Books by Eric Douglas

Thriller fiction and Non-fiction

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Everyone can create!

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A year ago, when I was planning to move back to West Virginia (after being away for nearly 14 years), I talked to my then-girlfriend about creating a program that helped regular people create their own documentaries. I had recently completed the certificate program at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke Universityand I wanted to replicate that sort of program here in West Virginia. My thinking was that we (West Virginians) don’t do a very good job telling our own stories. We usually let outsiders do it for us and then complain because they got it wrong.

 

While I lived away, I told people where I was from and more than once I had to explain: 

“No, I don’t know how to play a banjo. Deliverance was actually filmed in Georgia.”
Flash forward about six months to the opening of DigiSo at the West Virginia State University Economic Development Center on the West Side of Charleston. I wrote about it in my blog post Digital Age andWest Virginia.
A couple weeks ago, I attended the opening for the new Creators Programand last night I attended a seminar from the program. All I have to say is Danny Boyd and the rest of the crew at DigiSo have done exactly what I hoped to do. And they are doing it right.
“The Creators Program is a series of short community workshops focused on key skills and knowledge essential to “creating” for mass media and art.”
This is a chance for everyone who has thought “I want to tell a story” but didn’t know how to do it to get the tools and the support they need. And learn from the very people who do it for a living.
The Creators Program isn’t just about making films. At the program I attended last night, presented by Amy Saunders, grants administrator for the West Virginia Humanities Council, there were people working for small non-profits and looking for ways to tell a story, an author looking to publish his book about education, a couple filmmakers and a musician producing her second album, while thinking about creating a documentary about the Italian stone cutters who migrated to West Virginia. Two ladies were working to create a food pantry at their church and looking at ways to tell the story and find funding. Amy talked about what it takes to get grant money to produce projects.
It just so happens, Danny has asked me to put on a seminar next month on Self Publishing. And I have an idea that I’m working on, about documentaries, that might come around next year. In short, this is an amazing opportunity for people to get involved and learn to tell stories. The facilities at DigiSo are as good, or better, than what I used at Duke . This is definitely something to be proud of and we all need to take advantage of this program.
I can’t wait until the first person graduates with a Creators Certificate and finishes up a project with skills they learned at DigiSo. I will be there cheering. Because I know it means average people are succeeding at telling their own stories.
Upcoming seminars include:
·         Self Publishing for Writers – Eric Douglas 10/19 – 10/20
·         Entertainment/IP Law – Robert Bandy & Kevin Levine 11/2
·         Working With the Film Office – Pam Haynes (and WV Film Office staff) 12/8

You can check the schedule and register at http://wvsu.incutrack.net/calendar/calendar.cfmfor all classes. And there is a lot more in the works for next year too.

 

 

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Piloting our own way

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I’ve often wondered about the courage it took for the first European settlers to come to America and explore this country. Most of them came with nothing more than what they had on their backs. They knew there was no way to go “home”. It was a one way ticket to the New World and they had to make it or die trying.

Obviously, there were Native Americans here and those Europeans made some serious, arrogant mistakes in how they approached the land and the people. But I’m still impressed that settlers came at all, and even more impressed with the effort it took to head west.
It must have been an incredible challenge for the early explorers to set out with no roads and barely able to see the land ahead of them because of the miles and miles of forests. And then, in the distance through a break in the trees, they would have seen something like Pilot Mountain. And that marker would have given them the guide to keep moving forward.
Pilot Mountain’s Native American name was Jomeokee. It means “the Great Guide” or Pilot. The mountain stands as a reference point for travelers and can be seen for miles from where it rises 1400 feet above the relatively flat plain. Looking from the Little Pinnacle to the Big Pinnacle, feeling somewhat on top of the world (if still less than half a mile above sea level) I’m sure I was the only one of the hundreds of visitors yesterday wondering about the history of the place and what it says about our future.
Do we still have the same explorer spirit we had 300 years ago? Are we tough enough to do what those early men and women did? Honestly, I think so. That’s why we challenge ourselves with extreme sports and Ultimate Fighter Championships or competitions in front of cameras on reality shows. It’s how we push ourselves. We are missing real challenges so we compensate with self-imposed ones. As I’m writing this, the Chris Rice song “You don’t have to yell”came on Pandora. It sums up my thoughts on “reality” television and why I refuse to watch any of it. Those are just artificial challenges to make us forget that we are missing something.
Daily, I’m more and more convinced that we need to explore the world around us and see what sort of difference we can make for each other. When Neil Armstrong passed away recently, I wrote a blog about him and the idea of being challenged to do something bigger than ourselves.It would be easy to say, “Who will lead us?” and sit back and wait for one of our elected leaders to get us out of our easy chairs and inspire us the way John Kennedy did a generation ago.
But why wait? Why are we waiting for permission?  I just finished reading the book Tribes by Seth Godin. He talks about the mistake that many of us make, waiting for permission to take charge and lead. There isn’t anyone to give us permission. We just need to step up and do it.
Every day I see someone complain about something on Facebook. Often, those same people acknowledge that it is a “First World” problem, realizing what they are complaining about isn’t all that important.  Other friends talk about feeling lonely or bored while they sit at home or at a bar by themselves. It makes me sad to see them wasting talents and energy when they could be setting the world on fire with their energy and ideas.
That settler spirit is in all of us. We just need to set out and see what’s out there ahead of us. I’m not saying we need build a rocket to the moon or explore uncharted lands. We don’t need to pick up our families and move to a remote jungle to see if we can survive. There are lots of ways we can “explore” our own worlds: volunteering, teaching a class, reading to kids, inspiring others with our own experiences. It doesn’t matter.
It just takes that first step. Find a pilot in the distance to guide from and start walking.

