First Line — All That Counts

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“I want to play goalie.”

Fittingly, this is the first line in my novel, All That Counts.

All That Counts is a novel I wrote under my given name. I didn’t want to confuse anyone who was familiar with the Frank Zafiro catalog. All That Counts isn’t crime fiction, but centers around hockey. Anyone who knows me beyond a very surface connection is well aware of my passion for the sport, and I occasionally slip it into my Frank Zafiro novels (I even wrote a Kopriva short story with a strong hockey backdrop for the mystery).

In this book, a middle-aged man and recreational hockey player named Graham Wilson is having a bit of a mid-life crisis, but instead of climbing Mt. Everest or getting a sports car or a 21-year-old girlfriend, he does something else.

He moves from skater to goaltender.

The story follows this transition, with all its humorous bumps and falls, as we also learn about his relationships with his teammates, an older goalie who mentors him, and his wife.

Despite all the focus on the hockey, the story really is about people and what is important in life. So if you love hockey, you’ll get your fill. If you don’t understand hockey, it’s explained. If you don’t like hockey, seek professional help.

But what about this first line? Honestly, while it isn’t lyrical or a punch to the gut (that would be an A+ line), it is perfect for this book. It tell you right away what is happening, and gets the ball rolling. I give it an A…. which is pretty odd, since I’ve graded my opening lines in this blog post series pretty hard. But I think this one works exactly the way an opening line should. It deserves an A.

You?

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Truthfully, there is a lot of real life in this book. Like Graham, I switched from skater to goalie. Never having played the position before, I experienced most if not all of the same tribulations he does in the book. I had a friend, Jim Brickey, who mentored me (there were others, too, but he did the most, by far). Many of the locker room and on ice antics that various characters do in the book were based on (or are flat out exactly) what really happened on different teams I’ve played on.

There are characters that are loosely (and sometimes closely) based on real people I played with or knew. The quotes at the beginning of each chapter are from hockey people (mostly) that I admire. I even gave him the last name after my grandfather’s middle name.

Yeah, there is a lot of me in this book.

That said, Graham’s story isn’t my story. It is his own. And even with all the real life basis for many moments in the story, All That Counts is still ninety percent fiction. That fiction allowed me to explore that question about what is important in life, what we should notice and care about.

I wrote this book when I was about forty. I’m fifty now. And I still think what Graham discovers when it comes to answering that question is pretty damn spot on. I’m glad I explored it, and I’m happy with the answer.

Plus, I got to write about hockey.

No the actual cup, but I couldn’t take a picture since I didn’t win it last week!