A little bit about my path to writing and publishing - Part 2 of 5

Why I decided on WWII novels

I grew up watching all the WWII movies I could find on TV on our old black and white, we never had a color TV. The TV shows Combat (1962 – 67), 12 O’clock High (1964 – 67), and The Rat Patrol (1966 – 68) were a weekly staple. Some of my relatives served during WWII. My mom had a box of various brass, patches, and coast guard stripes that I examined endlessly. I memorized the navy’s ranks, both enlisted and officers. She had been in the Coast Guard from 1944-46. She gave me a copy of the navy’s nearly 600 page training manual published in 1944, The Bluejackets’ Manual – 1944, Twelfth Edition. I actually read the entire thing! I still have it in my book collection. The inside of the front cover is inscribed by mom in her beautiful cursive:

Oct. 20, 1944

Billet 614 Co. 272

U.S.C.G. Training

Palm Beach, Florida

U.S.S. Biltmore

(The Biltmore Hotel was used by the Coast Guard for SPARS training in 1943 & 44)

Below her inscription, I printed in my 8th grade hand:

Ronald Munsterman

JE-1-4810

1215 E. 36th Street

K.C. Missouri

In the 5th grade, through the Scholastic Books program at school, I bought Robb White’s excellent Up Periscope, which was later made into a movie starring James Garner. A couple of years ago, I bought another copy of it and read it all over again. Great story.

I once saved my weekly allowance (35 cents!) long enough to buy a toy kit that included an army helmet and a Thompson .45 submachine gun (caps) complete with a charging handle. I think I shot up every car in the neighborhood (Armour Blvd. and Forest Ave., Kansas City, MO.)

So, yes, I was fascinated by everything to do with WWII.

How I picked Sgt. Tom Dunn as my main character

In the fall of 2003, when I was working on coming up with an idea for a novel, I already knew it would be set in WWII. That was never a question. At first, I considered making the main character a member of the OSS (Office of Strategic Services), who would, after the war, become a member of the newly formed CIA. I discarded that idea pretty fast because I wasn’t that interested in writing a “spy” book. The very next idea took roots and stuck. A soldier. Not an officer – there are lots of books on officers. A sergeant. Hm, a Ranger! A Ranger who went on secret missions! A whole squad of them. As for the sergeant, he became our beloved Tom Dunn.

I began searching for a plot. I watched an episode on the History channel that introduced me to the Horten Brothers, the brilliant German aeronautical engineers. They had developed a jet plane and were working on a bomber that would have the range to reach the United States. In the span of about ten seconds I had the plot for Operation Devil’s Fire: the Nazis had a jet bomber and an atomic bomb.

Being an undisciplined writer

I started writing the book in January, 2004. However, because I was an undisciplined writer I made sporadic progress. I wrote exactly 2,569 words in 6 days. Yay me! Then I went 2 months without writing at all. This became my pattern. I stopped writing the book on May 8, 2005, a year and 2 months later and was only 38% done. Not very earth shattering.

Part 2 coming soon: Why Operation Devil's Fire was NOT the first novel I finished writing. Becoming a disciplined writer. The pain of trying to find an agent.