Transcript: From Soldier to Storyteller: A Thriller Writer’s Journey

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Ken Webb: [00:00:00] I started out in the army and then I, I really think it's God. I think I just tripped into good choices. I planned on doing a career as a contractor and then just realized, you know, life isn't guaranteed so well to take a beat, a podcast dedicated to sharing tips and advice for hitting pause on the hustle, getting clear on your direction and heading toward the life that you envision.

Host: Today's episode is an interview with Ken Webb, who after more than three decades of military service is now a writer working on his debut novel. Ken's managed multiple career transitions and is now following his passion for writing, while also attacking on another goal of becoming fluent in Spanish while living in Peru.

In this interview, Ken shares more of his career journey. And how he transitioned from starting out as a substitute teacher to becoming an army reservist, [00:01:00] while also juggling a civilian job at American Airlines to now becoming a published author. Take a listen to hear more of Ken's story and his advice for taking advantage of both time and opportunity.

It does sound that you've had a somewhat unique career journey with several transitions. Can you share a little bit about your journey and how you got to this particular point now where you're an author, you're a writer?

Ken Webb: Yes. Um, so I mean, I, I, I grew up, I knew I always wanted to be in the military. I wasn't clear on what I wanted to do in the military.

And one day I was at, you know, junior college, living in Texas and knowing I wanted to be in the military, saw a colleague from high school in a military uniform. I said, what's going on with that? You know, people just don't put on military uniforms, boots, everything. I had everything. He was in the ROTC [00:02:00] program.

We got to talking. Didn't come from a family that had money. Wound up going to basic training, got a scholarship they paid for. My college was commissioned as a reservist, not by choice, but because my grades weren't good enough. I was the first person in my family to go to college and and graduate. And so I didn't understand how to play the game and I, I don't mean that as bad as it sounds, but you know, when they say, when the teacher says you're gonna have an exam over chapters four to seven, you need to study that.

Me, I would read one to nine and I, I wanted to learn and I learned a lot in college. But I, I didn't understand how to do it. So I graduated, uh, this was in 1992 when I graduated. This was before nine 11, almost a decade before nine 11, and it was after Desert Storm. There was a draw down of the military. So I'm, I'm trying to speak objectively.

It doesn't matter what your political beliefs are or beliefs are on the military, there was [00:03:00] a draw down, less money to the military. And so I had to seek, you know, career outside the military. It was not at a time a not a good financial time for me. I, I tried to get a master's degree back then that, that didn't work out.

My bachelor's was in English literature and I had a low GPA. So not only did I have a degree that is considered one of the easier degrees and not like an engineer, but I had a low GPA, I had like a 2.4. So they're like, well, we're gonna let you try out some master's classes. And we're gonna see how you do.

When I, I didn't do well enough. I think I got a C in them and, and, uh, I think I did two and I got a C in both. I might have got a B minus and one, but for a long time I had like a, I don't know what you, there's a word for it, and I, I can't grab it right now. It, it's a word where you have a, like a syndrome, but syndrome isn't a word where I, I thought I wasn't smart enough to get a master's degree and with age it got worse because I saw people younger than me and had a master's [00:04:00] degree and I, I was a teacher for a year or I wasn't certified.

I was doing that while I was trying to get my master's degree and I, I just taught as a substitute, but it was on a long-term basis, 11th grade English. I couldn't deal with the lack of discipline in the public schools. I worked in business for a little bit for a friend and jumped around different jobs.

Wound up working in American Airlines. I was in reservations. Just a very basic job. Finally in 2001 on April the 15th. I, I found myself in going through training to go to Kosovo because there was opportunity to go on active duty at that time, and so I, I was over there and I, I was over there during nine 11 and, and after that time, the purse strings opened up.

There was lots of money and as an army reservist, I was able to stay on active duty. A lot of, a lot of benefits to that. I got to travel, I got to pick tours. I was really enjoying myself. But you know, when you, you [00:05:00] grow up and you don't have money, and then you're making good money with the military, you know, you, you're thinking, well, this is just a path that needs to continue.

So I, I continued down that path. I was working very hard for those in the audience who've been in the military and they know it's not an eight hour job. It's much more than that and it's very fulfilling. There is a sense of camaraderie. I started out in the tanks as an officer. I went to military police for 14 years and then 16 years in intelligence, a total of 33 years in the Army reserves.

But that is reserves. But then with all the mobilizations, they add that stuff up. And I had about just under 18 years active duty. And uh, so then I revisited them, my master's degree. And honestly, somebody worked for me, did I? And this gentleman was dyslexic. And he was younger than me, like 10, 12 years. He had gotten his master's degree from the university or Bangkok University, and he got it in business [00:06:00] and in my head I thought, okay, if this guy can do it, I can do it.

