My Writing Journey

If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear, does it make a sound? The same could be said about writing. If words are placed on a page, and no one is there to read, is it really writing? Sometimes I question whether it’s worth the time to bang out a blog every week and the occasional self-help book. Then I remind myself, writing isn’t entirely about the reader, it’s also about the writer.

I’ve blogged in the past about why I write. Simply put, it’s therapeutic for me on a personal level. As an added bonus, if my content helps a handful of readers, then I benefit from a tremendous sense of satisfaction. Finally, the words I’m placing in print serve as a long overdue journal or memoir of my walk on this planet. Hopefully someday my kids (or their kids) would find the content interesting or at least curious.  

Are writers born or made? I firmly believe one has to actually enjoy the act of putting pen to paper and in most cases, this enjoyment is innate. However, I’m confident the joy of writing is also a learned trait in some. In my particular case, writing was both an innate and learned behavior. In High School I enjoyed English and although not the best in my class, I could turn some pretty decent papers. Additionally, I made a few extra bucks my junior and senior years typing term papers for my classmates. I never really minded banging away on an old typewriter on someone else’s work sometimes late into the night. 

My crowning achievement in high school was earning a score of five on my English Advanced Placement (AP) exam. AP courses are designed to be college level and the comprehensive exam takes some writing skill to score well. As I recall, there were only a couple of us that earned a five score out of the 20 or so students who took the exam.

Fast forward to college where I learned the importance of the written word, but probably not what you are thinking. You see, I never took a formal English class after high school! AP and another exam called College Level Examination Program or CLEP enabled me to skip all of my college level English classes! My college curriculum was more science and technology focused so not a lot of writing there. I learned the importance of writing as an Army ROTC cadet!

I certainly was not the most athletic or charismatic leader in our ROTC battalion, but what I could do was express thoughts in the written word, quickly. I became skilled at crafting the “five paragraph operations order” or OPORD, the primary means by which the Army communicates tactical orders to troops. For this reason, I was selected patrol leader on the “Ranger Challenge” team, an intercollegiate competitive team that participated in tournament style competitions of Army based skills. 

Well, we never did that good on the combat patrol event, probably due to my leadership, but dang, we had some good OPORDs! Fast forward a few years when I began my journey in the real Army. I quickly learned that possessing writing chops was a marketable skill. My ability to bang out OPORDs, award nominations, evaluation reports and concise written communications helped me stay on a “command” track serving in tough operational roles throughout my career.

In fact, writing figured so prominently into my Army career that I wrote a book about it! “Writing to Lead” was my first book post Army career where I shared the importance of writing in the military education system.

I probably couldn’t have picked a more boring topic, but it was fun organizing my ideas into a 150-page deliverable while learning the ins and outs of formatting books for self-publishing. Plus, there were a handful of readers out there who were actually interested to learn how much of a focus our military puts on academics!

So, to loop back to my original question, are we born or made writers; the answer is simply, “yes”. In my case, I’ve got the gene, bug, general disposition or whatever you want to call it that makes the act of filling a blank page with words enjoyable. But I also believe my love of the written word was nurtured during literally decades of cause-and-effect conditioning in my academic and military careers; simply put, I learned write well, get rewarded.

Now my “reward” is purely internal. I’ve sold a few books, received a couple of unsolicited positive reviews as well as a handful of bad ones. But, at the risk of sounding selfish, at this point my writing journey is more about me improving than succeeding. If others enjoy my work that is an added bonus. I’m growing every day, as a writer, but more importantly, learning about myself. Writing is my catalyst for years of long overdue introspection. In the coming years, as my eyes dim and arthritis makes typing more difficult, perhaps I’ll look at new pursuits, but until then, the written word is my cathartic tool of choice. I recommend giving it a try!

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The views, opinions and biases expressed in this blog are the authors and do not reflect those of the U.S. Army or Department of Defense.

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