Good News Teasin' and Interview
Bold Journey magazine, a hot public display of literacy, being a good news tease, and Norris Reads
I write this in the midst of a whirlwind of hot August weather and social goings on. Three generations of family visiting from the Midwest. Pals from the good old days breezing through town. Weddings. A childbirth. Cancer diagnoses. Life feels especially life-y, which is not good writing but it is exactly what I want to say.
I’ve experienced a few serene solo moments as well, like editing the next issue of The Sea Chest at the Ballard Locks. Laying out with red pen in-hand and watching tugs ply past felt proper. If civilization is a tide pool, I was some unassuming invertebrate who was exactly where he is evolved to thrive by nibbling on detritus (or something) as part of a healthy ecosystem. The magazine is at the printer on-time as I write this. I look forward to holding it in-hand soon.
Bold Journey Magazine Interview
Let’s shift gears lest I veer into folksy navel gazing. I was interviewed by Bold Journey magazine, a digital publication that profiles independent artists and entrepreneurs. They reached out some time ago and now we’re live here. The main topics of discussion were finding purpose/meaning, qualities of success, and collaboration. I provide a few little teasers here to coax you into the full read.
On purpose: “…I also think that finding some things, like life purpose, inevitably tries to reveal itself. The finding of purpose may be a lot like trying to get a newly met cat to like you. You don’t aggressively approach the cat for a pet, that usually drives it away. A better tactic is to be calm, maybe even a little coy, and ignore the cat. Paradoxically, this is what may provoke the cat to not only approach you, but insist upon a pet with an earnest meow...”
On qualities of success (for me): “…Quality number three is probably a lot of respect and curiosity about the real world. How things actually work. The mechanisms of systems. I think a lot of creative types are also imaginative idealists, which is beautiful. But being willing to walk in the corporeal realm of blood and guts, capitalism, and how human beings actually tick is such a massive part of success. I matured out of the idea that the world is whatever I imagine it to be. The world is what it is, the carrots delicious and the sticks brutal. Embrace the duality of it, the Yin and the Yang...”
On collaboration: “…I think that if you’re in the small press/indie author, small business owner, freelance creative space as I am, collaboration is the name of the game. I’m keen for a collaboration conversation–ideally over coffee or brews in-person–anytime and anywhere. I met my agent/publisher in college at a beer mixer. I’m The Sea Chest editor thanks to word of mouth. I could call and have a nice chat with most of the managing editors of magazines I write for. I’ve teamed up with other indie authors for panel pitches to bookstores that may not be interested in us if we were solo cold callers. Heck, I have friends from elementary school…”
Good Stuff Teasin’
There are a handful of very awesome developments in the works, ranging from possible in-person events come fall to new book manuscripts I have in play. I’ve learned long ago that it’s foolish to brag about possible outcomes, so I’ll remain vague for now. I will be in Europe (Amsterdam and Metz, France) for a chunk of this month and it’s possible that one of these teased good things will come together for sharing purposes soon.
Norris Reads: Mr. Taffle’s Pants of Insanity by Daniel Finkel
I’m going to start including this Norris Reads section where I highlight a book I’m reading or have recently finished. Maybe this will grow into a full blown book review space? Who knows, but for now, it’s just a wee shout out to whatever is in front of my nose.
I’ve just completed Mr. Taffle’s Pants of Insanity by Daniel Finkel. I met “The Fink” up in Bellingham where we both won First Places at the Chanticleer International Book Awards, he in the Mark Twain humor category. We did the ancient ritual of mutual author respect—a book swap. He was also a blast to hang out with and reliable drink-until-dawn partner.
Bottom line, I really liked his very original book. Mr. Taffle’s Pants of Insanity exudes boundless energy to conjure up the most absurd situations that the human mind can conceive of in a way that’s frankly admirable. Imagine Oppenheimer-level brainpower and obsession, but he was devoted to pushing the boundaries of ridiculous instead of making a nuke. If you mixed Hunter S. Thompson’s Vegas acid trip, Alice’s descent into Wonderland, the gang singing down the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz, Gene Wilder’s crazed Tunnel of Terror scene from Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, and Satan’s Ball from The Master and Margarita, you’d approach the vibe of what The Fink has thrown down.
The reading experience is probably a decent proxy for a real life fall into insanity, which was a fun meta epiphany for me mid-read. The book is FUN! If you gaze at the front displays of book stores in 2023, you’re likely going to see a wall of very self serious works: trauma me-moirs, dense and/or emotional takedowns of society, historical nonfictions for dad’s birthday, and mom erotica (which also comes off as surprisingly self serious). Not here! Life is short, have a lark.
Underneath it all, I did pick up on touching and deeper themes examining the complex and powerful experience of heartbreak after being dumped, the lampooning of the surreal and insidious techcorporate-everything-for-sale dystopian flavor of these times, the almost chronic condition of doing one’s best but always coming up short in a fast and apathetic world, and the darker side of human nature. I suggest reading it nice and slow with an attitude of complete surrender. Don’t fight it and don’t rush it. Just let yourself go mad for a while. And keep sizzlin’.