Tomorrow I’m invited to speak to residents at a local nursing home. As I reflected on how to present a Vietnam War memoir to a group of World War II era citizens, I decided that I should focus on a formative event from their past. I will mention Muddy Jungle Rivers but then I will read a few letters written in 1943 and 1944.

My grandfather served as an Army officer in WWI and WWII. By 1942 he was 48 years old but was recalled to active duty as a training officer. He was first stationed at Camp Maxey, Texas, where he took raw recruits from farms and cities through recruit and advanced infantryman training. Later he transferred to Camp Shanks, New York where he escorted troop  battalions on convoy crossings in the North Atlantic. December 1944, his ship was mined. It sank in Antwerp Harbor.

These two letters are representative of the living conditions and angst of the men during those years.

1943-01-26 Camp Maxey, Texas—northeast corner of Texas near the Oklahoma border. While stored in the Chickenhouse, mice gnawed the top of this envalope and damaged the first line on each page of the letter.

1944-10-19 My grandfather’s V-Mail letter to his wife from a North Atlantic troop convoy ship, about five weeks before his ship sank.

On November 11, 2012 I spoke at the Red Lake Nation Veterans Day ceremony. I was humbled when elder Larry Stillday, a Vietnam Veteran, presented me with an honorary membership in the Ponemah Three Star Warrior Society. Genesis of the Society is explained by elder Eugene Stillday on this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ME1cBoYIj6o I was honored to carry the U.S. Flag in the Veterans Grand Entry for the afternoon powwow. Thank you Red Lake Nation veterans and all the Red Lake community for your hospitality.

I’ve been studying the Seven Sacred Teachings. Anton Treuer, Professor of Ojibwe at Bemidji State University, loaned me a book written by David Bouchard and Dr. Joseph Martin. Bouchard, explains, ““The Seven Sacred Teachings” is a message of traditional values and hope for the future. The Teachings are universal to most First Nation [American Indian] people.” Bouchard’s web site: http://www.davidbouchard.com/mtw/sst.pdf

In studying the background of the Teachings I was amazed to discover that they have passed down countless generations through oral storytelling since around the time Christ was born. The “Seven Sacred Teachings” is the Indian touchstone to individual growth and responsibility, and strong community. The “Teachings” and the Ten Commandments of Christianity come from what both cultures respect—one Creator.

After Red Lake Nation elder Eugene Stillday invited me to speak at the 2012 Veterans Day ceremony I began thinking, what should I talk about? I called Eugene and he invited me up to Ponemah to discuss it. Eugene introduced me to another Red Lake elder, Larry Stillday. Larry and I discovered we had something in common—we had both served in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War. Larry introduced me to the Seven Sacred Teachings.

I was amazed by what I learned. I had grown up on a farm near Red Lake Nation and attended grade school in Nebish. Over the years, I attended school in Blackduck and Bemidji. Now, for many years, I have attended Bemidji State University as a part-time student. In my sixty-five years, I had never heard of the Teachings. For those who are not familiar with northern Minnesota, we have a very large Ojibwe Indian population and three reservations in our region. Perhaps it’s time to devote time in our schools to learn about the Seven Sacred Teachings—there always seems to be time to learn about Cortez, Columbus, and the Pilgrims.

Each day, I am awed at how little I know.

It’s been a busy autumn. October 30th I visited with BSU history students who are using Muddy Jungle Rivers this semester as a text book. Saturday, November 3rd Patti and I have a book signing at Opener Art Festival, hosted at the Sanford Center in Bemidji. Lakeland TV, Channel 9, Common Ground will air a Muddy Jungle Rivers interview on November 6th, at 6:00 pm. (I’ll be up against Romney and Obama that night.) November 11, the interview will air again.
November 11th, I’m honored to be guest speaker at Red Lake Nation for the Veterans Day ceremony. I find my psychology class at BSU fascinating as I begin to learn how and what motivates human behavior. I find it ironic that as I learn about the Seven Sacred Teachings we are about to celebrate another Thanksgiving.

Our goal at Wispering Petals Press is to be a resource center for writers. We are not so presumptuous as to think we have all the answers. We provide links and information to those who specialize. For example, two books I highly recommend to anybody who considers self-publishing are The Complete Guide To Self-Publishing by Marilyn Ross and Sue Collier and Sell Your Book on Amazon, by Brent Sampson. Outskirts Press, owned by Sampson, is a full service self-publishing company I recommend for the writer who does not have the time to pursue the more economical route we offer at Whispering Petals Press. Make A Killing on Kindle, without blogging, Facebook, or Twitter, by Michael Alvear is also a great resource to learn about Search Engine Optimization, tag words, and many other aspects of electronic marketing. His subtitle caught my attention.

It’s been a busy summer. This Saturday, July 28th, I will be doing a reading at the Beltrami County Historical Center in Bemidji at 1:00 pm.
Muddy Jungle Rivers continues to receive positive feedback. Last week I was at the post office and a stranger walked up, shook my hand and thanked me for writing the book. He said he could relate to a lot of things in it.
I attend a monthly meeting with some friends that is dedicated to discussion about promoting our writing on Kindle and other eBooks. It’s interesting to note that over 50% of my online sales are through Kindle.
I will have a booth at the Clearwater County Fair August 1-5 and Beltrami County Fair August 8-12, promoting Muddy Jungle Rivers.
The drought has stunted our pastures, our ponds are low, and on these hot days, the sheep night-graze. Babies get separated from mom and suddenly there is bedlam in the paddock with ewe calling. I jump up at lamb’s plaintive bleat, wondering if it’s a coyote pack or a mountain lion until I hear mom again.

