Home » Blog » Soellner’s Dispatch #4

Soellner’s Dispatch #4

 

SOELLNER’S DISPATCH #4

This ongoing series of Dispatches explores the writing process, research, and characters of my writing, as well as my events schedule. All of Soellner’s Dispatches are available on my blog.

The Book in You

I’ve heard people say that there is a book in each of us. More recently, I’ve heard people saying this is the best time in history to be an author!

Readers and Publishers

More people are reading more books than ever before. The two biggest reasons are:

  1. There are more ways to read than ever before. Traditionally printed hard or soft-cover books, e-readers like Kindle or Nook, laptops, smartphones, tablets, audiobooks and streaming.
  2. An increase in leisure time and an increase in down time: commutes by bus subway or train, waiting rooms and nights before bed are all good times for reading.

To meet this demand for books, publishing has changed as well. In addition to traditional publishing through an agent, there is self-publish, or  a hybrid method combining aspects of both. There is also an Amazon Author’s Program. Publishing a work-in-progress straight to the internet is another possibility, but getting that work into print afterwards can be challenging.

Writing

That book you’ve been thinking about writing, just start! It isn’t  that hard. Try this: just write that first word… then write the first sentence. Do that and you’ve become a writer with an unfinished manuscript. You’re on your way to being a published author. Is it easy, no, but it’s not that hard, it’s not rocket science!

You don’t have to have the entire story thought out. Some authors like to have their story outlined and plotted out in detail, while other authors (like me!) begin with a very general overall theme. I just start writing a scene, or a character, or a description, or some dialogue. I don’t know what will happen in the next chapter. I am comfortable with this method. You need to decide your comfort level. Start with the first word and sentence, and if you keep at it, you’ll find the method that works for you.

From Dispatch # 3:

Question:

What country asked American president Woodrow Wilson to negotiate an Armistice just few weeks after the war started?

Answer:

The German Empire, led by Kaiser Wilhelm II, King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany, asked U.S. President Wilson to intervene in the war and help negotiate a cease-fire or armistice with France, Britain, and their allies. President Wilson refused on the grounds that doing so would involve America in a European War. There was strong isolationist sentiment in America at that time.

Kaiser Wilhelm tried repeatedly throughout the war to stop the fighting by contacting Britain, France and Russia via intermediaries, with no success. These three countries had reasons of their own to continue the war. More on that in a later Dispatch.

Dispatch Question # 4:

What event late in World War I finally brought America into the conflict? Was it:

  1. The Zimmerman Telegram, in which Imperial Germany called on Mexico to attack the United States.
  2. The torpedoing of the passenger liner Lusitania, and the loss of hundreds of American lives.
  3. The fear that Germany would win the war after a mutiny broke out in the French Army.
  4. The defeat of Britain and Australia at Gallipoli, and the great loss of ships and men.

Read the answer in Dispatch #5!

Until my next Dispatch,

Walter Soellner

[email protected], waltersoellner.com

Please share this with your friends!

My books:

  1. Kalvarianhof, The Perilous Journey
  2. The Storm That Shook the World
  3. Book three, coming in 2017.

Facebook, Amazon Authors, Goodreads