Books by Eric Douglas

Thriller fiction and Non-fiction

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Writing after a tragedy

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Right after 9/11 I spent some time questioning if what I was doing with my life mattered. I know I wasn’t alone. At the time I was working fulltime in the recreational scuba diving industry. It was my job to write about and teach about ways to make scuba diving safer. It was a good life and gave me chances to travel all over the world, but it definitely wasn’t finding a cure for cancer or ending hunger.

I finally concluded that while scuba diving might not change the world or earn me a Nobel Prize, it was important because people still had to relax. They still had to take vacations. They still had to unwind from their stressful jobs and do the things they loved to do. In some ways, it was probably more important for people to remember normalcy. At the time, I remember a lot of people using the phrase “If we change, we are letting the terrorists win.” It became a cliché, but it was true.
For the last year, I’ve been working for myself; writing books, blogging and creating documentaries. In some cases, they were serious pursuits and in other cases simple amusement. I was enjoying myself and thankful for the opportunity to create and express myself.
And then came last Friday and the killings in Newtown, Connecticut. I had the same feelings I had in 2001 after 9/11. I questioned whether I had anything to say, if what I was saying was important and how soon was “too soon” to return to writing about random things and humor. The next morning I wrote a blog post about a man I interviewed while the attack was happening , but other than that, there wasn’t much I felt like saying. I ended up going to two parties on Saturday, but I heard very little conversation about the school shooting. It seemed like no one knew what to say.
Tomorrow, my blog will be simultaneously posted online and in the local Neighbors section of the local paper. It’s about Christmas traditions and the idea of making memories with our families rather than focusing on the gifts and the stress of the holidays. I wrote the blog last week, several days before the tragedy happened. Honestly, in my mind, it is truer this week than it was last week.
I don’t know the answer to the “too soon” question and I’m sure it’s different for everyone. I think, in response to this latest national tragedy, we should focus more on our own families, our own traditions and our own relationships and what Christmas and this holiday season is supposed to be about.
I’m still not 100 percent comfortable with writing fiction and “fun stuff” but it is coming. There is a saying that “Writers don’t write because they want to, they write because they must.” It is probably a quote, but I’m not sure who said it. Life goes on and we still have to live. We just have to find our new normal. I hope we spend less time in the near future worrying about the little stuff and more energy on the stuff the really matters. And suddenly, I think, what really matters is different than it was a week ago.

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Common Valor

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ojedaEvents in the news often make us shake our heads and sometimes literally make us sick to our stomachs. Yesterday was one of those days. The collective shock and horror  in reaction to a madman entering a school and murdering innocent children and their teachers was palpable.

I didn’t hear the news until the middle of the afternoon yesterday. I was interviewing Major Richard “Ritchie” Ojeda for the Voices of War project—my effort to collect the memories and thoughts of West Virginians who served their country in war. We sat down to talk a little after 10 a.m. and didn’t finish until after 1 p.m. That interview has buoyed me up in ways that I can’t describe. I left Ritchie’s home in Holden, Logan County, feeling great. While the news of the day brought me back down to reality, I didn’t crash as far as I might have.

Ritchie is an amazing man, having worked his way up from being a self-described “knucklehead” as a kid, to a sergeant in the army who then returned home to West Virginia to earn a degree and then back to the army where he has risen to the rank of Major (and will mostly likely be promoted again in the near future). He served four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan along with a deployment to Haiti after the earthquake. He’s done it all with exuberance–“Airborne!” is his reply to everything.

While Ritchie deserves every bit of recognition he has (and will) received for his service to the country he loves, what really amazed me was what he has done in Logan. When he saw the poverty and decay in his hometown, he set to work doing what he could to improve the situation. Among other things Ritchie has created Logan Empowerment Action and Development (LEAD) Community Organization to restore community pride.  He’s seen the worst poverty and inhumanity the world has to offer and remains optimistic and motivated to do what he can.

Last night, watching the news from Newtown Connecticut, I saw an interview with Kaitlin Roig, one of the teachers in the school. I choked up when she said she told her students “There are bad guys out there now. We just have to wait for the good guys.” When faced with horror like we saw yesterday, we all want the good guys to come and save us.

