Living the Writer's Life:
Michael Glenn
By Mindy McHorse

At Bootcamp 2023 with author and Bootcamp speaker Terri Trespicio..

As a young man, Michael Glenn thought he knew exactly what he was going to do for a career. But the Navy steered him in a different direction, and then the realities of life and war stepped in to once again alter his trajectory. Through it all, Michael’s love of writing was present, despite having to be rediscovered and reshaped. Enjoy this vulnerable and very relatable interview about how he’s using his writing to help others who’ve faced challenges similar to his own.

What was life like for you before becoming a copywriter?

Michael and Russ Henneberry
met at Bootcamp 2023;
Russ is founder of theCLIKK
and was a Bootcamp speaker.

When I got out of high school, I joined the Navy. I signed up to be a crypto technician, but halfway through bootcamp they decided I didn’t meet all the requirements. So when I told them I like to write, they made me a journalist. I spent the next five years learning that skill set. I did radio and TV for a year and a half in Iceland, and I did print journalism. I also wrote and edited my ship’s newspaper for two and a half years on a ship out of San Diego.

Why did you leave journalism and the Navy?

The Iraq War started. My ship deployed. The very first wave of Marines that marched into Baghdad was on my ship. We dropped them off and stayed in the Gulf for four months. Every day we were in the Gulf, I didn’t know what was going on or what was going to happen. Everybody on the ship would ask, “Are we going to see combat? Are we going to have to deal with chemical warfare or with a small boat?” Nobody knew. After living in that environment for four months, I came home with severe PTSD and didn’t want anything to do with the military anymore. And because I was a journalist, I didn’t want anything to do with writing either.

My PTSD was so bad that for 10 years after I got out, I couldn’t even write a grocery list or send an email to my brother, because it would always remind me of those things that I was trying to get away from. I struggled for years and didn’t know what to do. Because I hadn’t seen combat, I didn’t think it was PTSD. I didn’t think the VA [Veterans Administration] could do anything for me. But my mom kept hounding me. She’d say, “You have to talk to someone. You need to get help.”

In 2018, I started going to therapy through the VA. It took the next three or four years before I was ready to start building a new life. But when I was ready, I knew I needed to write again.

I want to acknowledge you first for your service, and also for your vulnerability about the struggles you faced. How did that journey lead you to copywriting?

During that rough 10-year stretch I was spending a lot of time on the internet and got really interested in freelance web design, which got me into the freelance community. I’d heard about AWAI, and so I started with The AWAI Method^TM program. The whole idea of copywriting as a way to help other people solve their problems and to connect with other people and really engage in an honest dialogue — that just lit me up.

What kind of paid writing have you moved into now?

I’m doing community engagement in the AWAI Facebook groups. And then the week before Christmas, I started my newsletter on Substack. I had met Russ Henneberry at Bootcamp last October. He’s one of my favorite people of all time. I wound up on a 30-minute call with him and said, “I’m thinking about doing this newsletter.” It was December 12. He was like, “I want to see your first newsletter in my email on December 19.” My jaw dropped.

I love that he challenged you.

I was freaking out, but okay, Russ knows more than I do. He’s not going to give me bad advice. I published my first one that next week. After a couple of issues, I was like, You know what? I could do this every week. And so every week I share some story from my own life of overcoming my own challenges. I want to inspire other people to feel more hopeful and to feel like things can get better. I also started a Facebook group specifically for veterans with PTSD and other mental health challenges.

What advice would you give to others who want to pursue copywriting?

The biggest piece of advice is just never give up. There will come times where you doubt yourself. And the people that stick with it, those are the ones that go on to build a successful career in copywriting.

Michael's Living The Writer's Life story was originally published in Barefoot Writer. To learn more about how you can start living your dream writer's life too, click here.

What help do you need to move forward with your version of the writer’s life? Let us know in the comments below so we can help guide you in the right direction.