Escalon man writes despite infirmity

ESCALON -- Charles Bernace Roberson loves to write. It's his passion, his hobby and his outlet.

The 65-year-old Escalon resident and retired middle school teacher has written several books, including two that recently became available through on-demand online publisher Xlibris.

But while the vast majority of writers still pull up to a desk to pound out their life's works on a computer keyboard, Roberson is a bit more reliant on technology.

He broke his neck when he was 19, and it left him with limited use of his right hand. Then, 20 years ago, he slipped and fell while acid-washing his swimming pool and did more physical damage.

He's endured four back surgeries, and now a cyst on his spine has rendered him bedridden. He can still use his left hand, but his right hand is paralyzed.

"Now, it's all gone," Roberson said. "I can't even hold onto a glass with it. It's so frustrating."

Yet, propped up in the hospital bed in his living room — which also serves as his bedroom and his office — Roberson works on yet another book. He uses a computer program that translates his voice into words on his computer screen, and allows him to edit what he's composed.

"There's no way I could write without it," Roberson said.

It's always impressive when the human spirit overcomes physical failings, and Roberson is no exception.

Laura Hillenbrand wrote "Seabiscuit" and "Unbroken" while suffering the debilitating effects of chronic fatigue syndrome. By her accounts, her condition kept her in bed for long periods, left her emotionally exhausted and, at one point, unable to leave her house for two months. But she battled through it and both books became best-sellers, with "Seabiscuit" ranking as the best-read sports book of all time.

Roberson's physical condition has worsened over the years. It took him a decade to write "Conspiracy at Desert One," a novel based on the 1980 Iranian hostage crisis.

"Ten months of hard work (over the 10-year span)," he said.

Writing under the pen name of Bernace Charles, he wrote the 366-page "Conspiracy" and his other recent release, the 279-page "The Cormorant and the Killing Ground" on his computer. He hunted-and-pecked both books by using only the fourth finger of his right hand (while it still worked) and the index finger of his left. With the invention of the voice-recognition dictation programs, he used them to edit and rewrite his texts. Now he writes exclusively on the dictation programs, learning quickly to vocalize his thoughts onto the screen in narrative form.

"It took about one paragraph to realize it's me," he said.

Roberson and his wife of 45 years, Paulette, grew up in Oklahoma: Paulette from Cushing, near Stillwater, and Charles from Yale.

"I told everyone I was dating a Yale man," Paulette said. "And I was. Yale, Oklahoma."

In the mid-1960s, he met English author Frank Baker, whose 1939 book "The Birds" became the Alfred Hitchcock classic thriller set in Bodega north of San Francisco. Baker encouraged Roberson to write. Roberson did, writing his first book, titled "The Tree." Roberson then visited Baker in London, going there to turn "The Tree" into a screenplay.

"Nothing came of it," Roberson said. So he returned to the States.

He and Paulette came west in 1968 when she was recruited to teach in Turlock. They spent a year in California — just long enough to realize they didn't like it. They returned to Oklahoma, and suddenly the Central Valley didn't look so bad. So they came west again, and both found teaching jobs in Riverbank.

Paulette taught at schools throughout the district while Charles taught for 22 years at Cardozo Middle School until his physical decline forced him into retirement. But it hasn't stopped him from writing.

His "The Cormorant and the Killing Ground" is a novel "best explaining why teachers need tenure," he said. Set on the East Coast, the plot includes school officials who try to force an aging shop teacher to retire against his wishes.

Like many self-published authors, making money at this is a pipe dream. Last year, he received a royalties check for $18 from Xlibris for sales of his "Conspiracy at Desert One."

Mostly, he writes for the love of writing with hopes someone else will appreciate his works.

What most readers can never understand is how writing — or voicing — acts like a painkiller. The sheer ability to invent a story, tell it to a headset and then see it appear on his computer screen — when his only other option would be to lie in bed and do nothing — is downright fulfilling.

And if he couldn't write?

"I'd probably go insane," Roberson said. "Literally."

To purchase Roberson's books, visit www.xlibris.com and enter Bernace Charles in the search field, or call Xlibris Corp. at (888) 795-4274.

Jeff Jardine's column appears Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays in Local News. He can be reached at jjardine@modbee.com or (209) 578-2383.