COEUR d'ALENE - Once Uyless Black learned to write, really write, he had to forget all the things he'd learned before he published his first 35 books.

All that tough, terse, technical talk had to go.

Sure, it was the style Black used when he authored informational books on computer software and advanced communication technologies, starting around 30 years ago. And sure, those books have been put out by several publishers, including McGraw-Hill, in multiple languages, copies of which line Black's bookshelf at his Hayden home.

But Black had to scrap all that to go from tech savvy to storyteller.

"I had done enough of that and wanted to go into something else," Black said of his former life working as a software programmer for the Federal Reserve in Washington D.C., and as a consulting business owner in California and Virginia. "I really had to learn to rewrite."

If life experiences form the backbone of a writer, Black had plenty of spine.

He was writing about computer software three decades before most people knew what either of those words meant, and the former Navy officer, self-started businessman and history buff had zig-zagged the country in his travels, too.

But to put those stories down on paper took a new type of training.

"They made a joke," Black said of his close circle of friends who proof-read Black's work as he ventured into essay and creative writing. "You don't use so many adjectives and adverbs."

The advice really sank in, "like a two-by-four to my head," as Black put it, when his sister-in-law finally dropped the hammer.

"You know," she told him. "You can use a few more words."

Maybe not the most seamless of transitions, but it's been smooth of late as Black settles into his new life as essayist and storyteller. Black has self-published some of his work, bringing the total to more than 40 books under his name. His latest one, a memoir of growing up in rural New Mexico during the 1950s called "The Light Side of Little Texas," earned the Historical Society of New Mexico's 2012 outstanding book in domestic life in New Mexico award.

Published by the Lea County Museum Press, it's a collection of humorous and serious essays about growing up in Lea County, N.M., which is bordered by Texas to the east.

"It gave me a perspective I don't think urban children possess," Black said. "On the other hand I was pretty naive of the ways of the city."

The book grew from one essay Black started writing, "Shearing, Branding, and Breeding," which friends of his liked.

"I thought, 'OK,'" said Black, who moved to Coeur d'Alene with his wife after retiring in 2002. "It's time to start putting pen to paper."

The book was nominated for the award by one of Black's friends unbeknownst to the author, and was chosen in part because it captured the region's history. The HSNM will present the award to Black at the society's annual conference in Santa Fe May 3-5. He'll receive his award in the governor's mansion - the oldest building in the nation, he said.

The book is available on amazon.com. Black, a graduate of the University of New Mexico, said the award is a nice reminder that the "rough" transition in writing styles was worth the work.

"It's kind of nice to be recognized," he said.