Blog Posts - Books by Eric Douglas

One-room schoolhouse – history just down the road

October 18, 2012 By Eric Douglas

Just about a mile or so from where I live, adjacent to the Pinch Reunion grounds and back in the woods, is an old one-room school house. My wife showed it to me about six months ago, but I didn’t have a chance to explore it until now.

After a little checking around, I’ve discovered it was once called the Lower Pinch School. Maps show there was also once an Upper Pinch School a few miles away. I’m not sure if it’s still standing or not. Incidentally, online maps also show that the building is across the main road. It’s not. I was just there. I wondered if it had been moved, but I was able to find one old picture of it and it appears to be the same building in the same place.

Walking into the school, I couldn’t help but think about the kids who studied there. What did they grow up to do or become? I’d wager quite a few of them stayed close to home, worked on the family farm, at the saw mill or in the mines. Some probably went away to fight in WWI or WWII, leaving West Virginia for the first time in their lives to fight and die in Europe, a place they vaguely studied back in that tiny school.

I’m sure the building is more than 100 years old, but it still appears to be sturdy. Walking as slowly and as gently as I could, I walked around inside—making sure to stay on top of the rough cut floor beams as I moved. I didn’t feel any give or bounce in the floor. The interior was dry as well, telling me the roof was solid. In spite of its age, the building was wired for electricity, so I would also guess it remained in use into the 1930s or 1940s, if not later.

Vandals have torn up some of the flooring and painted graffiti on the walls. That’s normal and not at all surprising. There are pieces of an old upright piano in the building as well.

I’m curious who owns the building, or at least owns the land it sits on. I’ve never been opposed to development and progress. Believe me, the last thing I think we should do is go back to one-room schools. At the same time, I hate it when we forget the way things used to be and how far we’ve come. I’d love to see someone take ownership of the building and restore it. It could be a community center or a local museum. Otherwise it’ll be a place for kids to hang out away from parents’ prying eyes—until someone gets hurt or it burns down mysteriously.

Time to do a little more digging.

Showing up is “all” the battle

October 16, 2012 By Eric Douglas

“Do not by any means destroy yourself, for if you live you may yet have good fortune, but all the dead are dead alike.”
~ The Horse and His Boy– C.S. Lewis

I spent this past weekend at the West Virginia Book Festival hawking my books and talking to browsers who walked through. I learn more about myself every time I talk to someone about my books, or answer a question about what would make my stories interesting for them. When I wasn’t talking to potential buyers, I spent a lot of time talking to some of the other authors who were at the show.

Afterward, I spent a lot of time thinking about perseverance and what it takes to “make it” as an author and a writer. Granted, part of that “thinking” time was on the patio with a glass of red wine, but it all counts. Oprah isn’t calling me, but I’ve finished four novels and co-authored a nonfiction book (along with a host of other things) so I have a clue or two on what it takes to finish a book. It probably sounds cliché, but the secret to finishing a book is showing up. Taking the time to write and actually writing.

A friend and fellow writer, Elizabeth Damewood Gaucher, interviewed me about writing and a new project called River Town for the BooksWide Open blog. She also writes her own blog called Esse Diem, that I highly recommend. In the interview, we talked about what it takes to be a writer. I said you need to own it. You need to shout from the roof tops that you are a writer. Don’t qualify it.

Just as importantly, you have to keep showing up, you have to keep smiling and you have to keep working it. Even when no one is coming to your table and no one seems interested in what you have to say. In the “life lessons” category, this is true about anything, but especially creative projects whether they be writing or painting or dancing or anything else.

As I was running these thoughts around in my mind, I stumbled across the quote at the top from CS Lewis. Destroying yourself can mean a lot of things, not just death. It can mean quitting, giving up or failing to try. It also means having the nerve to fail and to fail spectacularly.

As a writer I have been knocked down and pushed away and have received so many rejection letters I’ve lost count.

The information revolution has given every writer—every person who thinks they have something to say—a chance to say it. You don’t have to wait on someone to give you permission.

This weekend, I’m offering a class at the WVSU Economic Development Center/Digiso on Self Publishing. I’ll be mainly talking about how to publish book-length projects, but we’ll talk about blogs and social media as well. Those are tremendous ways to get your voice heard and build a following.

If you have something to say and are tired of waiting on someone to give you permission, join me Friday night to get started.

