Reconnected with an old friend yesterday, Anne Stanton, who I knew in my early days at Intel back in the 1980s.  She left Intel early on to focus on her real avocation, writing. Anne worked as an investigative journalist for many years, and researched and edited two New York Times bestselling books. Now she’s the Executive Director of the National Writers Series and the Editorial Director of Mission Point Press.

Anne lives in Traverse City, Michigan, which is only about 45 minutes away from Charlevoix, where my wife and I are spending the summer. We met up at her house, and spent a couple hours catching up on each other’s histories.

While I was there, her husband came in and sat down for a chat.  He’s Doug Stanton, author of the bestselling book In Harm’s Way – The Sinking of the USS Indianapolis. Doug and I spent some time talking about the Vietnam War. He had written a book on the Tet Offensive and was really interested in my experiences there.

After he left, Anne and I wrapped up our conversation, and that was when I hit her up with the news that I was writing a book, and the request for a big favor – would she read it and tell me if it was any good. I’d shared what I’d written with friends and family, but I wanted a more professional opinion. And I pulled out the thumb drive I’d brought with me and put it on the table.

Anne’s response was a friendly but firm “No.” She gets hit up by lots of people who are writing a book or trying to write a book. Most of them are probably pretty awful because she was not at all eager to see what I had written. 

She offered to connect me to someone at Mission Point Press, which offers book coaching services, if that was what I was looking for.  But she was not going to to read my book herself.

My shoulders slumped. Our friendly chat had become awkward. I apologized for asking for the favor, accepted the offer of an intro to Mission Point, and excused myself to head home. As I left, I glanced at the thumb drive on her table, but didn’t pick it up.

I was so disappointed. I’d been working hard on my writing and had 12 chapters completed, but I had no idea if my story or my writing was any good. What if I was wasting my time on something that no one would want to read or publish? Was this just a vanity project? Was it something I should keep working on or should I just pack my bags and find something else to do in retirement?

The next morning I got a polite note from Anne, introducing me to Doug Weaver at Mission Point. Then, about five hours later I got another note from her, “Just skimmed your book. The writing is fantastic! I was truly impressed.”   And just like that, my mood went from depressed to jubilant.  I finally had some validation from a professional.

Michael