Ask the Author: Paul C. Steffy
Answered Questions (10)
Paul C. Steffy
I was in the Infantry in Vietnam in 67-68. One day, while on patrol, we were ambushed. I was hit in the left upper leg with a bullet. It bounced off. Within 5 minutes I was hit in the stomach with a large piece of a very sharp-edged shrapnel fragment from a 500-pound bomb. It had been dropped on the enemy by a Navy F-4 Phantom Jet. The 'hot-to-the-touch' piece of shrapnel simply bounced off. I brought both of them home as souvenirs. Was my Guardian Angel watching over me? Was it fate or destiny?
Paul C. Steffy
I would live as Bill Cameron did in my WW II story, THE SECOND TIME AROUND. Except, I'd switch to the P51 Mustang, the best Fighter aircraft in the US arsenal, after I'd completed my required 25 missions as a B17 pilot. I have my own, Claire, in mind and we'd live as is mentioned in the story. Please read it and you too will see why, for many of us in the military during those monumental years, those were some of the best years of our lives. PCS
Paul C. Steffy
I begin each summer reading A MOVEABLE FEAST by Ernest Hemingway. I've been to Paris several times--- and 33 countries around the globe beginning in 1973. (Vietnam for a year while in the U.S. Army in 1967-68). My visits in Paris included several of the places Hemingway mentioned in his popular book. My imagination allows me to feel what I believe he may have felt during his time there: seldom enough money to enjoy the things he wanted to share with his wife, Hadley. (My second time, I did it on a whim: with a friend, I quit a good job, we bought one-way tickets to Brussels, plus Eurail Passes, and we stayed for 10 weeks.) For Ernest, his need for cash would, on occasion, change when he'd won at one of the horse tracks: and sometimes, Hadley would win. I will probably enjoy that short book indefinitely; it is a quick read that evokes many memories of my own in my most favorite city in Europe--- in the US it is San Francisco, my home for a few enjoyable years in my own 20s era of living, learning, meeting new people and expanding my horizons. PCS
Paul C. Steffy
It was a dark and stormy night. The dastardly evil spirit enveloped the isolated house, seeped in through the cracked windows and drafty exterior doors, entered each guest's room, and one by one every adult who slept under the aging mold-covered slate roof that night suffocated in their bed writhing in agony until the very last heartbeat pumped oxygen-starved blood through their constricted veins.
Paul C. Steffy
I take time to appreciate life, get out and see the world around me, and devote time to conversations with family, friends, and strangers. The more I see, know and understand about things within our universe, the more I'm encouraged to discover even more of them. Our time on earth is all too short.I don't wish to waste any of mine. I'm more creative with a refreshed mind.
Paul C. Steffy
I can think of at least one-hundred questions I wish I'd asked my parents. Now that my older relatives are gone, so are the answers to family history. I'm writing a memoir for my children, and anyone else who'd like to read it, about my life. Many of us don't think of what to ask when parents are around to answer. At least some of the questions my children might have asked later will be answered within the pages of my book.
Paul C. Steffy
Don't give up your writing. Regardless of what others say to discourage you or the set-backs you face, stay with it. It may take years, but if persistent you will succeed.
Paul C. Steffy
Creating stories that others enjoy reading and sharing. Writing allows unlimited possibilities to build a vivid, lifelike story a vast audience will seek out, read, and recall for years.
Paul C. Steffy
I step away from my computer and take time to smell the roses and talk with others. It's too easy to become totally centered on writing day after day and ignore life's pleasures.
Paul C. Steffy
Nearly five decades after I was in Vietnam my story had to be told.
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