First, the good, no, make that fantastic news: My memoir, Submerged, was awarded first place in published nonfiction at the 2025 WriterCon! I am writing this in a Quality Inn in Russellville, Arkansas, on the way back from that convention, held in Oklahoma City. I am deeply honored and humbled by this award. There were world-class authors there, some of whom are on the NY Bestseller list. The award was not a “gimmee” or participation trophy, which makes being awarded it all the sweeter. More on WriterCon in a moment.
August started out with a splash. I was invited to be a guest speaker at the Virginia Writer’s Club Annual Symposium held in Ashland, VA. I spoke about how to get a manuscript approved by the DoD Office of Pre-Publication Security review (DOPSR). I had to get Submerged approved by DOPSR, and so does anyone else who has held a security clearance. Like all things government, it is daunting, bureaucratic, and time-intensive. But having learned the ropes, I felt honor-bound to help other vets in my shoes. I feel quite strongly that we should tell our stories; if not, they will be gone when we are. My second book, How to Hotwire an Airplane, has many stories from my father, who served as a Hospital Corpsman with the US Marine Corps 65-67 in Vietnam. He never wrote his story, so I did it for him.
The second week of August, I learned that Submerged had been selected as one of the top 11 all-time submarine books by a book review site, Tales and Text, which was very gratifying. You can check out the other books they recommended here.
18 August found me giving a talk on submarines to a library group in Alexandria. One of the attendees was a 98 year-old woman who had been an Air Force pilot! Boy, did she have some stories.
This brings me to WriterCon, which I mentioned I am just returning from. It is a gathering of authors, agents, and editors for an intensive three-day series of lectures, workshops, meetings, and sharing. I remember meeting a woman at Oshkosh who told me she gets her “aviation batteries” recharged at that annual convention; well, I felt this same way here, for writing. I learned so much, I will spend the next few days retrieving my notes and putting them in order. Plus, the vibe was supportive and collegial. I made new friends and met people with whom I had only conversed via email before.
That’s it for this month. I promised not to spam you, only send a newsletter once a month. As I write this, it has turned 1 Sep on the East Coast, which means that Submerged has now spent a WHOPPING SIX MONTHS on the Amazon bestseller list in its category! For everyone who bought it, thank you!
One of the exercises at WriterCon—a contest actually–was to write a 100-word story, subject “End of the World”. Here is my entry, which I thought was pretty good, but the woman who won it had a much better story, to be honest. As I said, the writers there were top-notch.
Until next month, peace, and I wish good things for everyone.
Henry Rausch
Missile Drill
“Set Condition 1SQ for Missile Launch”
The order rang through the submarine, accompanied by the familiar gong-gong-gong of the general alarm. 160 sixty pairs of feet hit the deckplates on the way to missile launch positions. Men trundled out of racks, ditched meals. When he got word that stations were manned, the XO of USS Oklahoma clicked the bezel of his stopwatch and assessed the results. 66.6 seconds, nearly a new record. He was pleased; hundreds of launch drills had paid off. It wasn’t until the missiles left the tubes that the crew realized it was not a drill.
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