Discerning a Call

Last Wednesday, Carol and I went to the Rockland County Civil War Roundtable in Pearl River, New York where I had been asked to speak about my book "The Mutinous Regiment: The Thirty-third New Jersey in the Civil War." This is probably at least the sixth different talk I have given about the 33rd, but it was a very different experience in a very positive way. Since then I have been trying to figure out why it was so different and whether there is a message there about my focus for the future.

One thing that was different was that I changed the talk. In every prior presentation I have talked about how the regiment was formed, where the name the "Mutinous Regiment" comes from and then given a summary of the regiment's experience. After the last talk I gave back in November at a New Jersey group, a woman complimented me on the talk saying that I had told "the whole story." That stuck with me because that night I sold only one copy of the book which I thought was unusual for a group focused on New Jersey's role in the war.

Thinking about this, I decided that I shouldn't provide quite so much information and thereby give people more incentive to buy the book. The Pearl River meeting was the first time I tried the new approach which was to follow the story of the regiment's founding with a more in depth presentation of the Atlanta campaign and the regiment's role in that campaign. That night I sold 11 books, six before the meeting and five afterwards. I don't want to jump to conclusion that the change in the speech accounted for such a dramatic difference in sales, but I think it played a role.

The meeting was also very different in that the group was really engaged in the question and answer period which became almost a discussion - it had to have lasted close to 1/2 hour - as long as the talk itself. Carol certainly made a difference during that discussion, suggesting additional information I should add such as talking about the letters of William Lloyd. So there were some different elements present, but I am not sure how much they were a factor individually or collectively.

Thinking about it today, I think that the change in the presentation made a difference not because I didn't tell the whole story, but because the story I did tell was dramatic - and the story of the Atlanta campaign is interesting. The experience has led me to wonder if I have a gift for this kind of thing - taking a factual story and telling it in an interesting way that gets people interested both in discussion and in buying books. By a gift I mean something that is God given, not something that is due to something I have done.

All of this has made me wonder if this is some kind of a secular call as to what I should focus on in the near future. I greatly enjoy research and writing as well as making presentations about what I have found. At this point at least the idea of concentrating on this has some real appeal both from the enjoyment and some potential financial rewards. I want to be careful, however, not to get carried away with something that may have been a passing fancy. I do know that I have been somewhat frustrated recently about other things limiting my time for writing, but also for simply working on promoting and speaking about both books. It's something that needs some thought which I certainly intend to give it!