Religious experience inspires novel

Sidney Frost is living proof that anything's possible. At 73 years old, he currently holds the title of Austin Lyric Opera singer, worldwide traveler, ex-Marine, devoted husband, Austin Community College computer science professor, and Elder at his church. And, with the recent publishing of his first novel , he can now add ‘novelist' to the list.

 "One day, my pastor said something about us having dreams about things we want to do, and he told us to just go ahead and do it, just try it and see what happens. I felt like that was enough to do it," Frost said.

In 2006, he began taking online writing courses through Writer's Digest, and four years later, was nearing the completion of his first novel.

Where Love Once Lived, a fictional Christian romance novel, follows lives of Brian and Karen and their journey to reignite their love with each other and, ultimately, God. Former students at the University of Texas at Austin, the college sweethearts experience a period of separation when Brian mysteriously leaves town for 30 years.

"He comes back to Austin looking for that feeling that he had before – that feeling of love and all. But it turns out that what he's missing is the love of God, and that's what he finds," Frost said.

Frost, who, like Brian, grew up in Austin and attended UT, drew inspiration from his own life experiences to develop the characters and themes depicted in the novel.

"When Brian finds out his mother has Alzheimer's, he drives up to his church and he sits out in the parking lot and learns how to pray again. That really happened to me," Frost explains.

Published last August, Where Love Once Lived has been deemed an instant success. In 2007, it won first place in the inspirational and spiritual category of the Southwest Writer's Contest and first place in the romance category of the Writers' League of Texas Contest.

And it's no wonder; Frost's knack for writing came to him at an early age.

"All through high school and college, I knew I had a talent for writing. I'd write term papers for my friends. On the aptitude test, I always scored high on the writing part, but the counselors would say, ‘You're not going to make any money doing that' so I was looking for some other career. I tried lots of different things until I found computers, and I've been doing that ever since," he said. "But I always had a feel for writing."

Fans of Where Love Once Lived can expect several sequels to the book, which Frost says he has already begun working on.

His second novel, Vengeance is Mine, is in its final edit and will be released soon. A brief synopsis of it can be found on his website, sindeywfrost.com.