I received this email from a veteran who drove 45 minutes to see my reading last night:
Thanks for your talk tonight at the Appleton Library and for your service. Your stories were captivating and so true-to-life for a veteran like me…………and I share your sentiments about finding your own way out of the PTSD mess. I was discharged with a ‘nervous’ condition in 1970, long before they thought up the term PTSD. It took me ’40 Years and a Good Woman,’ but I found my way out too. I appreciate your offer to help me. Any advice or suggestions you have will be greatly appreciated. I tried taking a creative writing class last year at UW Fox Valley, but the young college kids were so innocent that I felt totally out of place with my Nam stories. It is hard to talk about smoky opium dens and professional blow jobs in class, when the kids are relating their Midwestern childhood experiences………………
This is why I wrote the book. I took this veteran’s stories and I will put one of them in the anthology which is almost done. I have a day off today for some Bloody Marys, cheese curds, and summer sausages. My next reading will be at a bookstore in Des Moines at 6:30 pm on Monday. More information to follow.
Sean Davis 