And so I got my master's degree in intelligence studies and I graduated with honors. I got one A minus. That was my first class, and I was told that was a weed out class. And that that professor, she was very hard. She, she worked for the Defense Intelligence Agency and you turn in something late and I got a note from the technical department that the computers were down and it wasn't my fault and she still marked me down, but I got one A minus.

The rest were a's. Then I continued mobilizing, mobilizing and I got my, my master's degree in 2015. I, I retired in 2022 and my last active duty deployment ended in 2021. And then I was a reservist and while still a reservist, oh, by the way, I retired from American Arms in 2020 [00:07:00] 'cause they had an early out, so they offered a bunch of free flights.

I could be collecting my pension, but I'm gonna wait till I'm 60. I'm 56 now. But then I, I went into the contracting world for the DODI didn't like it because that same camaraderie, I didn't feel it. They're important. It's about money. I no longer felt like I was part of the team. I felt like I was some guy that was like, and I didn't have my own office, didn't have people working for me.

It was like, Hey, you come over here. We need some help. I did do one contracting job and then there was a possibility for another contracting job. I found myself in Peru with my best friend who had stage four cancer, and I was down here, saw Machu Picchu. I made several trips here and then on one trip when I was, you know.

Waiting for a contracting job. And they finally called me after three and a half months. I said, you guys didn't update me. You didn't. I mean, I'm liking what I'm doing. 'cause I had seen colleagues that were a few years older than me. They weren't friends, but I knew them. And three died [00:08:00] from cancer, one from a heart attack.

And, and I was like, life is too short. You know, I have these specific goals. I want to get fluent in Spanish. I, I want to get my doctorate. At that time I wanted to do French too, but no, I changed that, uh, Spanish get my doctorate and I wanna write my novel. And then my goal switched around. One of my professors said, is your novel about your doctorate?

I said, no. And he said, then why don't you write it now you have time. So I did start it in August of 2023. I met a publisher down here studying at the same language who I'm studying at. He's a retired police officer out of. California, somewhere in California, and he said, look, you're not, I'm gonna get your expectations in line right now.

You're not gonna get your money back. Your story is fiction. And it, it's not like something, like a story that everybody knows about. And then you get a ghost writer to help you write it and then, you know, everybody wants to hear this. Nobody knows who you are. So, you know, you'll, you'll earn some money [00:09:00] on your book, but you're, the amount of money you're spending, you're not gonna get that back.

And that I'm okay with that. I'm gonna self-publish. I'm more interested in people looking at it, saying it's good novel.

Host: And how's it going So far,

Ken Webb: The novel itself is therapy for me. It's trapped in deception and it, it talks about someone who. Was one of my best friends who betrayed me. He, he's a person who looked me right in the face several times and lied to me.

And so the bad person in my book is based on him. Of course, I've amplified it. I didn't use the real name. The good person in the book is loosely based on me. He was in Kosovo, Iraq, and Afghanistan the same time I was. He's the same age as me. With the same birthdate, the person works for the airlines in the book.

So my, my journey is a, the novel is actually therapy. There are everybody in that novel who has a [00:10:00] speaking part and some who don't like my, my dog, my childhood dogs in the novel with the same name. And it's all based on, on reality. You know, as, as I know from reading up on the movies, based on reality could be very loose, but in this case it's not.

It's the crimes that are made up. You mentioned that you wanted to do it for, for therapeutic reasons. Is there any other reason why you, you wanted to embark on this? I mean, writing a book is a feat. Yes, it is. I, I'm a very goal-oriented person, so anybody listening that thinks they're just gonna knock out a novel, if they want it to be halfway decent, it's, it's not.

And if people are writing for money, I mean, I, I, I understand everybody has to eat, but you know, I'm, I'm not doing it for money. I think it's the wrong thing. If you're doing it just for money, for writing, it should be something different. And it's, it's not necessarily as secure way to make a living. 'cause nobody's obligated to buy your [00:11:00] book.

Host: Well, I commend you for being willing to try different things, you know, like. Writing a novel again, is not an easy feat and just jumping right in and saying, I'm gonna do this also with your career, going in different directions. And it sounds like you're a bit of a risk taker.

Ken Webb: I, I don't think I've ever been a risk taker in my life.

Uh, perhaps now. I mean, my, my, my best friend had, he, he's 72 by the way. He kept, kept on working until he was, uh, in his sixties. I mean, well, what I've done is I've built a foundation. I have my army pension. I've saved up money. I've been tight with my money, so I, I don't see it as risk. I see it as not earning more money.

I could be earning money, and I feel like if I'm not writing a book, I'm not studying Spanish. If I'm not getting my doctorate. I should be doing something that earns money. So I, I, I guess it's a risk. I, I'm, I'm trying different things. I, I want to, to do the things I've wanted to do my whole life.

