Book Beginnings

My writing tool in college: 1918 Underwood typewriter.

In my future book,"Detour through France", my own introduction to France and French culture is entwined with the story told through my uncle Arvid's letters written during World War II. Arvid  trained in the Army to participate in the Normandy invasion of June 6, 1944. If Arvid wasn't interested in the French before he landed on French soil, he certainly had good words to write about them once he was there.

Maybe it isn't entirely chance that, in 1984, I developed an interest in France and French. A summer program offered for graduate credits toward my M.B.A and set in Lyon, France immediately appealed to me. I never had an expectation of visiting France prior to that, especially since I had never studied French. Might the idea have been seeded in me early by my uncle's story?

I meet challenges head-on, and so I have begun to write a book. I may have no urge to jump out of an airplane yet I have jumped into learning French now because of its difficulty, and next I am jumping into an intimidating amount of work writing this book. 

I wish to motivate my readers to engage themselves in challenges that they never thought they could do. We are adaptable. When unforeseen obstacles form, we find means to get over, and around, them. As a river encountering geological forces, we must change course from time to time to accomplish our goals. Detours can make the journey so rewarding and sometimes it even changes human history.