These days I keep up with the NFL mostly for water cooler chat, but this Aaron Rodgers drama is SPICY. I don’t care how it plays out. I’m just along for the ride.
Yeeeeeah, I’m glad I didn’t read The Plague a year ago. It hit too close to home for that ish.
Monkey see, Monkey do
She approves of my new laptop backpack.
How people from my hometown greet you when they ain’t seen you in a bit
I love Carrollton Square.
I once heard a piece of professional philosophy that went something like:
If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not trying.
For writers, it would be:
If you ain’t making typos, you ain’t writing.
With today’s launch of my monthly writing newsletter, I continue my trend of pretending I know what I’m talking about.
The Haunted House Next Door, a new vignette at Turkey House Publishing, is an exploration of how we play scenarios in our heads vs. how we actually act.
This morning I learned that “spicket” is not a real word. The word I was looking for is “spigot.”
Despite growing up in the sticks, I’ve never thought of myself as a country boy, but this is a reminder that we’re all shaped by where we were raised.
Another new story at Turkey House Publishing…
The story can best be summed up by these lyrics from “Two to Birkenhead” by Bill Ryder-Jones:
They say that desperate times call for desperate pleasures
Attempting to write a novel has forced me to eat humble pie as it has shown me that I’m still not ready for the task. At least I’ve made some progress on my short story collection.
I’m interested in and fascinated by the ways we sabotage ourselves. My latest short story at Turkey House Publishing explores this in its own way.
In the last couple years, I re-watched The NeverEnding Story with my son, and everyone asked if he was okay after the Artex scene in the Swamp of Sadness, but they should have been asking about ME.
Why You Should Watch the NeverEnding Story as an Adult
I prefer not to read books by the same author back to back, but after re-reading Albert Camus’s The Stranger, I couldn’t resist the urge to check out The Plague, which I’ll start tonight. Though the book likely should have been on my 2020 list, it still feels timely in 2021.
I will be dropping the first edition of Emergency Coffee, my writing newsletter, on 05.01.2021. This is my equivalent of a press release. I suck at marketing even though I have a degree in it.
Some things I’m using to push me toward finishing a novel/novella:
I’m pretty sure what I have so far is horrible, but I’m reminding myself that the point is to complete a rough draft. It’s easier to rewrite and edit when you actually have something to work with. Perfection is a pointless goal, and great writing is iterative.
I don’t think I’ve watched a movie so far in 2021. This is not intentional. It’s just happened (or failed to). Maybe it’s time to break my streak.
Where were you when oil went negative?
4.20.2020
I’m not proud of what I’ve written so much as I’m proud of the fact that I’ve written. The first chapter of my novel/novella is done.
I’m excited to have picked up When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalinithi on Kindle for $2.99. The author’s bravery in the face of certain death continues to inspire me long after my first reading.
I tried administering CBT to my dog while she was on “the couch”. We got a lotta work ahead of us.
Peer pressure has led to the adoption of a now page. I’m trying to lean into this whole calling-myself-a-writer thing. No need to be so humble about it.
