A novel by David Burrow

People I
Have Been

Some people run from who they are. Others carry every version of themselves home.

One phone call. One long drive. A lifetime of stories that refuse to stay in the past.

Independent publication in preparation

Explore the novel See what’s coming next

Stories from the road • The right-of-way • The lives we might have led

Book one · The original novel

The road home runs through every life he ever lived.

When a pipeline superintendent learns that his childhood best friend has died, the drive from South Carolina to Texas becomes a reckoning with everything he once tried to leave behind.

Friendship, music, addiction, fatherhood, love, loss, and the people who gave him a place to stay return with every mile. The question is not just where he has been. It is who he is willing to be when he finally comes home.

The original novel and a special journal edition are being prepared for independent publication. Links to purchase will be added after their official release.

“And I stayed.”

No release date or purchasing link has been announced.

On the writing desk

Two more books are coming.

One begins in the pipeline right-of-way. The other begins backstage, just before a rock band becomes the biggest thing in the world. Both are in development; titles and dates will be announced when they’re ready.

01In development

Pipeline craft · Strategy · Dark humor

Field Notes for the Ruthless

Working title. Part pipeline rule-of-thumb handbook, part hard-edged philosophy of leadership, leverage, survival, and making decisions when the job is going sideways. Expect worked calculations, field sketches, hard-earned lessons, and the irreverent imagination of an outlaw field notebook.

Practical pipeline math meets satirical, Machiavellian-style commentary. Not a substitute for engineered procedures or safety standards.

02In development

Rock-and-roll fiction · Ambition · Regret

The Man Who Left Before the Encore

Working title. A young roadie quits a rising band just before it becomes a phenomenon, chasing a different dream as a journalist for Rolling Stone. Years later, a former roadie has become the band’s manager and married a famous pop star. A midlife crisis forces him to ask whether leaving was the mistake that shaped his life—or the decision that made it his own.

A fictional story about fame, proximity, missed chances, and the dangerous habit of comparing your life with somebody else's.

The writer

David Burrow

TexasHome and family

The fieldPipeline construction

The storiesFiction and conversation

David Burrow is a Texas writer, husband, father, grandfather, and longtime pipeline professional whose working life has carried him through small towns, remote jobsites, and the miles between them.

He has led crews and projects in an industry where a plan matters, the weather has its own opinion, and the people beside you can make or break a day. His debut novel, People I Have Been, draws from an emotional landscape of hard choices, friendship, grief, love, and learning what it takes to stay.

He also hosts Built in the Field with David Burrow, bringing the people and conversations behind working lives into the open.

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