From War to Writing - Table of Contents

My story of tackling crippling anxiety and a burning desire for solitude. Chapter Links and Project Status for my upcoming book: "From War to Writing"

“From War to Writing” officially began in August 2025. The following Table of Contents will be updated as the project evolves. Thank you for your patience. :)

I don't know exactly what this will be, but I will start by telling my story. If you find it interesting, perhaps I'll continue for a while. 8^P

- Terry Duke, “what missives lie within?”, 23 November, 2024

When I first started writing I didn’t know what story I was going to tell.

Now I do.

“From War to Writing” is my story of stopping a mental health spiral, tackling crippling anxiety and a burning desire for solitude, climbing back out of the hole, and reconnecting with my fellow humans.

As of August 2025, this book is the main focus and current project here at jofty’s Corner. Previous articles will be refined to complete much of the book and a few new chapters still need to be written.

This is a work-in-progress, and all feedback is welcome. :)

As the book comes together, this article will be updated with new links to updated chapters. Feel free to bookmark and return later to see how things are going.

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you find healing and hope in this book, From War to Writing.

- Terry Duke (aka: jofty)

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I use three flags to indicate the status of each chapter:

Published: Version 1.0 - Published as part of “From War to Writing” - Mostly ready for the book.
Initial: An early post, concepts were explored and will be refined and re-published to prepare for the book.
Future: Chapter is projected or in-work.

From War to Writing

Prologue: My First Attempt at Solitude
- Published: 2 Aug ‘25

Introduction: Weaving a Tapestry of Healing from Curiosities in the Chaos
- Published: 9 Aug ‘25

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Section I - A Tapestry of Healing

Chapter 1 - Stop The Spiral: A Note, Caution, and Warning for the Easily Distracted, Task Saturated, or Chronically Overwhelmed
- Initial Post: 7 Dec ‘24

Chapter 2 - Stoicism and Empathy: Overcoming Adversity and Dealing with People
- Initial Post: 14 Dec ‘24

Chapter 3 - Understanding our Biases: Striving to be less Blunt and Judgmental
- Initial Post: 1 Mar ‘25

Chapter 4 - Burnout Unraveled: Identifying Signs Before and After, Prevention and Reduction, Recovery
- Initial Post: April 25 — This 4-Part Series will be re-worked into a chapter or two.

Chapter 5 - PTSD: My Watch Has Ended: Invisible Wounds of Modern Warfare
- Initial Post: This article describes my personal experience with PTSD.

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Section II - The Empathy Tank

Chapter 6 - Overview - Like other human abilities or systems, our ability to express empathy can be damaged or get out of balance. Thankfully, it can also heal.
- Initial Post: 28 June 25 — The original Empathy Tank missive was speculative discourse and will be refined and expanded.

Chapter 7 - Inputs and Outputs: Balancing the Flow
- Future - Expanding on initial post.

Chapter 8 - Leaks: What Can Hurt Our Capacity for Empathy?
- Future - Expanding on initial post.

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Section III - Curiosities in the Chaos

Chapter 9 - A Gift Becomes a Curse: My Lens and Experience with Neurodiversity and Neurocomplexity.
- Future

Chapter 10 - Neurocomplexity / cPTSD / Theory of Positive Disintegration
- Future - These were briefly discussed in the Introduction and will expand to address the main drivers of the chaos I unravel throughout the book.

Chapter 11 - Authenticity - Initially a 3-part series, we’ll address Authenticity as a generally worthwhile goal, a way to connect, and sometimes as self defense.
- Initial Post: 11 Jan 25

Chapter 12 - Alignment and Perfectionism - When we seek alignment instead of “perfection” we can lower our stress and begin to thrive.
- Initial Post / Future - 10 May 25

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Section IV - Personal Essays

Heard Above the Noise: A Story of Courage and Trusting My Instincts
- Initial: 3 May 25

1 / 10 / 21 - Divorce, Life Expectancy, Suicides
- Future - There are three key statistics about Veterans to discuss. Many divorce within one year of leaving service. Life expectancy is often 10 years or less. Suicide rates are high. We’ll examine these stats and point to sections of the book that may help address them.

Retirement Ceremony - Reflections on the end of my 24 year US Air Force career.
- Initial: 30 Nov 24 - This will be revised for scope and clarity.

Curiosity as a Guidepost - A relaxing day exploring a Roman city in Germany
- Initial: 18 Jan 25

Live Stream - Updates, Q&A, September Plan
Saturday, 23 August
2:00-2:30pm EST

Next Saturday I will host another live video session from 2:00-2:30pm EST. Saturday’s post will be a recap of the live video. If you have questions, comments, or just want to stop by, you’re welcome to join us. :)

I will cover:

• Project Update: I will talk about how the start of this project is going and where I see it headed in the future.

• Q&A: I will take questions about anything I’ve written here, or about anything else. Send me your questions ahead of time, or just bring them to event.

• Save Wisdom: I may discuss a few prompts from https://savewisdom.org . If you see any in their list you would like me to address, send me the number and I’ll give it a shot.

If you are able to stop by, I look forward to seeing you there.

In Closing

I never thought I would write a book, and certainly not about mental health… yet, here we are. This journey has been quite a ride so far and I look forward to what the future holds.

I hope my thoughts help bring hope and healing.

Thank you for stopping by.

I look forward to seeing you next Saturday as we travel the road From War to Writing.

I wish you a pleasant week.

Take care,

- jofty 8^)

From War to Writing - Expanded Outline

The following links will be updated to include official chapter posts as they are published.

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