The Hump Day Brain Dump 11/8/23
You can find me in the club! The book club, that is.
Sheryl Crow once sang, “Every day is a winding road.”
You set out on life's highway with plans and then the detours come. Shiny attractions with their promise distract us. You navigate back to your main route and you start picking up travelers. Some people strap in for the ride while some just stay for a thin slice of the clock.
You never know who you’re going to meet around the bend.
I met my friend Tyler through work. I have been at the same company for almost a decade. While I was physically declining, I still “looked” somewhat normal. My illness wasn’t a widely known fact.
I didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for me. I was still very able.
But then I kind of “outed” myself at work in the name of charity. I’ll talk more about that Friday.
Tyler and I connected on Facebook. Periodically, I would share updates. Then, I started to invest more time into my writing and publishing more frequently. Like a lot of you, she was extremely supportive.
I am fortunate to have a safe space as a writer. I have a handful of friends that I can send my draft work to. They act as a BS filter. They are all avid readers and I respect their opinions. Tyler is one of those friends.
When I published my second book, I was anxious for their opinions. I had only sent them a couple of chapters.
Well, imagine my surprise when Tyler recommended my book for her book club. I was beyond flattered and humbled. Tyler knows me so she supposed to say nice things. But a dozen of her friends? That’s scary.
I did the only thing I could do and that was to forewarn them that there was a potential for tears in this book.
And what helps with that? Tissues!
So, I’m here to offer you a deal. If you want to feature my book, “Nerves of Steel” in your club, I will happily send you one case of high-quality, lotion-infused tissues. Oh, and I will also happily hop on a video call with your club!
Speaking of picking up hitchhikers along the road of life, I’m going to be featured on Jeff Pearlman’s Substack. For those that don’t know, Jeff is a former Sports Illustrated writer who has gone on to have a very successful career writing best-selling biographies about famous sports figures.
When I published my first book I reached out to several sportswriters that I respected. I had happened to see a recent 60 Minutes piece by former SI scribe Jon Wertheim about the ransacking of local papers by venture capital firms. My book captured the glory days of sports journalism when newspapers were still important. I sent him a twitter message. He responded that he was covering Wimbledon but would be happy to read it when he got back to the states.
I mailed him a hard copy and waited. Jon responded back a few weeks later with a wonderful note that I used as a pull quote on my Amazon page. He also linked me up with Jeff.
Jeff’s output is prolific. Besides his novels, he publishes a weekly journalism column that is just full of gold for any aspiring journalist. He hosts a weekly podcast about writing.
Jeff invited me on. It was a huge thrill talking shop with a writer that I had admired from afar. I'm sure I came off as way too insecure.
But writers are an insecure bunch. Especially self-published ones.
I should thank him and I will. It was one of his questions that spurned me into writing about my illness.
“What's it like to have ALS? ”
My answer stunk. So I set out to explain it better.
It was a difficult stretch of road, but I made it through.
While this is not the highway I wanted to travel down, it’s the one I’m on.
I’m going to make the best of it. Crank up some tunes, slide on a good pair of sunglasses, roll down the window and press the gas.
I’m glad you’re riding shotgun with me.