He writes for the love of it

A story-teller by nature, this author find inspiration in childhood tales, By Aimee Henkel Wantage — Ofer Aronskind loved summer camp when he was a boy. His parents owned a camp in the Berkshires for many years, and every summer they came out from Queens, N.Y., to the mountains of Massachusetts. It was during these magical years that he collected dozens of memories he would later recount to his three young sons, Daniel, Jake and Joey. And when it was time for his sons to head off to summer camp, he wrote the stories down so they could take a piece of home with them. These stories were the basis of his first self-published book for young adults called “Summer Sleep Away.” Although Aronskind, (whose first name Ofer means “fawn” in Hebrew) pursued a career in real estate law, he had always wanted to be a writer. At first, he wanted to write screenplays. “I took a year between college and law school to try and sell my screenplay. I moved to Los Angeles and worked hard to get it produced, but it just didn’t work out. I moved back to New York and started law school at St. Johns, but I never stopped writing.” He met his wife while they both were attending St. John’s Law School in Queens, N.Y. They graduated together in 1989, and were married the following year. For years, Aronskind worked at the real estate law firm in New York City, while buying and selling real estate as a sideline. He continued to write short stories for fun. Then, in 1997, his wife was killed in a car accident. That changed everything for Aronskind and his family. “I quit real estate law so I could be home to raise my kids. I couldn’t go into the city anymore, so I worked at renovating real estate. My kids were the priority and I wanted to be there when they got home from school.” Being home with his children gave him more time to write, and he found he really liked writing for kids, especially stories that his sons could relate to. That first book, “Summer Sleep Away,” was more of a family project than a money-making endeavor, he said. His oldest son even contributed illustrations. Soon, two more books followed: “That Same Summer” and “Escape from Sunday School.” Just recently, Aronskind finished a fourth book, “The Celebrities of Summer School” and he’s hired an editor with a marketing background to help him find a publisher. “With the first books, I tried getting a publisher, but it’s a very involved process,” he said. “You have to submit query letters and chapters of the book, and it takes a lot of time. I just wanted to write, so I self-published with IUniverse, and that worked well for what I was trying to do.” Aronskind’s books can be found at Annie’s Bookstop in Wantage, on Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble.com.

It hasn’t been especially profitable but the work has other rewards. “I couldn’t buy a cup of coffee with the royalties from my books, but that’s OK. I just love writing.” Ofer Aronskind