Not exactly writer's block . . .

I don't really suffer from writers block, although I know a lot of writers have and do at various times. I tend to think of it more as "I'm stumped" at the moment (and yes, I recognize that this may simply be a matter of semantics). This can occur during the plotting stage of the book as well as the writing of it. This is about a plotting problem.

When I'm plotting, the problem usually comes in the basic form of "what's the big idea for the book?" An example of the "big idea" is trying to destroy the Nazis' atomic bomb lab in Operation Devil's Fire. Sometimes the stumped period can be a few minutes or several days.

I use a lot of resources (online and my continually growing library of WWII history books) to come up with the missions that Dunn and Saunders take their men on. Sometimes, I can get a couple of good ideas, but maybe not the "big" one.

Right now, I'm about 50% done plotting book 13. I have the first missions for Dunn and Saunders, and I have one that could be the "big" one. Last night, I began having doubts about it, and researched the idea, which actually seemed to make it worse. Perhaps it wouldn't work after all. 

Bummer, dude.

I mentioned the problem to my wife and we discussed it for a while. She's really good at helping me think things through. Her comments allowed me decide to let it percolate over night.

This morning, the solution presented itself to me out of nowhere while thinking about something else, not an uncommon thing to happen. This doesn't happen only to writers. Anyone who solves problems of any kind can experience this. It often happened to me when I was an IT Systems Analyst.

Now that I'm satisfied I can make the "big" idea work, all I need to do is apply logical thinking to the story and determine what happens, then what happens next, and repeat until we reach the end.

By the way, I never wait until the book is 100% plotted to start. I began writing book 13 last Sunday, the 8th. No title yet. That's almost always one of the last things we come up with.

Thanks for stopping by.

Ronn

Research for writers can be a double-edged sword

I'm working on the next Sgt. Dunn Novel, #13. While researching a river in Germany, I learned it flowed the wrong way for Dunn to use it the way I envisioned.

Boy, those facts'll get ya.

The Moselle River Valley at Trier, Germany

The new Sgt. Dunn Novel, SS Assassins, is available on Amazon!

The latest Sgt. Dunn Novel is available on Amazon!

SS Assassins

Sgt. Dunn Novel #12, SS Assassins - I just clicked the publish button!

Hi Sgt. Dunn readers!

I just clicked the publish button for SS Assassins. As soon as the book is available on Amazon, I'll post the link. You can check Amazon periodically to find it, too.

Thanks for your support.

Thanks, 

Ronn

Cover by David M. Jones and his wife, Nathalie Beloeil-Jones.

SS Assassins

President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill agree to meet each other on the Mediterranean Sea’s island of Sardinia. They have no idea the Nazi SS knows all about it.

Meanwhile, the 15th Air Force, based in Italy, discovers that the Germans have installed a new, high range and extremely accurate radar system in the Alps right on the flight path the bombers use on their way deep into Germany. It will provide early warning to the Luftwaffe and there are hundreds of newly installed flak cannons there as well. U.S. Army Master Sergeant Tom Dunn and his squad of lethal Rangers are tasked with destroying the radar site, which is located on a mountain peak 7,000 feet high.

Intelligence discovers that the Germans are using two Swedish flagged cargo ships to refuel and rearm their U-Boats, which are still running amok in the North Atlantic. British Commando Sergeant Major Malcolm Saunders and his squad are to travel to the neutral country, board the ships, and sink them. And, of course, escape.

The private conference between Roosevelt and Churchill to detail the rest of the war in Europe, where the Allies are making good progress against the Germans, is underway.

Allied Intelligence learns that a sizable German force has secretly landed on the island with orders to assassinate both the president and prime minister. Because it’s too late to move them from their thought-to-be-secret villa, Dunn and Saunders, having recently returned from their earlier missions, are suddenly cast into the role of a head of state protection detail, joining the U.S. Secret Service and Churchill’s famed bodyguards. Can the two men set up a defense at the villa in time to save the lives of the two most powerful leaders of the free western world?


In SS Assassins, book twelve of the Sgt. Dunn Novel series, Munsterman masterfully blends history with fiction and provides readers with an action-packed can’t-put-it-down paced novel. 

80 years ago today, Nazi Germany invaded Poland and started WWII in Europe . . .

. . . today, the German president apologized to Poland, in Poland.

The right thing to do, but let's not forget this:

or this:

SS Assassins - Sgt. Dunn Novel #12

Getting excited! I started the final edit (#6) today on SS Assassins. Release coming soon.

Making progress on SS Assassins, the 12th Sgt. Dunn Novel!

Started edit No 5 of SS Assassins, the No 12 Sgt, Dunn Novel. Hope to publish by the end of August!