MWSA History
In 1998, Vietnam veteran author Bill McDonald built a website presence for his old Army unit (The 128th Assault Helicopter Company) that also honored all facets of the Vietnam War. That original website started off with just poetry and prose that he had composed while on his tour of duty in South Vietnam. That website was named The Vietnam Experience. It began as a humble reservoir of his war memories and eventually expanded to include dozens of his brothers in arms.
The first six months online the website traffic increased to over 17,000 visitors a month, eventually peaking at close to 275,000 a month after he participated in the making of the war documentary film (from Arrowhead Films) called In the Shadow of The Blade. The Vietnam Experience website eventually surpassed 30 million total visitors in 2008. They no longer track the total.
Those early contributors to that website, whose prose and stories were posted for others to read, were the foundation of this organization’s membership. However, in 2000 McDonald created the author organization The American Authors Association. That organization has grown to over 2,500 author members. It is open to all forms of genre and to all American authors. This organization was the beginning of the formation of the MWSA.
The first military genre event was the early fall of 2003 in Austin, Texas. In the Shadow of the Blade” was being premiered at the University of Texas to a standing-room-only crowd of over 1,500 people. There was a party and weekend celebration event with the crew of the helicopter and the film crew along with over 900 guests at a local recreation center in Austin. As part of that big party Bill decided that a dozen of the military authors should have a presence there with their books. McDonald was asked by the local media what this group of veterans was called, and that is when he came up with name Military Writers Society of America. This was the first MWSA event and presence.
It short order, McDonald made it officially an organization, and for the first several years he paid for everything related to the organization including awards and website costs. He personally reviewed every book submitted by members. Some years that total would reach well over 300 books. He was the webmaster, event planner, treasury, and organizer. He was the heart and soul of the MWSA.
The early goal of MWSA was not too complex: provide a safe community where military writers and veterans would be welcomed and appreciated. You were automatically considered a member if you were a veteran or part of a military family, regardless of the genre you wrote. A military veteran could write about anything they wished; there were no restrictions to genre. Part of this was McDonald’s desire to help PTSD veterans through the artistic expression of their prose, story telling, memoir writing, or poetry.
It was around this time that McDonald decided to break MWSA away from the American Authors Association and make it a stand-alone organization. So it went from being a part of the AAA to being its own functioning organization. There were no dues and no funding other than McDonald’s resources. In 2005 and 2006 his health took a heavy toll. He had several heart attacks and other health issues that put him at serious risk of death. He needed help and assistance to keep things going and Maria Edwards came into the picture to volunteer and help out with both time, work, reviews, website help and some of the finances.
It was not much longer before MWSA had it’s first conference in San Diego, California. This was the first gathering of the many diverse authors and writers in the group. Bill actually showed up from his “death bed” and, even though greatly ill, was there for the full event. Those who attended that first conference remember that Bill was able to speak about everyone’s books from memory as he had read all of them. That began the new era of the MWSA. From that group of around 70 members grew a supportive network of volunteers that gave MWSA new life.
In time, Bill’s health issues were too much of a burden and he need to focus more of his attention on taking care of his life. He made the decision to give the leadership of the AAA to Maria Edwards and to turn over the MWSA to a small group to organize it into something bigger and better. He selected Vietnam veteran Tony Lazzarini to head up the new organization and get it rolling.
Tony established the board of directors and gave MWSA real structure. It went from a one-man operation to a collective of members running it. This new organization had energy and gave MWSA greater status and focus. This was a turning point in the growth of the society. Tony served as the first president, and Bill was able to take care of his own health issues knowing that MWSA was in good hands.
Those first years found ways to fund the activities of MWSA by asking for membership dues. It also established elections, formal review protocols for awards and more formal conferences and events.
The second president of MWSA was Joyce Faulkner, who began the second phase of improvements and membership growth. Her administration had successful writers’ conferences as well. After two terms, she passed the leadership role to author Dwight Zimmerman. Under Dwight’s leadership MWSA was granted non-profit status.
Bill McDonald has slowly reemerged and is working in the background on the board of directors but is limited by health issues to take too active a part in operations.
Currently the MWSA is expanding its membership and looking for more ways to serve the military community. Each year MWSA donates books to VA hospitals and veteran organizations. In 2014 MWSA donated over $18,000 worth of books to the VA hospital in Phoenix, Arizona. MWSA has helped various youth programs and schools over the last decade to help promote writing and patriotism.
We publish the quarterly magazine Dispatches and an annual anthology written by members. Members' books are reviewed and posted, and there are annual awards given, the most prestigious being the Founder’s Award.