Saving history one story at a time, Military Writers Society of America is a national organization dedicated to helping veterans, their families, and historians inscribe the complexities of military life and encourage writing to heal. Membership is open to anyone interested in books about military issues and the experiences of men and women in uniform. Membership benefits include monthly dispatches, listings and reviews of your publications, submission to annual anthology and book award competitions, and invaluable networking at the annual conference. This year in Dayton and next in Phoenix. The book awards ceremony concludes the conference each year.
Cathryn Prince’s book, Death in the Baltic (Palgrave, April 2013), has been nominated for the 2013 Founder’s Award W.H. (Bill) McDonald Jr., a crew chief/door-gunner on UH-1D Huey helicopters in 1966 and 1967, is the founder of the Military Writers Society of America. He flew with the 128th Helicopter Assault Company out of Phu Loi, South Vietnam. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, 14 Air Medals and the Purple Heart. Like many who experience combat, McDonald found the experience a crucible of spiritual transformation and to better understand his own experiences, wrote about them. He established the organization to encourage others to do the same. In his review of Cathryn Prince’s book, McDonald writes that “the interviews with old survivors are so captivating that she makes WWII history jump out as fresh and new… She brings history to a personal level where people can fully see and feel what was happening then.” High praise and an honor to be nominated for Cathryn Prince.
Roxana Robinson, author of the NYT bestselling novel, Sparta, recently joined MWSA and I’m looking forward to meeting her. Jack Woodville London, Leila Levinson, Dwight Zimmermann, and Carol Tyler are friends found through this organization. If you are an author, or poet, veteran, or journalist please consider joining. Fiction, romance, thriller/mystery, science fiction, literary fiction, poetry, short story, memoir, biography, how-to, business, creative non-fiction, history, humor, children’s, Young Adult, even reference books.
At the conference this September, I’ll be giving a presentation, Pathways to Publishing. As an author’s options to achieve publication continue to expand. There is no one route right for every author. The changing economic and technological environment, your long term publishing goals, the particular qualities of your work, your personal strengths and weaknesses: important factors to consider when choosing a pathway to publication. Swenson will address the characteristics, caveats and value in a range of publishing options: traditional, DIY, subsidy, crowd-funded, digital-only, partnerships, cooperatives and self-publishing.
Will I see YOU in Dayton? Booking consultation sessions now. Looking forward to another great conference. Join me!
Writing and Listening — an Interview with Brooke Randel
As a young girl Brooke Randel knew little about the Holocaust—just that it was a catastrophe in which millions were murdered, and that her grandma Golda Indig barely escaped that fate. But her Bubbie never spoke about what happened, and the two spent most of their time together making pleasant memories: baking crescent roll cookies, playing gin rummy, and watching Baywatch. Until an unexpected phone call when Golda said, out of the blue: “You should write about my life. What happened in the war.” What results is a fascinating memoir—about one woman’s harrowing survival, and another’s struggle to excavate theRead more…