Building your Portfolio as a Writer? Here is Some Inspiration

I am a writer. I would like to be a travel writer. I started in January of 2015 full time writing. I decided I would start with blogging to build a portfolio. I have read many articles on writing and being a writer. This is my short list of things I need to do;

Write, write and write some more
Be a self starter - You become a writer the first time you write something on a page
Be motivated - disciplined
Reading skills
Knowledge - research
Willingness to learn
Get used to rejection
Keep submitting works
Willingness to work with deadlines
Strong writing skills
Some luck
Literary agent

In need of a break and a change in thinking I attended the Affair of the Heart craft show in Tulsa, Oklahoma. I was on the search for something new to blog about. Not expecting to find authors among the vendors it was a pleasant surprise to find two authors; Mark Bowlin and Ron Miller.

Award winning author Mark Bowlin is a historian, security consultant, retired naval officer and author. He served in the US Navy as a Intelligence officer. He began his service in 1987 and served until 1990. He served one year in Iraq during Desert Storm.

He cut his teeth as a writer on book series like the 12-book series of Horatio Hornblower which is a series about a Royal Naval officer during the Napoleonic Wars by C. S. Forrester. Master and Commander series by Patrick O’Brian’s, 20-book series about a Naval Doctor’s life during the early 1900’s.

He won the 2010 Military Writer’s Society of America Gold Medal Award for his WWII historical fiction/adventure The Texas Gun Club. He has material for nine or ten books to tell the adventures of the “Texas Army.” He has completed four in the series.

The Texas Gun Club
Victory Road
For God and Country
Ghost of the Mountain

This series is about two cousins, Sam Taft about 50 and Capt. Perkins Berger 25, from Corpus Christi, Texas who go through WWII together. They are a part of the 36th division of the “Texas Army.” The “Texas Army” was a National Guard unit and a part of the US Fifth Army. They were lead by Commander Mark Clark. They served in Italy during the conflict with Germany in 1944. They enter WWII at the onset and served about 360 days which is an extended amount of time considering the average number of days a person is deployed is about 100.

Each book in Mark Bowlin’s series closely follows history and centers around a different battle.

More information on Mark Bowlin is found at

www.thetexasfunclub.com
Mark@markbowlin.org
Mlbowlin@yahoo.com
Facebook - The Texas Gun Club
His books can be purchased on Amazon.com

The other author is Ron Miller. He grew up on a small farm in Eastern Oklahoma. He and his brother made up stories about big men, big ideas, big goals, and success. These “big” ideas are what author Ron Miller writes about. Mr. Miller has eight western novels;

From an Oath to a Dream
Escape to Texas
Chasing the Wind with Red Dancer
The Texas Gathering
Dry Wind of Texas
Texas Drifter

And two contemporary westerns;

Oklahoma Gold
Okie Luck

Mr. Miller likes to read stories by Louis L’Amour, Tony Hilleman and Zane Gray. Mr. Miller stated; “Oklahoma Gold is a fictional story, but is loosely based on the county commissioner conflict from the 1970’s in Oklahoma.”

The character’s in his stories don’t always meet their goals, but that’s ok it’s not success, but the journey that makes the story.

More information on Ron Miller

www.westernauthor.com
Ronmiller@westernauthor.com
918-951-0200

Both of these author’s are out on the road signing books. This visit allowed me to look for a short period into the life of authors, reading their books and doing this blog is building a scaffolding for what I hope is my future - writing. Mr. Miller really encouraged me to join a writer’s club. He said it was very helpful for him.

I now have more information I need to put it into practice. I have now added to my short list to join a writer’s club.