| Ralph Potter Profile |
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Frank Potter The Peninsula's most published writer/raconteur by Nancy Chapman -- Portfolio, Norfolk, VA Frank Potter N. Potter was born almost 73 years ago near Boston, Massachusetts and has lived in half a dozen states and Canada. He attended four high schools and as many colleges -- graduating from Cornell with a degree in industrial and labor relations. Although he was first published in 1936, he has made his living entirely by writing, and as an editor, only since 1946. Frank served in the U.S. Army during World war II as a communications chief -- after having received the highest marks ever attained at the Army Signal Corps School in Fort Monmouth, New Jersey. He earned expert ratings in the use of various firearms, and was awarded four service medals during three campaigns. His interests are many, and he has had considerable success in his hobbies. He owned and operated an AKC-registered kennel, and won scores of blue ribbons for his German Shepherd Dogs at shows, including those at Madison Square Garden. he and his wife Olive belonged to the Williamsburg, Richmond, and National Capital Dahlia Societies -- again, scads of ribbons. Frank came to the Peninsula in 1959 to be chief of the Research and Writing Branch at the Naval Weapons Station in Yorktown, but was coaxed away by the Newport News shipyard to become their supervisor of technical writing for the Atomic Power Division. In 1974, Frank quit working for other folks and is now beig published -- and publicized -- in everything from a local weekly to big-city newspapers and a great many magazines. He is a long-time member of the Tidewater Writers Association. Frank N. Potter of Newport News is a firm believer in rules. For if there were no rules, this prolific writer would have nothing to break -- except maybe his pencil in frustration. Bucking the literary system is his raison d'etre; the success he has achieved with this philosophy spurs Frank to advise, "You musn't believe everything you're told, and you must never assume anything as fact." It upsets Frank when reporters insist that he became a writer to follow in his father's footsteps (his dad penned "22 erudite tomes and as many bales of magazine articles") or because Sinclair Lewis, Edna Ferber, Will Durant, Hendrik Willem Van Loon and the like were more than simply household names in our family . . . and that when we lived in Nyack, New York, Helen Hayes lived just down the street from us. Sure, I realize Miss Hayes isn't known as a wrtiter, but her husband, Charles MacArthur, was. He and Ben Hecht -- who lived right across the street from us -- wrote The Front Page and lots of other best-selling stuff. "You're darned right I'm a name dropper," he continues in response to an accusation. "If you haven't tried it, don't knock it! The thruth of the matter is that I became a writer because the war had made me too lazy and impudent to do ordinary work anymore." First published 48 years ago, Frank refuses to label what he does "freelancing." "I have no use for the term. It sounds like some sort of plastic knight looking for Camelot. In the first place, those knights went around righting wrong, and writing wrong isn't my dish of tea. Lots of folks wouldn't agree with me about this word 'freelance." They don't have to, of course. It's just that in my opinion, the word stinks -- and I've never had a humble opinion in my life. I've always felt that modesty has no place in the American economic system." Since Frank declines to recognize certain words in the English language, it's only fair that he replace them with ones he coins. "Psychosemantic" is such a term, one which Frank defines as someone who's nuts about words. A self-portrait? Definitely. Frank got his start wrestling with words -- and rules -- full time at General Electric in Schenectady, New York. Told that applicants for the position of copywriter were required to have college degrees, which he didn't then, he promptly plunked down a stack of True Story magazines. "I told this diddly personnel person -- who wanted to know what made me think I could write -- that inasmuch as I had learned how to be an unwed mother, I shouldn't have any trouble with their welding account." Obviously, he didn't, for now his literary accomplishments abound. "I set a right good record for myself by having 15 stories in various magazines during the, same month. You'll notice -- or maybe you won't without my help -- that I didn't say 15 different magazines. That's because I wrote them under different names, a habit I refuse to abandon." And Frank is selling stories now that he wrote 40 years ago, some that were rejected as many as 50 times. "I guess the world is finally catching up with me," he notes. When an editor advised him not to rewrite and resubmit a particular piece, Frank waited two years, resubmitted the original manuscript to the same publisher, then saw it appear as a feature story. "That editor," says Frank, "was ephemeral; my effort wasn't." Recognized as an avaiation and automotive historian, Frank is especially proud of receiving the prestigious M.J. Duryea Memorial Cup for "outstanding achievement in Automotive History." He was given this award by the Antique Automobile Club of America for the serialization of his book, Of Heart And Wheels, which appeared throughout 1978 in their Antique Automobile magazine. But what he's probably best known for is his 1981 book, The Moxie Mystique. Though it was published locally, Frank managed to get the book reviewed by over 50 newspapers and magazines nationwide, not the least of which was The New York Times. Never one to be satisfied, Frank used his own moxie to win appearances on more than 20 radio and TV programs across the country to promote the book, including ABC's "Good Morning America." THe Moxie Mystique is now available only from Frank at 29 Franklin Rd., Newport News, VA 23601. Frank touts this book as being "the definitive text on Moxie." The word means courage and aggresiveness, but the name belongs to a soft drink first manufactured in 1884. Through an innovative marketing campaign that created the Moxiemobile (a lifesize dummy horse perched atop an automobile chassis) and latched onto the country's sense of patriotism. Moxie outsold all other soft drinks for many years and became a national phenomenon during the first half of this century. Moxie is a legend today, though it's not what it used to be now that the drink's distribution is limited to New England. Frank does what he can to keep the memories alive; thanks to his efforts, Union, Maine, commemorated the soft drink's 100th anniversary this month during Moxie Days - a celebration Frank wouldn't have dreamed of missing. Another group contributing to the Moxie revival is Diversifoods, Inc., a company that will be opening a chain of 15 restaurants across the country this year called Moxie's Deluxe Grille and Bar. In Norfolk, Moxie's recently opened its doors at 888 N. Military Highway, and Frank hopes to visit the new restaurant soon. Not associated with the soft drink, the restaurant is billed as being "reminiscent of food and service like you remember from the good old days," something our "Man of La Moxie," as Frank dubs himself, would appreciate. Today Frank is "pioneering in highly humorous science fiction/fantasy stories." He must be good at it because not long ago, the office of the Curator of Manuscripts at the University of Virginia said Frank was "apparently on the way to becoming an 'underground' reading must, for the undergraduate, of the Salinger-Huxley-Tolkien variety." Thus, the school asked to "be placed in contention, among the others that will follow, as the repository of (Frank's) literary manuscripts for the use of qualified scholars." Not bad for someone who calls himself "Tidewater's Tilter at Literary Windmills." He also has a book about writing in the works, one that is bound to have a very different slant from most in this genre. For instance, on how someone should go about becoming a writer, Frank says simply, "You write something, anything! It doesn't matter too much what you write; there's always somebody out there who could, for whatever perverted reason, be interested in reading it. Mind you I didn't say publidhing it. So you write something and try to think of someone to whom so send it." Another observation Frank offers beginners is, "Editors are often quite specific in their 'editorial requirements' but, in general, they'll consider any really good story." And, tossing out one more editorial rule, he instructs, "Never stick to the editor's maximum word count. Always give them twice as much." Reprint from: Portfolio, Norfolk, VA - People - July 31, 1984From Moxie World: Ralph N. Potter's present address is:
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