At age 19, he met and married his wife. Together, they had four children. In later years, Mr. and Mrs. Atkins supported one another through college. He attended Floyd Junior College, and acknowledges a debt to his professor Ken Anderson for taking the time to teach him to write. Atkins worked as a maintenance manager in a local paper mill but continued to write in his off time. After 25 years of service, Atkins retired, and was then able to dedicate his time to writing.

His first novel, The Front Porch Profit, was published in August 2008 by Medallion Press in St. Charles, Illinois. This was the 89th company Atkins had submitted his manuscript to. The novel had to be reduced down to 300 pages, but luckily, he was able to use the remaining material for this second published novel, Sorrow Wood. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree, possibly in teaching.

Though he has only seriously been writing throughout the last six years, Atkins received many awards for The Front Porch Profit, including: 2009 Georgia Author of the Year for First Novel, 2009 IPPY Gold Medal Best Regional Fiction: Southeast, 2009 IPPY Award Finalist: Best Popular Fiction, and the Independent Publishers Book Award for Best Regional Fiction.

Atkins is a columnist for The Rome News-Tribune, Like the Dew, and Memphis Downtowner Magazine. His short stories have been published in Christmas Stories from Georgia, The Lavender Mountain Anthology, The Blood and Fire Review, The Red Clay Review, and Savannah Magazine. His third novel, Camp Redemption, is scheduled for release in 2011.