Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

military

Think You’ve Got A Crazy Writing Niche?

By 2 Comments

by Kimberly A. Cook            (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Spent several days at home recently when my head was declared a hazmat area by my doctor. Antibiotics were prescribed. I camped in the LaZBoy with the Hallmark Channel and Spec Ops Cat. Needing a diversion after 36 modern movies I slipped in the “White Christmas” DVD, my all time favorite holiday movie.

The clothes in the movie make me drool. My favorite is the dress worn by Rosemary Clooney when she sings her solo. Designed by Edith Head, this drop dead gorgeous gown is built for us women with curves. Those were the days!

After the movie I decided to see what I could find out about the gown on my trusty Nook Tablet. (Google “Rosemary Clooney black gown” and see what happens yourself) Pay dirt! Not only did I find pictures, I discovered a cottage industry around the clothes in the movie. One blog post followed a seamstress trying to make it from scratch http://sewing.patternreview.com/SewingDiscussions/topic/48642

Then I found the Rosemary Clooney Museum in Augusta, Kentucky! Who knew? www.rosemaryclooney.org Not only do they have costumes from many of her movies, but a reproduction of the red Christmas gown. The museum recently bought the sparkly blue dress from the movie’s sisters number off eBay; from a vintage store who didn’t know what they had. Boggles the mind. The museum has the largest collection of “White Christmas” movie memorabilia in the world and George Clooney items are at there too. Must book a trip!

This goes to show you, any topic can be a niche. I’m beginning to think the niches are getting their own niches these days. So if you love a quirky topic like 1950s dress designs, there might be an app for that, but there sure are blogs. Or start your own! My military niche is rather large but I can pick and choose my quirky topics so it gives me total freedom.

It also means I can find a military connection to almost any topic on the planet. “White Christmas” is a case in point. It’s a grand story about Army buddies, falling in love and honoring those who have served. Priceless.

Keeping Pearl Harbor Memories and Sacrifices Alive

By 1 Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook             (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

The first war story I recorded for a 1976 school project belonged to John Watson, my brother-in-law’s great-uncle. He worked as a shipyard worker in Pearl Harbor for the U.S. Navy. He was laying in bed on his first day off in thirteen weeks. He and his roommate, Lonnie, heard a lot of firing. They thought it might be practice firing, but it didn’t sound right. They turned on the radio.

The Battleship Missouri Memorial watches over the USS Arizona Memorial on election day, Nov. 6. Copyright 2012 Kimberly A. Cook
The Battleship Missouri Memorial watches over the USS Arizona Memorial on election day, Nov. 6. Copyright 2012 Kimberly A. Cook

“All workmen return to Pearl Harbor immediately, Japs are firing on us,” came across the radio waves. The two men made it to Pearl Harbor thirty minutes later and went through the main gate just as the second wave of Japanese fighters were coming over. “I don’t think they ever caught up with me though,” Johnny joked.

An electrician, Johnny got “juice” on the heavy cruiser San Francisco so she could fire her guns. Her anti-aircraft “one point pom poms” were on the dock so the rigger swung them aboard and they welded them to the deck. She was firing in 20  minutes. “By manual, manual firing them,” he said.

“I’ll admit there were no stops on them and she practically cut one stack off following them planes around. We were firing right towards Honolulu. I had a lot up in the valley I was ready to build a new house on and a 16-inch shell took that lot off the hillside; we found fragments of it,” he said.

“They were firing at anything going away, coming or anything else with anything that would fire. Like I told ya, we fired 16-inch guns at airplanes.”

Last year on the 70th Anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Pearl Harbor Survivors Association voted to disband their corporate association on Dec. 31, 2011. The travel is challenging for those in their late 80s and early 90s. The memories are still strong and painful. The challenge for the National Park Service now is how to transition their mission to keep the memories and the sacrifice alive and relevant to future generations.

Education and stories are the key for me. Uncle Johnny’s story became my first official war story to record. That one encounter started me on a lifelong journey as a writer, veteran and military storyteller.  For those of us left behind, we must now step up and tell the stories to new generations for those who have gone before. This Friday, December 7th, remember Uncle Johnny and all the men, women, children and civilians we lost on that day in Honolulu and since.

Freedom isn’t free.

Off To A Clean Start!

By Leave a Comment

by Kimberly A. Cook                      (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

The first Quirky Friday of 2012. When we begin a new year, we want to make sure we are clean and ready to hop into the future. That is exactly the topic of this video. I had no idea all the amazing things rabbits were doing on YouTube, but this smart bunny seems to have staff. Reminds me of getting scrubbed down in a public bath house in Istanbul, but this little guy is getting the tender treatment instead. Have a very Happy Quirky Friday!