Writing - Can I Write?

I think everyone has a book in them and you've probably heard that cliché before. But in fact it is true. I'm now the Author of six books and counting and I flunked high school English. A couple of years ago at my first high school reunion, our thirty fifth, we were standing around talking and the conversation was about my book when a lady classmate walked up excitedly and said, "oh my, did someone in our class write a book?' And one of the others said, "Yea, Ed did!" She immediately responded, looking at me and said, "Oh no, you couldn't have written a book!"

Now I'd have to admit it was a long shot. My junior year I skipped fifty-five days of school and my senior year I got it down to thirty-five so her response was funny and warranted. But what no one counted on was that I became an avid reader. I have been reading a book a week for over thirty years. And of all places it started while I was serving two straight years as a Marine sniper in the Vietnam War. To the question, "can I write?' The answer is a resounding yes!

It was about twenty, maybe twenty five years after Nam when I began stirring to write about my experiences. I was working in the executive ranks of a major corporation and doing a lot of traveling so that meant nights alone in hotels. I began trying to write my story. After four or five chapters I'd proudly share me work with my wife and she would say, "That's awful". And I would dutifully go back to work and lick my wounds after healing I'd begin all over again. This went on for ten, countem', ten years of rejection.

Everyone talks about rejection in the business and that's a fact, but my rejection was coming from the person closest to me, but oh how important it was. One day in the mid-nineties I proudly produced my latest five chapters for her consideration and got that standard, "Honey, it's awful". But this time, amid her household chores she said, "You're a great storyteller, quit trying to be a writer and just tell people your story". A light bulb went off and I was on my way.

I finally got it. Great writers are storytellers. As I took a better look at the books I read every week I realized she was dead on. I didn't have the skills to write the way the learned taught, I was never in school thank goodness. But I lived my life story in the midst of war and I could tell it. My writing life officially began.

My book proposal was purchased by Ballentine Books and I wrote Dead Center – A Marine Snipers Two-Year Odyssey in the Vietnam War. That was about seven years ago and it is still selling in the top ten percent on Amazon, its in Barnes and Noble and all the big stores and has sold over one hundred ten thousand copies to date. I don't have a college degree, I did graduate from high school, they must have just moved me along. Can you write? You bet you can and here are a few things I learned about the process.

1. Be an avid reader. That will make you comfortable with words and styles and the whole process. You'll be more comfortable.

2. Be a storyteller not a writer. When you write sit down and pretend someone is there and just tell your story.

3. Be committed. Write everyday, even if it is a paragraph, be committed to the process.

4. Be real. By that I mean, tell it like it is, bare your soul and go for it. The best feedback I get is that my books are so honest. That is what people want whether it is fiction or non-fiction.

When I wrote Dead Center I completed it in four months end-to-end and I was working full time. Now it is a work of non-fiction so here is the process I used. I went in my office with a pad of those sticky notes, the ones about three inches by three inches and started writing down every event of significance I could remember from my two years in Nam. I started at the beginning and it took a couple of long evenings.

Then I took the events on the sticky notes and filled in some details. Next, I arranged the notes in chronological order as best I could remember. Then I called my former teammates and verified the times and events. I arranged the events on my office wall in chronological order and organized them into what became chapters. Then I wrote. It all started with writing from end-to-end just like I was telling my computer a story. It worked for me like magic.

One last point … each of us has a 'voice', a particular way of storytelling that makes us who we are. You must have an Editor that does not ruin your voice in the process. You are 'you' so don't let anyone edit that out. You can do it; for goodness sake I did and am having the time of my life along the way. You can too … if you will!