The Journey of a Thousand Steps

Something new for paid subscribers

I am now nearly four months into writing posts on Substack in addition to teaching parttime for the Naval War College, hosting occasional Sailor Pulse podcasts at War on the Rocks, preparing for a new weekly podcast I’ll be hosting starting this winter, and a few other side projects.

To the subscribers - thank you. Thank you for your interest and your comments. Writing can be a solitary vocation. I write my non-fiction books and articles to inform, to invoke thought. I write my novels to entertain and to show real world national security issues through a different lens. In either case, the writing process is much like C-SPAN’s Daily Journal - it doesn’t work without viewers - or, in this case, readers. I hope you’ll join me in this next step.

To the paid subscribers - than you for your support and joining me in this effort. I know how it is to be selective in the books you buy or the magazines and newspapers you subscribe to. I’m honored and humbled that you’d select my Substack as one of those you’ve found worthy to try to continue to endorse.

My weeklies will remain free to all subscribers. I am now adding a special, long-term project for paid subscribers.

Have you ever wondered what the process is in writing the book you’ve picked up? Where does it start? How does the author get their ideas? What roadblocks did they encounter? What were the trials and tribulations, the gems and the “Aha!” moments?

I’ve decided what my next naval history book will be. For the next 18 to 24 months, I’ll be researching and writing it. I’ll be visiting repositories.

Each week, starting this month, I’ll post an audio of about 10 to 15 minutes on what I’ve found but also stories about the writing process based on my five non-fiction books and three novels as well as numerous articles over the past 25 years. This will be available to paid subscribers only.

I started each semester teaching at the US Naval Academy with a slide that had my three teaching principles:

1. What I know and you don’t know, I will teach you.

2. What I don’t know but you know, you will teach me.

3. What neither of us knows, we will learn together.

That’s why I’ll be doing with this weekly short-edition pod available on this Substack page.

I’m taking a bit of a chance here. Normally, authors are reticent to discuss much of their current work in order to preserve it for publication. I’d like to turn that on its head and include the readers on the journey this time.

If you haven’t subscribed yet or are a current subscriber, I hope you’ll consider joining me and supporting this project.

The first short-edition pod will be about the new subject and how I came to select it as the next big writing project.

Thanks for your consideration.

Cheers,

Claude