If you’ve ever had an insistent urge to make your life’s work something that everyone tells you is impossible, even ludicrous, you’ll be drawn into this real-life adventure.  Hank Beebe followed his dream.  You’ll join him as his journey leads him from music teacher, to Tin Pan Alley tunesmith, to Broadway composer, to creator of widely-published choral works, all the while struggling to support his family, pay his rent, keep his phone alive, and look prosperous in Good Will power suits.

And you’ll meet Nancy, who never once in sixty-five years of marriage to Hank doubts his eventual success, even though she’s the one who has had to make his wildly fluctuating income cover the monthly bills.

You’ll come along when Hank’s journey places him in the company of Carol Burnett, Jerry Lewis, Ava Gardner, Andy Griffith, Benny Goodman, Patti Page, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Vincent Persichetti, and many other luminaries.

You’ll live through, with Hank, being praised to the skies, vilified to the depths, and damned with faint praise by newspaper critics.

Five extra chapters, such as “Do What You Love” and “Getting Published”, will help you take advantage of what Hank has experienced.

It’s funny, it’s tragic, it’s an utterly unpredictable trip, but you’ll be glad you took it, because “I Chose to Compose” demonstrates that dreams do come true, although the result may not be exactly what you’ve imagined.

It may be better.