Letters from Marilyn - Update 31

Happy Sunday, dear readers! Since my last entry, I have been busy getting set up to continue Letters from Marilyn. I am working on new chapters, but they are not quite ready yet, so I have a different kind of update today: a letter that was written to Marilyn during the Korean War.

In 2016, I received a photocopy of a letter that had been written to Marilyn from Corporal Robert A. Sebesta. At the time, I was unsure how to categorize this letter. It was not something Marilyn had written to her family. For now, I have stored it with 'other letters.'

If you recall, Marilyn had been writing letters to her cousin Arden during the Korean War. I presume Arden was reading portions of her letters to his fellow soldiers, because that is how this letter likely originated. The letter itself is dated December 11, 1951, with the envelope postmarked December 15, 1951 from the Army Air Force Postal Service. It is marked free air mail.

The letter begins:

Dear Marty,

    I just gave you a nick name, and I hope you don't mind. I was just talking with the fellows in the first squad, and they decided that I should write to a girl. By the way, Arden, your cousin, is the fellow who gave me your address.

    He said sincerely that I would get an answer or rather, that he thought I would. So I thought I would write because that's one thing the [illegible word] in Korea enjoy - lots of mail.

It is a four-page letter, so I will not include it all. I found it unique and humorous to read, especially the tidbit about nicknaming Marilyn Marty. In this letter, he goes on to describe his university studies in finance before he was drafted for the war. He was not in the same squadron as Arden, Marilyn's cousin, and mentions that he's a machine gunner for his platoon.

I like to think that Marilyn responded, as Arden believed she would. Of course, her response letters would have gone to 'Bob,' as he called himself. Bob had excellent penmanship. For a moment, I thought it was Marilyn's writing because of how well-connected each cursive letter is. I am grateful to have learned cursive in elementary school, which has aided my ability to read these letters. I wonder if this is becoming a lost art today with the younger generations.

Shifting gears, I have set up my writer's corner once again. I am going to scan Bob's letter and include it in the 1951 binder of scans. There are a few other letters that I have done this with, so as to keep the chronological timeline intact. While writing, I prefer to reference these binder scans over the original letters themselves, for a few reasons: 1) the original letters are fragile, and 2) sometimes Marilyn included more than one letter in her envelopes. When scanning these, I further organized them by day. If three letters were included in one envelope, she often had days and times written at the top - Monday evening, Wednesday morning, and so on.

I have been working on structure at present, with the intent to finish my story cards first. This allows me to arrange moments in a way that works best and allows me to play with elements like flashback. I am continuing to read How to Write a Novel That Matters and have added two additional titles to my list: Structuring Your Novel (2nd Edition) by K.M. Weiland and Write, Edit, Publish by Michael J. Totten. 

I am enjoying Totten's work so far - only one day in, and I am already a quarter of the way through his book. One quotation from his work that stood out to me today in regard to writers: 'They weren't born professionals. They weren't born with some magical gift denied to the rest of us mortals. They were professionals because they worked it, because they put in long hours of diligent study and practice, always learning, always striving to improve themselves.' 

Always learning, dear readers. That is the ultimate takeaway from Totten's words: that we are always learning in life, and in the context of his book, always learning how to grow as writers. I know I have so far to go, but knowing that, in Totten's words, I am 'always learning,' it makes the task less daunting.

We are still in phase two: the writing and drafting part. Phase three, of course, is to get Letters from Marilyn into the hands of literary agents and publishing houses. I am hoping that by December, I have a few query letters out to literary agencies. 

Thank you, readers, for all of the views on update 30 last week. I am slowly but surely making progress again. Love always.