Host: Well, even moving to [00:12:00] Peru, you know, that's a little bit of a risk.

Ken Webb: It is a risk, yeah. It's somewhat of a risk. I mean, I'm, I'm not a citizen down here, but I'm not getting involved in politics. I'm not flashing money. And I, I made some, they're not quite friends, but close to it at, at my school. And people that help me a lot and I've, I'm a member of a writer's group down here and I'm dating a woman down here.

There's the language barrier because I speak more Spanish than she does English. And I used to say I wanted to marry a woman who couldn't speak my language, so we couldn't argue. And that was like saying, east is West. You are fully capable of arguing with somebody who doesn't speak your language. That was probably the most false statement I ever made in my life.

But I'm, I'm liking Peru. Eventually I wanna return to the United States, but I wanna return being fluent in Spanish with a doctorate.

Host: What are you getting your doctorate in?

Ken Webb: My doctorate's gonna be in the same thing I got my master's in. It's gonna be in intelligence studies. I still have the most of the [00:13:00] GI Bill to use, so they're gonna pay me to go to school.

So, and that's more money than I'm making now. So. They pay me to go to school. I need to use it. To me, it's just goal. We talked about goals before writing the novel as a goal, getting the doctor as a goal, but I, I have goals. I I set them out. I, I've, I've always achieved them so far.

Host: Well, again, I, I think at school that you've tried different things, you've gone after different things, and you were open to opening doors maybe that you didn't expect would open. So I, I commend you for that.

Anything else that you'd like to add or that you think would be important for people to know? Even just about, like, let's say people wanna have somewhat of a similar career trajectory and be open to what opportunities present themselves, what advice would you give somebody?

Ken Webb: My advice would be to not hesitate, you know, to to follow your dreams, especially for [00:14:00] those who have a pension and they are financially secure. You really need to ask yourself why are you holding back? And most of it's gonna be something based on fear. And I would say do the research because you'll often find out that things aren't as hard as you think they are.

Things aren't as dangerous as you thought they were and that you can take precautions. I would, I would advise them to, you know, do what's right, acceptable, take acceptable risks, because you know, you get on a plane. Those people say your safety is our number one concern. Okay. That that's absolutely not true.

And you're like, what do you mean? Well, okay, if the number one thing was safety, the plane wouldn't take off the ground, then it can't, it can't crash then. Okay? What they mean is that they are gonna make an acceptable risk to get you from point A to point B. Uh. If, if they [00:15:00] were really, really like, oh no, safety safe, they wouldn't take off in a storm.

They're taking acceptable risk based on scientific research, past experiences. I wouldn't want a life without risk, you know, just stay in the house, never cross the street. Never try any different food. Don't travel. Don't do anything. You can't live that way. You have to take some risk in life. You're an acceptable risk taker.

I'm an acceptable risk taker. I'm an adventurous person. Huge scuba diver. I was traveled all over the world, scuba diving and used my flight benefits at American Airlines when I was with the military when, uh, scuba diving in England, which England is the place for scuba diving. Got dry suit certified in Scotland.

Been to the Great Barrier Reef. Been to Bay East. Did the pool hole in Bay Lease been to Jamaica. Most recent trip was Roatan Honduras, which is an excellent place for scuba diving.

Host: Well, it definitely sounds like you're an adventurous person and you've taken advantage of the time that you [00:16:00] have, and you've made some cool things out of it.

Where can people find out more about your book or more about you if they're interested in learning more?

Ken Webb: Okay. The book is called Trapped in Deception. I did establish a website. That is Ken Webb, KEN Webb, with two bs WEB b6 nine.com. I have received some comments about the 69. The 69 is nothing more than my birthday.

I was born in 1969, so that's the webpage I'm also on, on YouTube. Uh, I'm also, you know, on Facebook, but the best thing is, is directly on that. And if you go on there. And you navigate through, you know, I'm, I'm, I have like some ideas for covers on there and it's three. And I said, you know, pick one of these, which one do you think is best?

And just by doing that, you have a chance to win a free copy, hard copy of the novel. Very cool. So Ken Webb 60 [00:17:00] nine.com, two B as in web. Awesome.

Host: Thank you so much for, for coming on and for sharing your story and more about your book and even your advice on how to take advantage of, of all these different adventures.

I really appreciate it.

Be sure to check out Ken's website to learn more about his book. It's linked in the episode description. I hope this episode was helpful in providing a look at how someone has managed multiple career transitions and been able to follow their passions. If you're feeling stuck or unmotivated in your current career and wanna make a change but maybe don't know where to start, or it feels too overwhelming, check out.

Take a b coaching.com to learn more about a one-on-one coaching program designed to help you navigate a career pivot. Thanks for listening and take [00:18:00] care.