In March of 2003 I was sitting in The Daily Grind a fabulous coffee shop in Bedminster, NJ, enjoying a medium coffee and reading Nick Hornby's High Fidelity. It was there that I finished the book, put it down, opened up my computer and began writing.
The result was A Line Through the Desert. The idea for the book had been kicking around my head for about a year. Basically a young man defies his family and joins the army and he ends up at the Battle of 73 Easting. Also he's madly in love with the girl next door.
It just so happens that 73 Easting was fought 26 years ago today. It also just so happens that the commander of Eagle Troop at that battle, HR McMaster, is going to be President Trump's National Security Adviser.
By the time I began writing McMaster was already fairly well known. He'd published a book, Dereliction of Duty, and his exploits with Eagle Troop were well documented in Tom Clancy's Armored Cav.
For these reasons, A Line Through the Desert focused on a different aspect of 73 Easting: Ghost Troop's fight to the north. I wanted to break some new ground.
This week we'll be talking about various aspects of writing and researching ALTD, a lot of process talk. I think its interesting and might benefit fans who want to write themselves. And it might just sell a few books.
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