We’ve all heard the phrase “uncommon valor” referring to people who go over and above to serve and protect. Faced with evil like we saw in Newtown, it certainly makes me doubt humanity. On the other hand, I think of people like Ritchie or any number of other people I know who do what they can to help each other every day and realize that there really are a lot of “good guys” out there. There are heroes doing their jobs every day; people who simply want things to be better than yesterday.

I’m grief-stricken for the parents and families in Newtown, Connecticut. As a father, I can’t think of anything but my own daughters right now. I’m worried about them and how they’re reacting to the news.  I’ve said many prayers for them (and the people of Connecticut) and will say many more.

I’m relieved to know that there are people like Kaitlin Roig and Ritchie Ojeda in the world though. They aren’t asking for anything in return other than an opportunity to live their lives in peace. Yesterday, we saw the worst in the world. It would be easy to question everything and everyone in that grief.

On the other hand, in comparison, I realize “valor” is more common than I might have previously thought. There are good guys out there. We just have to lift them up.

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Donating to the Tower of Toys

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I’m very proud of my daughters this evening. They had been after me for the last week to donate a toy to the Tower of Toys toy drive for Union Mission in Charleston. When I picked them up from school I asked them if they would be willing to pass up a toy for themselves? They agreed, so we went shopping. I let them each pick out a toy: Ashlin got a toy for a boy and Jami got a toy for a young girl.

And then we went to drop them off spot at the WCHS studio in Charleston. The lobby was full of toys, but the receptionist said they always need more. I told her the deal I made with the girls and she was very impressed.
There are loads of kids in our area, and everywhere for that matter, who won’t have much of a Christmas without some help. I think that’s the thing that touched the girls the most. They didn’t like the feeling that they had stuff (too much by their own admission) and there were children who would have very little or nothing for Christmas.
I’m not trying to say that we did something tonight that 1000s of others haven’t done. And to be frank, if Jami hadn’t hounded me about it, I probably would have put it off and never gotten around to it. I’m very proud of my girls for their dedication to helping others and their willingness to sacrifice. We’ve done this sort of thing before, though, so they wanted to do it again. They liked the feeling of helping.
The Tower of Toys drive goes through tomorrow so you still have a chance to help. And there are a million other ways to do it to. Just get out and do something for someone who doesn’t have what you do. That’s the real spirit of Christmas.
Merry Christmas!

 

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Christmas lights and December 22

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Everyone who knows me knows that December 22 is my least favorite day of the year… it’s the day with the shortest amount of daylight. The sun sort of bottoms out for three days around December 22 before beginning its climb higher into the sky (by one degree) on or about December 25.

As a kid growing up, I remember going outside in mid-December to watch my dad string Christmas lights along the front of the house. These were the big colored bulbs the size of your thumb. We probably had one of the more ornate displays in the neighborhood at the time. It included a series of life-size cut outs of Santa, Mrs. Claus and the elves (shellacked to wood and mounted to metal bases), all illuminated with flood lights.

I never really thought about it, but those two things have something in common.

Christmas lights came about as people decorated their Christmas trees with candles. It was also a way to add light to the house during the shortest days of the year and survive the darkness. Obviously, the idea of placing a flaming, smoking candle, dripping hot wax all over dried out tree branches in your home was not the smartest idea. People would literally light the candles and sit close by to watch the tree with buckets of sand and water on hand to put out the inevitable fires.

One hundred and thirty years ago this year, on December 22, Edward Hibberd Johnson changed everything and ushered in an era of tacky lights and over the top Christmas displays. Johnson, who was vice president of Edison Electric Light Company, created the first display of electric lights in his home for Christmas. Thomas Edison created the first practical electric lights three years before so as a publicity stunt Johnson added 80 electric lights to his Christmas tree. Not content to simply put lights on a tree and flip the switch, though, Johnson mounted a rather pathetic looking tree on an electric turntable that spun the tree around. As it turned, the lights blinked on and off, alternating colors from white to blue to red.

In 1900, General Electric, who bought the patent to Edison’s lights, published the first advertisement for Christmas lights. They were so expensive; strings of lights could be bought or rented. Mass production quickly changed everything and by 1915 companies sold lighted figurines and ornaments for trees. As soon as electric lights were sealed to be used outside, electric Christmas lights moved outside the house. And so began the era of attempting to outdo our neighbors with outsized displays and power-sucking lights. All in an attempt chase away the darkness and bring light to our homes.

And now I think I need to go to the store. There’s this one spot on the side of the house that isn’t lit up…Dad would be so proud.