Writing, reading and talking about books

October 12, 2012 By Eric Douglas

I grew up reading. I’ve always loved it. For me, reading was a way to travel to other places and other worlds. I credit my mom with giving me that love of reading. I remember reading books and actually missing the characters when an especially good story was over. I was sad to be finished. Until I picked up the next book.

Since those early days, I’ve always had stories swirling around inside my head. It took me a while, until I reached adulthood, to figure out that those stories in my head could actually make it on paper and just might be interesting and entertaining to someone else. Now, I think I like writing as much as reading. I tell people the experiences are very much the same for me, except I get to decide what happens to the characters rather than waiting to see what the author wants to happen.

Holding a book that you wrote in your hands is a truly unique experience, not unlike the birth of a child. Most of the time, it actually takes longer for the book to develop than it does a baby. As a parent, though, you are usually proud to show off your baby. When it comes to sharing a book, it is actually one of the scariest things you’ll ever do as a writer. It takes a while to get used to talking to someone who really isn’t interested in your work, or worse dislikes it.

To write a book, it takes hundreds of hours. You might write a thousand words every time you sit down at the keyboard. A few thousand if you’re on a roll. A typical novel runs anywhere from 75,000 to 100,000 words. And that doesn’t include revisions, rewrites and research. At the end of all that work, you desperately want people to like what you’ve written.

This weekend I’m participating in the West Virginia BookFestival with my latest novel, Wreck of the Huron, the latest short story SeaMonster and the latest children’s story Swimming with Sharks. I’ve done book signings on my own. You know the people who come to a signing are there for you or at least curious about what you write. I’ve worked trade shows for previous employers selling a variety of products and services. This will be the first time in my life I’ve ever worked a trade show where the main product I’ll be there representing is me and my books. I have to admit, I’m excited and a little nervous.

I’m looking forward to sharing my books with my hometown crowd, seeing some old friends and meeting some new ones. One of the greatest parts of this event will be that I’m going to be one of 20 or so authors present who are representing their books. Should be fun. And I’m fairly sure I’ll come home with a couple books to read at the end of it. And probably inspiration for a couple new projects.

Come out and say “hi” if you get the chance. I’ll be in booth 505.

I hope I don’t look too nervous…

Going Black and White Underwater

October 8, 2012 By Eric Douglas

My first “real” exposure to photography was a black and white photography and darkroom class I took at Marshall. I had taken pictures before that, but never seriously. We all had those oblong cameras on our 6^thgrade patrol trip to Washington DC that advanced the film with a thumb slide.

After college, I set up a darkroom in my mom’s house and continued shooting black and white for myself. I loved the control of the darkroom and the ability to make images look the way they did in my mind. I would literally spend hours in the darkroom, making prints and adjusting them and then watching them appear in the developer tray.

In 1998, I moved to California and mothballed my darkroom. I didn’t have the room for it, and I wasn’t shooting much at that time anyway. Later that same year, I saw a series of photographs by Ernie Brooks that blew me away. The show was made up entirely of underwater images in black and white. I was amazed by what I saw and I never forgot those photographs, but it never occurred to me to try black and white underwater photography for myself. (I admit, sometimes, I’m a little dense…)

Earlier this summer, I was scuba diving with my father in Summersville Lake when I realized that everything was monotone—in this case, shades of green. Suddenly a light came on in my brain that the photographs I was making, and everything around me, would look good in black and white. And a new project was born.

My new darkroom comes in the form of my laptop computer. Fortunately, I don’t have to spend hours waiting on these images to develop and I don’t have to deal with the chemical smells. For me, the fun thing about these photographs is that they reveal a side to the state that most West Virginians never see. I think they look spooky and mysterious.

Many of my friends say they could never go scuba diving, for any number of reasons. I feel sorry for them—they will never experience what I’ve been fortunate to see—but I do understand.

I hope sharing these photographs will shed a new light on the world beneath the surface of the water. You can find beauty in some of the strangest places. It just takes getting out there and opening your eyes.

Even in black and white.

Starting discussions and asking questions

October 2, 2012 By Eric Douglas

Over the years, I’ve been a frequent flyer, logging as many as 60,000 air miles in 12 months. One way I pass the time is thinking about “why” people are traveling. I try to figure out their unique story; what they are thinking about and why they are on the road. Thinking about those individual stories led me to wonder how those people would react if faced with a common problem.

