THE WRITING COMPULSION

Having just spent two weeks vacationing with children and grandchildren, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing first-hand to what extent my daughter and my elder grandchildren have inherited my writing compulsion. My daughter is an accomplished journalist, my grandchildren are avid readers who love to write stories. My son, an architect, also writes beautifully. My own love affair with words started when I was just a kid, keeping a diary, writing a “novel” with my friends. From college, I sent hand-written letters to my parents. The letters continued—first typed, then word-processed—once I was married and had children of my own. I entered the world of academe, where writing and publishing were required for promotion. In retirement, I write stories and non-fiction narratives. But it was only when I discovered my parents’ war letters that I realized that my writing compulsion was part of my DNA. In my parents’ letters, nothing was too trivial to describe. It’s thanks to their detailed descriptions that I was able to write a book chronicling my dad’s experiences in World War II. To my utter delight, Behind the Lines continues to attract readers, and feedback (in the form of reviews on Amazon, Austin Macauley’s website, and on social media) continues to be uniformly positive.

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