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HOLLAND - Fiction never meant much to Holland resident Mike Lozon; reality was just too interesting.
Lozon, the owner of The Write Way, has made a name for himself capturing that interesting reality for corporations in West Michigan. The former newspaper editor and journalist said he sees himself as expanding the writing he did as a journalist to books. Lozon, who has written six corporate histories and one local history book, said he uses the same skills and methods to record history and events as he used in journalism - but with more depth.
His first book, "Vision on Main Street: Downtown Holland's Resurgence as the Heart of the Community," was a 1994 account of the history and revitalization of Holland's downtown. Lozon wrote the book after he was approached by Prince Corp. founder Edgar Prince and his wife, Elsa Prince, who ran the company after her husband's death until it was sold to Johnson Controls in 1996, about documenting the renovations. When it grew into a book, Lozon said it opened doors for him as a writer.
"As a writer, I said, 'Wow, What a great opportunity,' " he said.
"That really was the catalyst for what I'm doing today."
That opportunity was soon followed by a request to write the history of Bil Mar Foods. The book, "Mr. Turkey: A Biography of Bil Mar Foods Co-Founder Marvin DeWitt," took on a different twist as Lozon focused on DeWitt as well as the history of the company.
Lozon, 57, was born in Grand Haven and grew up in Alpena. He aspired to be a history and English teacher, but stumbled into journalism when he took a magazine feature writing class to fulfill a requirement at Central Michigan University. He subsequently dropped out of college and returned home. There he found a job as a reporter at the Alpena News where he worked as a feature writer and police reporter. After five years of 3 a.m. wake-up calls to go out and cover accidents, Lozon said he decided it was time to go...