Ask the Author: Wes Choc
Answered Questions (5)
Wes Choc
When serving in the military in Vietnam, a nasty mortar barrage devastated our area in Khe Sanh; and, a very large number of marines were killed or wounded. They had dutifully jumped into trenches alongside our sleeping areas (as each of us was trained and expected to do). Every single one I knew earned a Purple Heart or a green bag to take them home that night. For me? I slept through the whole barrage. No one tried to wake me (why not?) ...I eventually woke up in the aftermath's silence. Everyone else did what they were supposed to do, and they were punished. And, I woke unscathed to that forthcoming layer of dust when I stood up to look at a full moon from inside my riddled tent.
Wes Choc
I'm unsure I actually "get inspired" to write or to do many other things either for that matter. I believe "inspiration" is a byproduct of doing routine things with good intentions and persistence ...and thinking about all the "what-if" questions along the way. Thereafter it's about risk-taking. Choose to act, discover, and then enjoy the journey no matter where it takes you. Perhaps the notes you pen in that notebook of yours will be published someday. You're not a factory measured by output; you're a seed that needs watering and cultivation (think about the harvest).
Wes Choc
My most recent book, "Inconspicuous" is a biography of an unlikely neighbor who played a consequential role in postwar Europe. He had been a spy! Not merely a "typical" spy (whatever that is!), mind you, but one who put together people and information that made West Germany turn a corner in the early 1950s.
At age 92, I'd meet him at the community mailboxes. He hardly able to walk, we'd chat. Turned out, he had read my first book ("Just Dust"), and asked if I would help him assemble notes that were strewn about his house about his own military career. One meeting led to another, then to another as I kept making paragraphs turn into chapters. Who knew?
For 12 months we met weekly as he reviewed each segment I had written ...one chapter after another. By December, the book was published and I have a photo of him reading it with an unusual sense of contentment. He thanked me. Six weeks later in 2016, he passed away.
I didn't actually "seek" the idea of this book; it must have sought me!
At age 92, I'd meet him at the community mailboxes. He hardly able to walk, we'd chat. Turned out, he had read my first book ("Just Dust"), and asked if I would help him assemble notes that were strewn about his house about his own military career. One meeting led to another, then to another as I kept making paragraphs turn into chapters. Who knew?
For 12 months we met weekly as he reviewed each segment I had written ...one chapter after another. By December, the book was published and I have a photo of him reading it with an unusual sense of contentment. He thanked me. Six weeks later in 2016, he passed away.
I didn't actually "seek" the idea of this book; it must have sought me!
Wes Choc
If writing is perceived as "work", then it needs to be treated as work with set times for composing or editing or re-reading, etc. It doesn't have to be 9 to 5 or even exactly the same number of hours each day, but it does need to be often and predictably regular.
If writing is perceived as "fun", then it needs to be treated as entertainment and enjoyed for its own value whenever and wherever it hits you.
Happiness in writing is a byproduct of doing the right and good things right and well. The "when" is much less material. The "what" is your focus. The "how" is your skill.
If writing is perceived as "fun", then it needs to be treated as entertainment and enjoyed for its own value whenever and wherever it hits you.
Happiness in writing is a byproduct of doing the right and good things right and well. The "when" is much less material. The "what" is your focus. The "how" is your skill.
Wes Choc
There is always another story.
I encountered a very old man, a neighbor, and (as writer for our neighborhood newsletter) interviewed him on his 90th birthday two years ago. After almost two years of asking more questions about what he did for a living, about how he handled two quite famous parents, and how much he traveled, each encounter with him was another story---each one interesting, odd, and provocative. It turned out he was a multilingual spy in Germany after WWII and into the "Cold War" of the early 1950s.
He read my book "Just Dust" and asked me if I'd pen a few pages about some of these stories of his. So I began the lengthy and laborious task of listening and taking notes (he's very hard of hearing). I just finished writing his biography, and it'll probably be published by the end of June. The working title right now is "Inconspicuous."
I encountered a very old man, a neighbor, and (as writer for our neighborhood newsletter) interviewed him on his 90th birthday two years ago. After almost two years of asking more questions about what he did for a living, about how he handled two quite famous parents, and how much he traveled, each encounter with him was another story---each one interesting, odd, and provocative. It turned out he was a multilingual spy in Germany after WWII and into the "Cold War" of the early 1950s.
He read my book "Just Dust" and asked me if I'd pen a few pages about some of these stories of his. So I began the lengthy and laborious task of listening and taking notes (he's very hard of hearing). I just finished writing his biography, and it'll probably be published by the end of June. The working title right now is "Inconspicuous."
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