Welcome to the page that houses the 2022
#GBWRITESWITHOTHERS
guest blogging initiative! Established in April 2019, it was created to help boost writers at all levels in their careers through pure community effort.
Views and topics are those of their authors.
If you read my Please Reject Me blog, you'd know I'm a big fan of traditional publishing. So, it's probably surprising I struck out on my own. But if you haven't, I'll make this clear- I've had a lot of respect for self-published authors, but I didn't have any interest in taking on all the extra tasks associated with publishing a book. With five kids and an autoimmune disease—I wanted all the help I could get.
My wife took several art classes in college for her degree. The students and teachers fixated on abstract art and called anybody’s work that looked good “commercial.” I quickly gleaned that this was coded speech for “we suck and call it abstract to mask our lack of skill.” Thus, I am wary when somebody says there are no rules in writing. Do whatever you want. Let’s rethink that.
The road laid out before me, peels off the miles as the hum of tires on pavement sing a song only I can hear. It’s a haunting melody, one I’ve heard before, once upon a time. It comes to me in snippets, in dribbles and drabs, a catchy tune that I can’t quite place, but is an earworm just the same. If I don’t get to it before it vanishes…
There are moments in life that pass so quickly, before you can even think to blink, that will never come back to you. Other moments linger forever like a stain on your soul. Both are important - they make you who you are. Each person’s tapestry is full of these and you wrap that quilt around yourself like a shield against the world. Sometimes, you’ll pause and look at all of those squares - the memories that are fading and ripping at the seams.
You may be asking yourself “what kind of low brow caveman would write such a piece?” The short answer: a guy who refers to himself as “The Archduke of Mayhem.” This piece, however, was a semi request/dare from Ms. Gillian Barnes herself. I made a joke about writing a piece about getting your grandma to talk about her hoe phase at Thanksgiving dinner, and Gillian’s reply was “OMG Write That.” If this year’s “Gillian Writers With Others” is starting off with bathroom humor, blame Gillian.
