About Mark Arens

Mark Arens lives with his family in Minnesota. He has been one of the top producing insurance agents in the United States for the last 26 years.

Mark is an avid hiker, mountain biker, snow-shoer, skier, snowboarder, kayaker and canoeist. He is an instrument rated pilot, a certified scuba diver, has rock-climbed several world-class multi-pitch climbs, and has hang-glided off mountains in British Columbia.

Recently, he has authored a series of children's books called ThumbPeople.

Video Transcript

Hi, My name is Mark Arens and welcome to my Walkaway website. I've been in the insurance business since I was 22 years old and barely knew how to spell insurance. Today, many people call me a master salesman and an insurance expert. But for me, Walkaway is so much more than a story about insurance fraud.

Take the opening rock-climbing scene where Mike Montane finds himself stuck on the side of a mountain, and fear blows through the wind. I've always been afraid of heights.

When I was 16 years old, I thought I could be brave, so I signed up for a day of rock-climbing with my high school. When the day came, I chickened out and stayed home. When the teacher called me because I didn't show up, I was so surprised by her call that I lied and told her I overslept. She said, "no problem" the bus would stop and pick me up. I was so scared that when it was my turn to climb, I prayed out loud in front of everyone.

My friend Brian is truly a fearless climber. He's taken me climbing in Utah, Nevada and Colorado on world class climbs with names like, "Lots of balls" and "Dark Shadows" and we've had some really close calls.

One of the most interesting parts of Walkaway is how Mike Montane fakes his death. I've canoed thousands of miles in the Boundary Waters and ever since my first trip, I've had this strange dream about faking my death by disappearing and leaving an empty canoe for others to find. It was a kind of dream that I even entertained during the daytime, and for absolutely no reason that I can think of.

Writing that drowning scene was easy for me, because I've dreamt about it so many times over the years, that I sometimes my dreams make me wonder if I really did it!

At a writing class, the professor told us that we needed to know our characters inside and out. We need to know what the character looks like, talks like, what they like to eat, their favorite color, and everything about them. I felt like I cheated when I wrote Walkaway because all the characters in the book come from parts of my life - it was like the whole book was about me.

Take for example, the little scene where Mike Montane snowshoes from Waterton Park to Banff and then hides in Jasper. Well, I've snow-shoed and hiked a thousand miles since my first Canadian Rockies trip more than 30 years ago.

Bears have haunted me, porcupines have eaten our backpacks, and my dog's been skunked, but through it all, I've seen some of the most beautiful mountains in the world, and it all helped me to know and understand my Walkaway characters in a whole new way.

Some people have asked me about the character of Harley Crane, and how this relates to my own dad. Well my dad taught me all about baseball, and yes he did teach me to stay in front of the ball but always in a good way. He also taught me how to throw a curveball, how to play hockey, how to lift weights, play ping pong, ski, and he encouraged me to take some calculated risks through life.

Most of all, my Mom and Dad both taught me that it was good to work hard, and good to play just as hard and to enjoy life. So being that this section of our website is about me, I guess I'd like to finish by sharing my zest for life with you.

If I were to describe me, I'd say that when I look back on any day, I'm happiest when I have good relationships, have worked hard, or accomplished something positive. I don't get very proud of myself for taking it easy or watching TV. I like to finish things - whether it's something monumental like spending five years writing Walkaway or even if it's something like doing the dishes. In Walkaway I wrote that Harley Crane's character was called a human-doing - not a human being - and I was really writing about me.

I would also describe myself by saying that my deep faith in Jesus is at the core of who I am. My favorite Bible passage is when Jesus tells the story that calls everyone to fully use their God given talents to be the best they can be. Perhaps that it why it's so important for me to live each day to it's fullest.

And finally, I want to tell you about my experience as a first time dad at age 47. I've always had dogs, and I've always loved being with kids, but I've never ever felt so touched by God as I do when I'm holding my own precious little miracles.

As a new dad and writer, I felt compelled to create a children's book series centered around my new main character Thumbuddy. Thumbuddy is just like your thumbprint because he is one of a kind, unique and precious. Our Thumbuddy goal is to help parents see the miracle that their children really are in a whole new way. Take a look at ThumbPeople.com and I know you'll be delighted.