Bob Mayer is a West Point graduate, former Green Beret, and a New York Times best-selling author. His new book, WHO DARES WINS. is written following the rules used by the Green Berets in their grueling training and throughout their career. Mayer saw similarities in his writing career challenges and his Green Beret training. "I run a 'Warrior-Writer Workshop' scheduled around the country for both fiction and non-fiction," Mayer said. "It is based on what is in my book."
The world is moving faster, change occurs constantly, competition is fiercer, and the one constant that stands in your way to achieving what you want out of life, both personal and professional, is fear, Mayer teaches. And, fear is something writers face as they stare at the blank computer screen.
Mayer's new book takes the nine rules of the Green Beret training, breaks them down into three sections, and applies them to writers. The rules, when learned and followed, will make you a better writer in many areas writers are known to shy away from, causing fear and anxiety.
Not only do the rules work for the writer, but also helps him/her on working out character profiles in his/her writing. A main character that follows the rules will be successful, while the villain will spend time breaking the rules and fail. It helps to know and understand the rules as they apply to your story's characters. It makes the characters stronger, or meaner. Mayer tells readers not to finish the book in one sitting. It is important, he stresses, that each reader follows the chapter's instructions, and does the exercises throughout before moving on. He asks a lot, pencil and paper, and your time to participate.
What Mayer went through in the Army to become a member of the Special Forces helped make him a member of a team where most of those who try to belong fail. It says something about writing as a career, when an ex-Green Beret finds enough similarities in his writing career to match up to his military training, and makes himself successful writer by following the rules that got him into Special Forces.
The Green Berets are proof these tactics work, Mayer says about his new book and workshop, and the benefits you'll gain will extend far beyond your writing.
He promises readers of WHO DARES WINS will define their writing goals and understand why they want to achieve them; examine their environment and locate assets that will aid in achieving success; zero in on barriers and potential threats to their goal of success; locate their blind spot, the part of your character that hinders you from being as creative as you can be, and discover what they fear and how that fear could be sabotaging their short and long-term goals.
The goal of the book is to help wannabe writers finish what they start, but it also can benefit established writers. Mayer helps the reader to discover ways to overcome procrastination, finish what they start, be consistent in their work, and set boundaries for workspace and time.
The exciting thing to this writer, who read the book and did the chapter exercises, is that Mayer promises the reader will "achieve more than you ever thought possible." I couldn't agree more.
The book is an enjoyable read, and if you practice what he teaches, you will be a little more successful in your life and your chosen career.
WHO DARES WINS becomes available this month.
Michael Haskins spent
five years as the business editor/writer for the daily Key West Citizen
and then another five years as the city's public information officer.
His first book, Chasin' the Wind, has sold out of its first printing
and its sequel, Free Range Institution, is at the publishers. He is
currently writing the third in his Mad Mick Murphy Mystery series, Car
Wash Blues.
