A Novel Approach: Meet a real motor noter

BURNABY, B.C. — When Lee Wood is not hauling trailers, he’s thinking of story ideas for his next novel.

The veteran truck driver from Burnaby, B.C., released his first novel on Amazon.com in 2010. The book, Fero, is a historical fiction about an Irish youngster in the mid-19th Century who finds himself in the British Royal Navy.

"It took me a couple of years to write," he says. "And it took years to get it published."

It was a labour of love, he says, and he’s currently contemplating a sequel.

"I really enjoy writing. If I could make enough money doing it, I would stay at home and do it," he says.

For now, though, he’s paying the bills with trucking. He wrote the novel on the side, while holding down a full-time job moving film equipment and personnel for Teamsters Union Local 155 in Vancouver. He says the best time for him to work on story ideas is after several days out of the driver’s seat. 

I found out there was more money to be made behind
the camera than in front of it, says trucker-author Lee Wood

"When I (first) get off the road, the only thing I want to do is sleep," he says. "When you’ve been off for a week or two weeks, you start to get bored. Then you can lie back and think of what it is you want to write about."

He blogs about all kinds of things, often inspired by the places his trucking career has taken him, from the Alaskan mountains to the Texan desert. He’s planning to record it all in an autobiography… some day.

"Trucking is a great life," he says. "Most of my life I’ve looked through a windshield. I can’t begin to tell you the number of beautiful sunrises and sunsets I’ve seen."

He also cherishes the small moments. He remembers one time being stopped by a herd of wild sheep who were licking the salt off the yellow line in a remote area.

"They came over to lick the salt off the side of my truck. You’ve got cars lined up behind you, honking and horning," he laughs. "I’m just sitting there taking pictures!"

Wood, who was born and raised in Edmonton, began his life on the road by delivering groceries in a humble pick-up truck. At the age of 18, he started moving shingles in a five-ton. Since then he has trucked through 47 states and seven provinces in a career that has spanned nearly five decades.

It hasn’t always been a fun ride. Despite his love for driving, Wood says he may soon take a break from the open road. Government policies are making it more and more difficult to enjoy the work, he says.

"I used to love it, but I’ve become so disheartened with it over the years," he says. "The government is taxing us to death, and there are so many rules and regulations."

Over the years, he’s tried his hand at many other things, indulging other interests by writing movie and TV scripts, starting several novels, writing radio news and commercials, blogging extensively about his life experiences, becoming a movie extra, and performing on stage as an actor.

"I kept falling back on trucking, because it’s a thing I know I’m good at," he says.

In fact, he got into hauling movie equipment from set to set because he found it was more lucrative than being an extra in TV shows like 21 Jump Street, Wiseguy, MacGyver, and X-Files.

"I found out there was more money to be made behind the camera than in front of it," he says.

Wood believes drivers should always keep their options open and look for ways to make their careers more interesting.

"When you see something else, just go and do it. That’s what I’ve found. Even things you don’t know how to do… you just have to have a willingness to learn," he says. "Plans always change."

By Ozman Omar


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