If you want to talk about opportunities to get out and explore your world, join the group Adventures with a Purpose on FB.

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Going on Photosafari

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Just about every morning I take a walk in my neighborhood. The weather has been perfect lately and the fog has had a magical quality to it. I carry my iPhone with me because, well, because I always carry it. At this point, I think it’s actually part of my body. I’ve been trying to capture what the fog “looks” like, but really haven’t gotten anything that makes me go “That’s it!” Sometimes what we see with our eyes is different from what the chip in the camera is able to capture.

A few days ago, I decided it was time to venture out with my big camera, not just the one in my phone. I was specifically out to photograph something, but sometimes you see the coolest things while you are getting to your destination. It was time for a photosafari.
The word safari evokes mental images of stalking big game animals in Africa. Throw “photo” in front of it and most people will think of stalking those same big game animals with a camera instead of a gun. But a photosafari doesn’t have to involve a passport and an incredibly long flight to southern Africa. (I’ve made it twice and it’s painful.) No, a photosafari is something you can do in your own backyard, or just down the street. You never know, you might just discover things you never noticed before when you open your eyes and look around.
I’ve said it many times before, but generally I like photographing people. I love expressions and characters. That said, when I’m on a photosafari, I often find myself looking for the small things. I look for the things we wouldn’t notice normally. Not faces, but unusual patterns or textures in the landscape around me. And I like to get close to the small things to capture details.
My blog is called Adventure with a Purpose for a reason. When I started writing it, the purpose was a couple big projects I was working on that I felt people needed to know about. I wanted to show readers that the people of Russia were no different than you or me, and I wanted to show people about the serious problem with the Moskito Indians in Honduras as they dived for lobster.
Over the last year or so, I’ve been working to convince people that “adventures” don’t mean zip lining over the New River Gorge (although that looks like a LOT of fun). Adventures can be simply turning off the television, getting outside and exploring your surroundings.  They don’t require a passport or a road trip. West Virginia has amazing opportunities for adventures literally just down the road.
The important thing is to keep looking at the world around you, and to keep trying for that “perfect” fog picture. Or whatever else it is that flips your switch.
Just keep looking!

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Taking an Adventure

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I often talk about taking adventures and have often challenged my readers to do the same. But it occurs to me that I may not be clear about what I think an “adventure” is. An adventure is anything that gets me off the couch and out of the house, meeting people or discovering something new. It can be a big adventure or small one. Doesn’t really matter. For me, life is lived out there, not inside watching television.

I’m often asked how I have time to write books and all the other stuff I’m into. The short answer is I don’t watch much television. I’m not opposed to television and there are a few shows I do watch but in general very little of what is broadcast these days interests me. Most of what passes for entertainment is, in my opinion, the root of many of our problems. People watch the fighting and screaming and cursing on today’s “reality” shows and think that’s how they’re supposed to act. They believe that is “reality” and so it becomes reality.

I prefer a different reality.

I’m not trying to say that I’m out exploring every day or setting off on a new grand adventure each week. There’s no way to keep up that pace. I know that. I’m also not trying to say I think I am better than anyone else. I just choose a different way to spend my time. I make an effort to get out and see the world when I can. It’s amazing to me how much stuff is close by. You just have to look.

So, that’s my challenge to you. Find an adventure. Turn off the television and go get involved in something. Take on a new project.

If you’re in the Charleston area, check out the Creators Programat DigiSo. I’ll be putting on a presentation there next month on Self Publishing and there are lots of other programs coming up about lots of different topics, all geared to help people be creative.

If you’re not around here, or not interested in that, take a class in something you always wanted to do. Learn pottery, go on an archeological dig, learn to dive, take up photography, go spelunking, take on a project at your church. Whatever floats your boat, but get out there.