For more information on Christmas lighting, read the six part series on Christmas lights at http://www.jimonlight.com/

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Take time to listen

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Tomorrow, when you get home from the Black Friday frenzy and before your favorite team plays football, take some time to listen. It’s really not that hard.

Friday, November 23, 2012 is the National Day of Listening.
“StoryCorps’ National Day of Listening launched in 2008 to encourage people to record an interview with a friend, loved one, or member of their community on the day after Thanksgiving as one of the least expensive but most meaningful gifts we can give one another during the holiday season.”
A friend of mine who works with StoryCorps contacted me about this year’s program because he knew about my Voices of War project. Anyone can record their story this year, and on any topic, but this year StoryCorps has chosen to feature the stories of veterans, active duty military, and their families.
I’ve recorded more than 40 interviews for my documentary, but I’ve obviously just scratched the surface. In West Virginia alone (population 1.8 million-ish) there are more than 200,000 veterans who have served their country. While West Virginia is known for having the highest number of veterans per capita, there are millions more stories out there. Family stories are important to capture, too.
And the coolest part is, you don’t need anything fancy to record your story. You already have the tools you need.
“StoryCorps is partnering with SoundCloud to debut an innovative tool that will collect thousands of stories submitted from all across the country. The Wall of Listening allows people to record a story and upload it with a picture of the interview partners. You can record using your web browser, or using equipment readily available to you, such as an iPhone, a digital recorder, or a laptop.”
You’re probably saying “I don’t know how to interview someone.” StoryCorps gives you questions you can ask to get the conversation started right on the webpage. I’ve literally done thousands of interviews over the years. My best tip is to shut up and listen. Ask a question like “Tell me about the time…” “Or how did it make you feel when…” and then be quiet. And when the person you are interviewing pauses for a minute, resist the temptation to fill that space by saying something. Stay quiet. More often than not, your interview subject will pick right back up and continue the story. I promise.
So, take advantage of this together time and record a story or two. You won’t regret it.

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Being Thankful

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When I was a kid, Thanksgiving was “Turkey Day”. For me, the whole purpose of the day was eating turkey and mashed potatoes. I knew (or thought I knew) the story of the first pilgrims and the feast they had at the end of the harvest, inviting their “Indian” friends over for a big party. At school every year we made construction paper hats and headdresses to play our parts for the day.

Today it seems Thanksgiving is more significant to some people for what comes after—Black Friday. Now Black Friday is encroaching on Thanksgiving itself. I hear people complain about the expanded offerings for “sales” saying how awful they think it is that those who work in the stores won’t be able to spend time with their families. There are even petitions about it. As long as people are standing outside waiting for stores to open so they can get that moment’s big deal, the stores will keep edging their sales earlier and earlier. The most effective protest is to stay home.
On the other hand, I see more and more people stopping to be thankful, often for the little things that we take for granted. A Facebook trend this month is people posting about things they’re thankful for over 30 days; naming something each day. It’s pretty tough to do. In the press of life and busy schedules, it can be difficult to remember to take a moment to be thankful for something. Of course, there are some days thinking of something to be thankful for can be pretty difficult. Typically, it starts out with people being thankful for a warm, dry place to live, food to eat and other material things. As they move through the month, if they are dedicated to the effort, they take time to be thankful for things that aren’t things at all. They are thankful for people; friends and family, and good things they see in the world around them.
As an adult, Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. While I enjoy Christmas, and believe in the Christ story behind the holiday, I get frustrated with the feeling that you “have to” do things—gifts, parties, activities that aren’t related to the meaning of Christmas at all. To me that isn’t a holiday. And that’s what makes Thanksgiving so great. So far, no one has been able to find a way to commercialize Thanksgiving, other than the aforementioned expansion of Christmas shopping.
Thanksgiving is still about family and friends. It is about the intangible things in our lives. It is about slowing down to remember the people who aren’t with us anymore and being grateful for what we have: a warm home, a bed, food to eat. For many people, it’s also a great time to remember the people around us who don’t have those things and then attempting to help; people helping people.
I am thankful to be with my family this Thanksgiving. I am thankful for the comforts I have and I am thankful for the opportunities I have as a writer and a storyteller to use my God-given talents to entertain.
Take a few moments to be thankful for what you have.
And then pass me the turkey… 
Happy Thanksgiving!

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