June 11-16 is Bemidji Library Book Festival—a busy week.

For the full schedule go to: http://krls.org/docs/krls_docs_bj_poster_Book_Festival_201204.pdf

Here is a list of events I plan to participate in:
Monday evening I’m going to read in my first poetry slam.

Tuesday I will attend Laurie Hertzel’s Writers Workshop titled “Writing Your Life, Finding Your Story.”

Wednesday I’ll attend Margi Preus’s Writers Workshop titled “Writing a Children’s Book.”

Friday I will be at the Authors Fair selling Muddy Jungle Rivers from 5-7pm and then attend Keynote Author Ann Bankroft’s presentation.

Saturday evening I will have a book reading and signing of Muddy Jungle Rivers.

Here is an excerpt from a message I received this past week:

Dear Mr. Affield,

[Muddy Jungle Rivers] looks very appropriate for our collection so I’m sending it back to our cataloging section. It will eventually be cataloged and thus appear in our online catalog (see the search button link to our online catalog at http://www.history.navy.mil/library/index.htm) so that researchers can consult the volume.

Glenn E. Helm
Library Director
Navy Department Library
Naval History & Heritage Command
805 Kidder Breese St. SE
Washington Navy Yard DC 20374-5060

Email I recieved from Larry Reid on May 3, 2012 in response to Muddy Jungle Rivers:

You don’t know how much your book meant to me Wendell!
I don’t remember everything that happened that day. At Spec 4 (E-4) I was the ranking man with the most time in combat left in 3rd platoon, Co. D, 4/47th Inf Bn, 2nd Bde, 9th Inf Div. I had 3 others with me. One of them was named Gene Fountaine. I was in touch with him for a while but haven’t heard from him in years now. The 4 of us were assigned to 2nd platoon for the rest of that operation. I was only lightly wounded and finished the operation. Third platoon was wiped out that day.
Another soldier who was in the well deck was Stafford Cowles. He helped to kick some of those burning ammo and grenade cases over the side. I am still in touch with him but he moved to Guatemala last year. He was wounded pretty bad that day and choppered out. The Latino you mentioned using a bunk may have been Hector Lugo-Mojica. He was KIA and here is the link to his name on The Wall: http://vvmf.org/thewall/Wall_Id_No=31542
Be sure to click on the remembrance I left for him at the bottom of the page.
Your book confirmed some things that I remembered but could not confirm. One was that I thought I saw a medevac chopper shot down. Thank you for letting me know that I didn’t imagine that. Another was about the hook not letting the ramp down. I sat at the front of the ATC at one point when we were beached to discourage Charlie from tossing grenades or firing another RPG. It was hell for all of us that day.
I have more details I would like to share and some questions to ask. I was the 3rd platoon RTO and should have known the name of the black sergeant who took over the empty .50 cal turret, but I cannot think of it. I still have my orders awarding me the Purple Heart…maybe his name is on there. I will look for my Vietnam storage box.
I look forward to continuing our conversation. I am very glad you survived that day. The “official” records say that we only lost 4 people, but I doubt their KIA count and would like to find out how many more died of wounds within a few days of 8/18/1968 from that ambush.
It is an honor to be in touch with you.

 I find it incredible how today’s technology is capable of connecting strangers, across time and distance, who shared a common experience four decades in the past. I hope to hear from others.

Muddy Jungle Rivers is available in the Bemidji area at Luekens Village Foods North, Luekens Village Foods South, Book World, Kat’s Book Nook, and TJ Design Studio. Beginning May 1, 2012, Muddy Jungle Rivers is available for sale on Kindle or in Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

Muddy Jungle Rivers, my Vietnam memoir, is at the publisher. I expect to receive the first print proofs for review the first week of March. TJ Design Studio, Bemidji, Minnesota has developed the electronic book formats for submission to Kindle, Nook, and Apple iStore, which will be ported by the end of March. Reach TJ Studio at: http://www.tjdesignstudio.com/
The print edition of Muddy Jungle Rivers should be available locally and through on-line bookstores by mid May.
I recently had lunch with a local author who has almost a dozen books published by traditional publishers. He was very frustrated by the state of the publishing industry and was exploring the possibility of self-publishing his next book. One his biggest complaints was that his publisher expected him to do most of the marketing—very time-consuming—yet receive a small fraction of his book’s sale price as a royalty. He refers to the new publishing world—the world of electronic books and self-publishing as, “Today’s Wild West where anything goes,” and feels that author retention of all intellectual rights is very important because of evolving technology and the fluid environment of cyber publishing platforms. He continued on with a litany of issues, commenting that even best selling authors like Barry Eisler are self publishing. I went home, Goggled Eisler, and discovered this site with a very strong argument for the self-publisher. http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20110321/00183913568/best-selling-author-turns-down-half-million-dollar-publishing-contract-to-self-publish.shtml
The Barry Eisler interview and my luncheon conversation with the Bemidji area author have reinforced my decision to self-publish. Several local writers are excited about Whispering Petals Press, LLC as a local resource to publish under.