The basis of the short story, Decisions on a Small Plane, was a Jet Blue flight in 2005 where the passengers on board were able to watch news reports about the trouble their own plane was having and how they were going to have to make an emergency landing. Over the years, I’ve heard people question how God can let bad things happen to good people—especially while “bad” people seem to succeed. I never had a good answer for that question myself and considering the number of people I’ve heard ask the question, it seems like a common one. The horrible attacks of 9/11 are a perfect example of the problem. How many people died that day because of hate, but who had personally never done anything wrong? They didn’t deserve to die. I’m sure many of those same people, when they realized they were doomed, spent their last few moments on earth praying. But they died anyway.

That is where Decisions on a Small Plane came from. It started out as a writing experiment to bring together disparate characters with no connection and throw them together in a small space. Along the way, it became about something much bigger. It became a story about faith.

Generally, my stories are about adventures—both big and small. In many ways, Decisions on a Small Plane is an adventure for me. It feels like I’m going out on a limb, talking about my own thoughts and my own faith. This story became personal as I thought through the answers to my own questions about “why God lets bad things happen to good people.” I learned a few things in the writing.

I’m not an expert on any of this and don’t pretend to be. I talked about this story with the pastor of my church and asked him to review it (twice) before we even thought about putting this story out there. I hope anyone who reads Decisions on a Small Plane will allow it to spark questions in their own mind and that they will ask someone who can help them understand. That was my purpose in writing this story the way I did. I hope it starts conversations and helps people talk. If it does that, it has served its purpose. And that will be fine with me.

Please feel free to share the story with anyone you think might be interested in reading it. If you want to use the story at your own church or in your own group, you are welcome to do that. Just let me know where and what you’re going to do with it and please don’t change it. Other than that, it is free and available for anyone to read and share.

You can find the link at the bottom of the Emmanuel Baptist Church website or in the church blog. Just click on the Decisions on a Small Plane link.

Veterans of the USS West Virginia

October 1, 2012 By Eric Douglas

Over the weekend, I had the honor and privilege of meeting a small group of veterans from World War II who served aboard the USS West Virginia, known as the “WeeVee”. Two of them were onboard at Pearl Harbor when the ship was bombed and sank. Others served on the battleship later in the war after it was floated, repaired and sent back to war.

The group, down to about 11 men, expects this to be their last reunion meeting. They are all getting up in age and wanted their last meeting to be in West Virginia. I’ve always been interested in history, war history and West Virginia history so when I saw the men were coming to Charleston with their families it naturally caught my attention. But there was also a closer connection.

My daughters’ great grandfather (on their mother’s side) Anthony “Tony” Sereno was on board the USS West Virginia at Pearl Harbor. He survived the attack by jumping into the sea and swimming ashore on Ford Island. His family in Richwood, West Virginia learned that he was missing in action by telegram. It wasn’t until 18 days later, on Christmas Day, that they learned Tony was alive and well. Tony was about six months short of finishing up his commitment to the Navy when Japan attacked. He ended up getting extended until after the war finally ended in 1945. As one of the only sailors who was actually from West Virginia on board the battleship at the time, Tony is also featured in a video about World War II that runs on a loop in the West Virginia Culture Center museum.

Unfortunately, Tony passed away last summer at the age of 94. My daughters got to spend quite a bit of time with Tony, though, and were very close to him. I tell them all the time how lucky they are to have known their great grandparents. When I told the girls where we were going on Saturday, they were excited. For them, it was a chance to meet with others who had done the same things as Tony and a chance to reconnect with him. We spent about 45 minutes there talking to Syl Puccio, one of the Pearl Harbor survivors. We bought a ship’s hat and the girls had Mr. Puccio sign it for them. Mr. Puccio recently received the Navy and Marine Corps commendation for his heroic actions that day and is credited with saving hundreds of lives on board. It is entirely possible Tony lived through the attack because of Mr. Puccio’s actions. Talk about life coming full circle, even if it took 71 years.

If you’re interested in learning more about the group or the battleship USS West Virginia, visit the group’s website.

In 2006, I wrote and published a short story called Pearl Harbor Christmas, based on Tony’s experiences at Pearl Harbor. It is free to download and read. The girls and I took a copy of the story that included a picture of Tony and the one above of them looking at the video loop, and presented it to the group as well.