In his former life as president of Quadrant Homes, Stephen Dennis attended meetings, interacted with people constantly and hardly slowed down to take a break. Now, the retired Bellevue resident writes novels, often in the peace and quiet of his cabin on Whidbey Island.

It takes some getting used to – the solitary act of writing.

“My day used to be filled with distractions, changing course to meet other people’s schedules,” Dennis said.

He’s currently promoting his book, “Simone” which came out this spring.

Writing had always been Dennis’ strong suit. He liked it so much, it became a retirement plan. Soon after finishing at Quadrant Homes in 2003, he set about transforming himself from businessman to the novelist he’d always hoped to become, honing his skills at Bellevue College and a writer’s critique group.

In the past, he’d written a column for the Daily Journal of Commerce and other articles – but discovered he had much to learn about fiction.

“I knew how to link words and sentences, but not how to develop characters and set scenes,” Dennis said.

Good writers often create stories based on what they know. So when Dennis started writing “Simone,” he let his interest in 20th-century history guide him. The result was a story of unsung heroes from the Greatest Generation and a plot that deals heavily with World War II.

World War II was a big deal when Dennis was growing up. Everyone from his sixth-grade teacher to his neighbor seemed to be involved in the war efforts or talking about what was going on.

“Maybe this is when it moved from cowboys and Indians to G.I. Joes,” Dennis said. “It was the last good war, if there is such a thing.”

“Simone,” tells the story of Frank Larson, a 70-year-old veteran who tried to leave the memories of battlefields behind when he returned from World War II. He plunged into college and marriage, grew a business and raised a daughter, all the while repressing his painful past.

When his daughter and a fellow veteran pressure him to attend a reunion of his unit in Belgium, to commemorate the Battle of the Bulge, he reluctantly gives in. It’s there that he encounters a woman from his past, Simone Challon. Long-established routines in separate countries are put at stake, as they try to navigate their feelings left over from 50 years before.

This wasn’t Dennis’ first attempt at writing a book. But he wanted to push this one in particular to be published, as a tribute to the aging, remaining members of The Greatest Generation.

So far, he’s received positive feedback from veterans, as well as from their children and grandchildren.

“I think people like to see a book that’s not about family dysfunction,” Dennis said. “This book is about real people you may have grown up with.”

For more information on the Bellevue author, “Simone” and his upcoming works, go to www.sjdennis.com.