Living By Words

I walked into Bongo Java the other day and got to talking with my friend, Larkin Briley, on this and that when he remembered he had something to show me on his computer. It was the Bingo card you have before you. I felt so seen and loved and heard. The feeling remains.

All eloquence is borrowed. I listen and write things down and then try out words and sayings and, when they go over well, I repeat them. Because I stand and talk with almost a hundred students across my four classes each semester (and quite a few more in the summer months), I suspect I end up voicing particular sayings out loud more than most. Larkin so honors me by noting the zingers and memorializing them in a game. I’m grateful. I might print and pass out some variations of this card at an author event one of these days.

I’m also grateful because I’m 53 today. If you’re reading this, you’ve probably supported me in some way (even if only by reading or sharing my words).

These are the efforts. I’ve tried to keep it interesting. I only disavow three of them. That isn’t to say I disavow each and every sentence in each of them. It just means I can’t quite vouch for everything I set down in The Gospel According to America (which has now been replaced by The Possibility of America), the first edition of Life’s Too Short (which has now been replaced by a new, reframed, repentant, and expanded version), and Everyday Apocalypse (which I’m going to see revised with a new publisher in the very near future).

It’s easy for me to speak this way. Two publishers declined to keep two of them in print. One publisher gave me the opportunity to revise the other one. Were it not this way, I might be less chatty. My acquaintance with my own heart only goes so far.

I can well imagine being in a position where acknowledging aloud the ways I’ve changed my mind would feel too costly.

If you’d like a copy of any of the out-of-print books (inscribed with words of regret), let me know and we can arrange something.

Thanks for hanging with me. I suspect this newsletter will remain free, but if you’d like to compensate me in some small way for this or my Twitter content, I have a few suggestions:

Talk up my new book. Review it and/or urge others to. Persuade someone to criticize or deride it online or on television. Ask your library to order a copy. Order it yourself from a bookstore. Be seen reading it in public frequently. Buy a bunch and give them away as gifts. Post pictures of the text or, if you’re into it, videos of yourself reading it aloud. Imagine venues (bookstores, schools, churches, clubs) that might enjoy hosting me for some something or other and put me in touch with them.

I think a lot of people reading and talking about Life’s Too Short To Pretend You’re Not Religious: Revised and Expanded would move the needle a little and expand the space of the talkaboutable here and there. But I’m admittedly biased.

Meaning is a group activity. Courage usually is too. Thank you for lifting and helping me lift my voice. I’d like to encourage you to lift yours too.

Thank you for your time and attention.