Linda Svendsen's 'Marine Life' was important. I was nearly 22. Larry Mathews discussed the book in a creative writing class. We examined her stories, figured out how they worked.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
I have been writing for 50 years and readers still read my first book from when I was in the Marine Corps.
In college, I wrote newspaper articles and songs. Then, on my 21st birthday, I sold my first book. It was a nonfiction book about women pirates - 'Pirates in Petticoats.' After that, I was a book writer for good.
I'd been in college studying English creative writing and history when I made the decision to join the Marines in the runup to the Iraq war.
My father was a World War II Marine who became a high school principal. He always had a heart for students who maybe were underprivileged or had difficulty of some sort.
If I had to name one book that has had the most lasting influence on my work, I would pick 'The Big Sea' by Langston Hughes.
When I was in my teens, I was very, very keen on being the author of a book. What the book was was secondary. I wanted it to be in hardback. I didn't care how thick or thin it was, and I didn't actually care what it was about.
I wrote my first book when I was in my late thirties.
I had gone to school to study marine biology.
I began writing seriously in my mid-20s and didn't publish my first book until I was 41.
I have 60 years of reading to draw upon: naval memoirs, dispatches, the Naval Chronicles, family letters.