 I don’t know if this will work or not, but I’m going to set up a new Group on Facebook called Adventures with a Purpose. I’ll post these blogs there, but I’m also hoping people (YOU) will follow the page and post your own adventures. I want to create up a community of people who like to get out of their comfort zone a little bit. Maybe we can encourage each other take on new adventures. If you have an opportunity, post it. If you did something interesting, post it with pictures. You never know what that might spark someone else to try.

I hope to see you out there!

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Voices of War

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For the last six months, I’ve been working on a new documentary project. I’m calling it Voices of War. Frankly, it will be another six months before it is finished.

I’ve been collecting oral histories from West Virginia war veterans. I began this project when I learned that only 20 or so oral histories had been submitted to the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project from West Virginia. This is out of an estimated 200,000 veterans living in the Mountain State. After I launched my project, I learned that Glenville State College is gathering an archive of West Virginia veteran oral histories which might explain why there hadn’t been many submissions to the national one. After thinking about it for a couple days, I realized that there can’t be too many of these efforts and that it is vitally important to collect as many of these memories as we possibly can.

My project is not solely about collecting these oral histories to be submitted to an archive, however. I plan to use each of these interviews in a documentary. It will feature an audio documentary combining comments and thoughts from each of the veterans I’ve interviewed and a printed piece with stories taken from the interviews.

It’s been an eye-opening and extremely gratifying project. I’ve sat down in dozens of homes and just listened, prodding or directing where need-be, but mostly just listening and trying to grasp what these men and women have seen.

I’ve learned a lot about the cost of war, too. It isn’t just the infantry, but the truck drivers, the security guards and the cooks who experience it.  One veteran I spoke to, Ira Richmond, was a signalman on a landing craft in WWII in the south Pacific. He was there for MacArthur’s return to the Philippines. His ship was fired on, but never actually hit. Still, the stress must have been incredible. A shipmate of his left him a note saying “I can’t take another landing” and disappeared. The next morning, all they found were his shoes. He saw things that broke his heart as well. When they would take an island, small canoes would paddle out to their ships filled with women and children, begging for food and clothing after the long occupation.

I still have a few more interviews to collect. Specifically at this point, I’m looking for women veterans who deployed to any war zone and men and women who have served in Afghanistan. The biggest challenge I’m facing now, though, is to do this project justice. How do you tell the story of all of these men and women? That is the challenge I signed up for when I started this, and I do love a good challenge.

Time to get to work.

If you can to read other blog posts about this project and hear snippets from other veterans I’ve interviewed, follow these links.

·         Talking to Veterans


·         The Power of Monuments


·         Voices of War Update


·         Soldiers After War

If you’re interested in my previous documentary projects, check out:

The issue with Miskito Divers

The exhibit in Russia

 

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Watching Hummingbirds Fly

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One of the real upsides to being a writer/photographer is that I can work just about anywhere there is a wifi connection. And when I am working, I am usually pretty still. I sit quietly with my computer in my lap and type, thinking as I go. Of course, I prefer to work places where it’s quiet with a minimum of distractions. That said, sometimes the distractions can be inspirational in their own right.

Sitting outside on my patio, I heard an odd buzzing sound over my shoulder. It sounded like a bee, but if it were a flying insect it would’ve had to have been really close. And there was nothing there. Looking a little further out, I saw two hummingbirds darting in and out of the flowers and the feeder I have set up. I went back inside and got my camera, switched to my longest lens, resumed my spot and waited. It wasn’t long until they came back around.

Of course, hummingbirds don’t sit still for long, and they are really small moving targets so I missed more than I got. But I got a couple good ones.

It turns out, these are Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. According to the WV Division of Natural Resources, this is the only species of hummingbird present in West Virginia and they are only here during their nesting season. That means, more than likely, there is a nest with babies somewhere close by. The DNR has more information if you want to read about them.

Surveying the area just beyond my back fence there is still a large pile of broken limbs from the tree that broke in half during the Derecho storm at the end of June. I keep seeing the birds fly up to those limbs to rest a few minutes. It makes me wonder if they are using the limbs to nest.

I’ve lived away from West Virginia and just recently returned. Not everything is perfect here. I know that. The same can be said for any place you go. (As they say, the grass is always greener…) I’ve lived in California and North Carolina and liked things about both places. And disliked things in both places, too.

This is one of the things I like best now that I’m back. I don’t live out in the country, but I live in a place where nature is literally in my backyard. That can be said for most of the state, I guess. What West Virginia has that many places don’t is quality of life. It is a place where you can be downtown in 10 or 15 minutes or well out in the country in another 15 minutes. It is a place where you can still find places without a cell signal. That may sound like a bad thing, but there are times when it is a very good thing.

For the moment, it’s time to get back to work. But I’ll stay right here on my patio and enjoy the buzzing sound of hummingbirds, knowing they are raising babies in my backyard, and enjoy the scenery..

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