Home is a word that has a special meaning for all of us, particularly those of us in the South. Robert Inman is no exception. In fact, the title of his new collection of essays is “Coming Home: Life, Love and All Things Southern.”

Inman was born in Elba, Ala. in 1943 and spent part of his childhood as an Army brat on military posts, including Fort Bragg. When he was in the sixth grade, the family again settled in Elba where Inman finished high school.

“I grew up in a large and rowdy family of storytellers – grandmother, aunts, uncles, cousins — and the town itself was an extended family,” says Inman in an e-mail interview with The Pilot. “You were surrounded by people who cared about you, took an interest in what you were doing and let you know what was expected of you.”

Inman’s family enjoyed nothing better than getting together and telling stories on each other, often with much embellishment. He grew up hearing these family tales over and over.

“I’ve recounted some of those in ‘Coming Home,’” says Inman.

Inman credits his mother with his love of the spoken and written word.

“I’ve always had a fascination with words,” he says. “That undoubtedly comes from my mother reading to me from the time I was old enough to sit in her lap. She gave me the gift of imagination and it’s probably the best thing she ever did for me.”

Inman recalls the favorite books of his youth to be those featuring the adventures of “The Bobbsey Twins, “ “Hardy Boys,” “Nancy Drew” and “Tom Swift.”

“I still have some of them,” he says. “But the first books my mother read to me were the “Uncle Wiggly” books.

Inman’s first serious writing effort started when he was in the seventh grade.

“I walked into the local weekly newspaper office one day and asked for a job,” he says. “The editor put me to work back in the print shop and later on let me try my hand at writing high school news.”

Inman attended the University of Alabama, earning both B.A. and M.F.A. degrees there.

The family moved to Charlotte in 1970 when Inman went to work with WBTV. He resigned from the station and began writing full-time in 1996. He spent 30 years in journalism, 25 of them at the television station.

“I miss the talented, creative people I worked with, but I sure don’t miss the odd hours and the pressure,” he says. “I probably work harder now than when I was on television, but it’s all my own work.”

Inman is the author of three novels: “Home Fires Burning,” “Old Dogs and Children” and “Dairy Queen Days.” He is currently at work on a fourth novel.

“I’ve just finished revisions on my novel, “Captain Saturday,” which will be published by Little, Brown,” he says. “I’ve got several new projects on the front burner, including starting a new novel and doing a screenplay adaptation of “Dairy Queen Days.”

Inman continues to write a column that appears in the Sunday edition of The Charlotte Observer, but he also keeps busy writing and adapting screenplays.

“I got into screenwriting through my first book, ‘Home Fires Burning,’” he says. “Hallmark Hall of Fame bought the rights and then asked me to do the screenplay, which was produced for CBS-TV and is still shown on cable’s Odyssey Channel.”

In the 12 years since then, Inman has done 19 screenplays, six of which have been produced, including “The Summer of Ben Tyler” for Hallmark.

“I’ve just finished my first feature script, ‘The Eye of the Elephant,’ based on the book by Mark and Delia Owens about their adventures as wildlife biologists in Africa,” says Inman.

In spite of his busy schedule, the author is always able to find a spare minute to read.

“I’m deep into the Harry Potter books just now,” he says. “My wife gave me all of them for my birthday in August and I’ve already devoured three and am starting the fourth.”

He has recently finished the “Southern Campaigns of the American Revolution” by Charlotte historian Dr. Dan Morrill.

“It’s a gripping account of how the Revolutionary War was won here in the Carolinas by ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” he says.

Inman and his wife, Paulette, have homes in both Charlotte and Boone. Their elder daughter, Larkin Ferris lives in Colorado with her family, which includes their first grandchild. Younger daughter, Lee, is a web designer in Birmingham, Ala.