Writing about writing

Write In Peace
by John Martin


Introduction


This is a long journey through the world of writing. For those of you who enjoy writing, perhaps, an informative piece. To those of you who do not write, hopefully an enjoyable story.

Once upon a time, my telephone answering machine was proud to announce, "You have reached the home of J. Vincent Martin, famous author of yet to be published best selling novels. I’m unable to come to the phone right now. So please leave your name and telephone number after the beep, and I’ll call you back." The announcement was then followed by a brief pause,and an afterthought, "Say, if this is Hollywood, I’m sorry I keep missing your calls. Say something this time, and leave a number, will yah!"

Yes, that was back in the days when I use to be a writer. I don't write as often as I use to. Why did I slow down you ask? Well, it's really kind of a long story and the answer lies within. But if you are really interested, and have a few months, I’ll be glad to share it with you. I guess the story began about fifty years ago, when I was six years old. That was when I received my first writing assignment from Mrs. Leonard, my first grade teacher. At the time, it was an exciting opportunity that truly challenged the depths of my limited worldly experience. In fact, it was an extremely broad based assignment, simply titled, "What Do I Want To Be When I Grow Up?"

In those days jet pilots were very much in vogue with my young fellow male classmates. I guess that was due to the Korean War, the movies, TV, and so forth. But I figured with all of us flying around, pretty soon it was going to get very crowded up there. Of course, there were the traditional choices of doctor, policeman and fireman, too.. Then last but least, for those who had already acquired the art of patronization, there was always the, "I want to be a teacher, just like
you Mrs. Leonard." option. Unfortunately, I was never one to blindly join the pack with a, "Me
too". So without checking the want ads, I focused my aspirations on being an Indian Brave.

I don’t remember the exact details of my wonderful composition, but I do recall the reasoning behind my unusual career choice. Basically, cavalry aside, I kind of liked the idea, that in that field, you could do pretty much whatever you wanted to. After all, even at that early age I realized that Native Americans were quite self sufficient. I figured once you had your teepee, bow and horse, you could get up in the morning and tell your friends, "Say, I think I’m going to go over that mountain today and see what’s on the other side. "Your fellow braves would simply reply, "That’s cool with us, man." So in the end, you might say that my unusual career choice was really
based on a love of freedom found deep within my soul. Well, anyway, spelling aside, my first literary effort did manage to earn me a B+. Not only that, it also received a one week run on the
hallway bulletin board. However, It was not the defining moment of my writing career by any means, merely one of many trysts with the opium of the pen, AKA the writer’s habit. At that young age though, I was able to quickly kick the habit and go about the business of being a child once more. There were other writing assignments in school of course. But those compositions, essays, and book reports were more a task than joyful experience. Then after completing school I ended up spending three years in the Army. Naturally, I wrote letters to family and friends at
home, but that was about the extent writing efforts during that period. I really didn't have my next serious affair with the pen until two years later.
_
When I got out of the service, I went to work for an Industrial sewing machine company as senior inventory clerk. After a year and half they decided to move that operation to a small town in up state New York. That was at the end of 1968. They did ask me if I’d like to come along, but being
21 years old and living in New York City with all of the excitement of the sixties, I just had to pass on that one. So shortly thereafter, I ended up going to work for the blue chip brokerage house as a margin clerk. I learned quite a bit about Wall Street and the world of finance there. I even
attended the New York Institute of Finance. Then one day I was offered a job with a financial advertising and public relations company. My job title was News Department Production Manager. However, the impressive title didn’t actually reflect the job itself.

I had a staff of three working for me. They would type the stencils for the financial press releases, then I’d proof read them with a writer. Next, the release copies were run off on a
mimeograph machine, folded and placed in pre addressed envelopes for messenger delivery to The Times, Journal, Business Week, etc. Naturally as time passed my responsibilities grew.
Finally I started writing dividend announcements on the side under the scrutiny of some very exceptional writers. Those announcements were just four or five line pieces, but hey, my work was actually being published in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and just about every other blue chip financial publication in the country. Of course, there was no by line and most of the time my effort showed up in print as a one line item in a long column, i.e., Panhandle Eastern
Pipeline Class B preferred....... $1.18. But the really nice part about working there was that I had some of the best writers in the world as mentors. Guys like Joe Duome, Ed Fallon, former Wall Street Journal Transportation Editor Danny McNamara, Gil Baker from the New York Times
financial news desk, and Gil Busch former UPI financial editor. These gentlemen were old fashion newspaper men, right out of a 1940’s movie. They pounded out page after page with two
fingers , faster then I could with ten. Even more impressive, they plied their trade with stiff key manual typewriters, not the soft touch word processor of today. But more important, these noble gentlemen really knew how to write.


To Be Continued......