that’s what I hope people get out of my work,” he said.
A book signing will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16, at the Howard Street Booksellers in Hibbing. The book is available for purchase there, as well as from Click here and other online book stores.
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