In the 1960s I began writing an account of my life as a war bride in the 1940s.  I n 1943 I left UCLA in March to go by train to Maryland where my boyfriend was graduating from Officers Candidate School.  He had 10 days off between graduation and being assigned to a Chemical Warfare post.  A former college roommate lived in an apartment in Washingto DC to be near her husband  then stationed in Quantico, VA.  I made arrangements to stay with her for the days I was able to see John.  When I arrived we were so overpowered with wanting to be together, we decided to be married.  My gilfriend was my only attendant and a minister in Rockville, Maryland performend the ceremony.  Three days later, I left to return to California, and John borded the train for Gadsden Alabama his new assignment.

I have now gone back to writing about that period in my life.  Fortunately when I wrote about it in the 1960s I remembered details I have completely forgotten now.  My husband was severly injured in an accident at camp, losing both his hands, so was never sent overseas. The life we produced together and the three sons we raised and his choice to leave the marriage after 17 years makes for fascinating human history.  I am now working on Chapter Five and reading it chapter  by chapter to one of my writer workshops whose members are all writing books. Progress is slow because what I know now about writing I did not know when I first recorded the events.

Morale to this story?  Record the dramatic events of your life whether or not you plan to write commercially about them.  Maybe someday you will want to put them into a novel or a memoir and having having an accurate–if not publication-worthy–account is extremely valuable.– Willma