Wood Hughes is an example of being drawn into fiction writing kicking and screaming. His first story, "Hell Fighters," came up after he was challenged on Baen's Bar to think out the real estate implications of the novel 1632. One thing led to another, and after more than a few sleepless nights, Wood tied together his real estate knowledge with his life experience of having worked at the Birmingham Public Library as a youth. This resulted in a story that not only cleared the title of the land displaced by the Ring of Fire in an entertaining manner, but also set forth strong building codes for the new boom town.

Professionally, Wood is the first holder of both the Accredited Land Consultant (ALC) designation and the Certified Commercial Investment Member (CCIM) designation in Metro Atlanta. He graduated from the University of Alabama in communications. After eleven years of working in radio throughout the South, in 1983, he became involved in real estate sales and has sold homes and land in Houston, Texas and Atlanta, Georgia. Wood has been recognized on numerous occasions for sales achievements and has been a speaker at several International Real Estate conferences. Wood also has served on various Atlanta Commercial Real Estate Board committees, and as an officer of the Georgia Chapter of the Realtors Land Institute.