About the Author William M. Vasquez was born on the west side of Chicago in 1950 to Augustine and Beverly Vasquez, he became one of 14 children. His family later moved to the Pilsen area of Chicago in 1958, on the near southwest side. He grew up in the area. He attended St. Rita High School. In 1966 he transferred to and later graduated from Cathedral High School in 1968, on the near north side area of Chicago. Soon after his graduation, he was a finalist in the Chicago Sun-Times “Father of The Year Writing Contest” honoring his father. He attended Loop College for 1 1/2 years. He married his first wife, Maria in 1970 and had 3 sons with her. In 1978, he moved his family to Romeoville. He workedat Stateville Penitentiary in the I.T. Department. While working there he took to his yellow legal pad at lunchtime to write “The House on St. Louis Street”. It was his first attempt at writing. His marriage dissolved and they divorced in 1983. Bill was awarded custody of his 3 sons. He took his job as a computer consultant to allow him to move with his sons, from state to state. They lived in Ohio, Central Illinois, Texas, Wisconsin, Chicago and Florida. In 1985, he wanted to write again. However, he couldn't think of any more monsters or creatures to invent. A friend told him that he knew what heartache was, so why not write about it in a love story. While working in Springfield, Illinois at Horace Mann Insurance Company; he took to his yellow legal pad and began writing “Love’s Bouquet” during his lunch and break times. A female co-worker read each page as he finished it. He was encouraged by her comments up to its completion. "Love’s Bouquet” was his first attempt on a novel. He remembers a lost love when he was a teenager. His broken heart gave him the idea of “Love’s Bouquet”. In 1990, after a F5 tornado hit his apartment complex in Will County Illinois; he married a second time, to Maria from Colombia, while visiting there. He again took to “Love’s Bouquet” and made some changes. In 1995, while living in Florida, he divorced a second time. She had become a citizen, petitioned her mom to be with her. Now, she wanted to be free. In 1998, he copyrighted and placed “Love’s Bouquet” in a storage box and there it remained. Late in 1998, he met and married Angelina Magsanay in the Philippines. His father had told him of stories about the Philippines, while he fought in WWII there. Bill fell in love with the Philippines. He wrote again. This time he wrote love poems and got back into the writing mode. He wrote and copyrighted the short story, “Monique and the Angel”. Angelina enticed him to write again. She encouraged him to make more changes to “Love’s Bouquet” and get it published. By 2003, he finished it. In 2004, they welcomed the birth of his 4th son, Philip Augustine (Auggie). Publish America accepted his novel and it was published in 2004. In 2008, Bill returned to the Philippines to raise his son there. One month later, his wife told him that she wanted a divorce and wanted to date one of his friends in Florida. She said that she never loved him and only wanted him for his money and come to America. Sadly, “Love’s Bouquet” was not the money maker she thought. Dejected, he gave all his love to his son. He stood in the Philippines for 5 months, lonely and dejected. In May of 2008, an aunt coerced him to attend a local Fiesta, while a cousin watched Little Auggie. There he thought of a story and began to write “Jheyza (Eternal Filipina Love)”. Each day, as he waited for Auggie outside the school in Macrohon, he wrote the novel on yellow legal pads. Auggie enjoyed attending preschool at St. Joseph school. He returned to America in October, with his son; leaving the manuscript on the island of Leyte. He came out of retirement and worked in the Chicago area and Madison, Wisconsin. The novel sat for 2 years. In 2010, he returned with his son to retire on Leyte Island. He was able to retrieve his 70% completed manuscript. Later in 2011, he finished the novel and after getting it copyrighted, he had it published with Publish America. Mr. Vasquez stood in the Philippines for the next 10 years. Sadness and heartbreak of another kind hit Mr. Vasquez. In 2017, he flew to Florida to be with his eldest son, who was dying of Colon cancer. His son died and was buried on Oct 13, 2017. Also, Publish America closed down. Mr. Vasquez married again, but like all his marriages, once the woman got what she wanted from him, she left him. They split ways in 2019. Mr. Vasquez planned to return to America after his son graduated high school in 2020. However, 1 month before graduation, COVID hit the world. Mr. Vasquez and his son were in lock down in Cebu City for a little over a year. The city had a curfew for those under 21 and over 60, to remain in lock down or be arrested. Mr. Vasquez and his son found Mr. and Mrs. Marikit and their married daughter Mrs. Ubod. Since he and his son could not go out, they did all the errands for them. They bought his groceries, gas, medications and even ran their clothes to the laundry. He treasures them as great friends, he will never forget. Yes, he paid them for the chores they did, but he got to know them as family. In June of 2021, the government opened flying to America, for 4 weeks. Mr. Vasquez and his son quickly returned to the States. He settled in Texas where the eldest living son lived. Of course, with Mr. Vasquez and his son, they brought Amber. Amber was a brindle dog that was found as a puppy abandoned under a bamboo hut on Leyte Island. With her sorry puppy eyes, he fell in love with her and couldn't leave her behind, when they moved to Cebu City. When it was time to return to America, he couldn't leave her in the Philippines. Today she lives with Mr. Vasquez and his son in Texas. Amber is forever loving and faithful to the family. The bleak life of Mr. Vasquez now has a little happiness. After years of legal hurdles, he has his copyright writings back, he will work with Amazon to have them re-published. Knowing how he has a sad life with many heartaches, we know Mr. Vasquez can use it to tell more great love stories. His desire is to continue to write stories, that might also include the Philippines. His favorite authors are Harold Robbins and Laura Ingalls Wilder. Robbins for the action and true to life; Wilder for the easy-to-read prose. We wish him luck and wait for his stories. Read more about this authorRead less about this author