Writing “The Wind”

All earthly things have a starting point. Mine goes way back to sixth grade, but for brevity’s sake, lets jump forward to my sixties. (Yes, I’m old.)

 I always had an interest in writing but never had (i.e., took) the time to pursue it. I dabbled, but let’s face it, it’s a lot of work and I was always already working enough (i.e., lazy.)

Then a lady at church, let’s call her Alice, invited me to a writing group she was starting. I thought, “Gee, this could be fun,” so I joined. At that group, thanks to, well, let’s call them Peggy, Steve, Regina, and some others, I got the silly notion that I could someday write a book.

(As I would learn, writing a book is a lot like climbing a mountain, but climbing a mountain takes a lot less time.)

So at that point, I had motivation and a lot of false confidence, then opportunity knocked. His name was Arnold.

Arnold’s story was written down in true German, technical fashion. He had told his story for his children – born in Nazi Germany, served in the army, yadda, yadda. When he let me read it, I thought it was a great story and people should know it. He didn’t think so initially, but he allowed me to go pursue my fantasy. We started this in 2012.

Over the years, I would write a chapter and send it to him. (He was living with his daughter’s family in Maryland. I live near Atlanta.) Within a week, he would review and send back his comments. He was always concerned with factual information. He also told me he wrote like a newspaper journalist, but I had the idea to use his life events in a fictional (mostly) story. His wish was to remain anonymous and so he wanted his character in the book to be named Arnald. (A very small beard to be sure.)

At some point I joined the Atlanta Writers Club. It was just what I needed. Monthly meetings of writers telling their horror story of finding agents, getting published, the hundreds of edits, and how little money they made were all helpful in downsizing my expectations.

I then joined a writing critique group near my home and quickly learned what a hack I really was. (It was kind of like some of those people on American Idol who think they can sing.) The people in the critique group were real writers, published, making money, or “wanna bes” like me. Over the years, I think I improved because the extra ink on my weekly five pages of story diminished significantly.

I need to mention the book title. It comes from John 3:8. In Greek, the word for Wind is also for Breath and Spirit. With Arnold, his life, in retrospect, seemed to have a path. He had no doubt that his purpose was set and would be fulfilled but the path was influenced, if not guided, by his God.

Back to Arnold. He, besides being exceptionally likeable, was a humble man despite his intelligence, deep knowledge, and Harvard education. We became great friends. He passed away in December of 2016. The book was finished in March 2020, three months after I retired. I wish he could have seen the finished product, but that is on me. I hope you enjoy it.