POLL: Important Life Feedback Requested

Off Topic
21

I have not read the rest of the thread so consider my response in context. I reserve the right to amend my response as I read.

Fucking do it!!!

Probably more than one. You have a great voice and people will want to read you once they find you.

Personally, if I were you, I would start a memoir about bouncing before quitting and road tripping - like now!

Then, while you are travelling, you can work on both. Stephen King described his writing process in his memoir, I suggest you read it. He would revise the older book first, then write the new one once he was warmed up.

That is a simplification - if you want more summary, I am happy to provide.

Bryson is a storyteller and that is why people bought Walk in the Woods. Gotta be honest. Meyer was a good character, but it was the writing and the story that got me, made me want to do the Appalachian Trail, buy the tent, schedule a section hike, buy Snickers.

Glad you have a grasp on this. Most writers starve. Very few can afford to write full time. Of course, self publishing has changed the paradigm, but you might consider writing a few query letters to magazines and publishers to gauge interest.

Fear and Loathing in T-Nation - meet some forum members without the LSD . . . or with, your call.

You could document it on Social Media as you go to build interest.

I’m going to stop quoting and posting - I got a little excited about the idea.

If you get to NorCal, I have room for you.

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You have voice. A recognizable style of writing. Consider Lewis Grizzard and David Sedaris. Not similar voices, but voices nonetheless.

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Thanks @The_Myth. I’ve had a few more ideas pop into my head, but I don’t think any kind of memoir is in the works for me. I don’t think I’ve led an interesting enough life to warrant one. I have led a life that seems to have shaped me into a lens that is able to project clarity to at least some people. Like optical lenses, the way I bend light seems to be the right prescription for some people, but not everyone.

It is not lost on me that my writing can produce strong negative reactions in some people. I take that as a compliment as long as it doesn’t involve me being provocative for no reason.

One common thread I’m thinking about exploring is the role violence plays in shaping masculinity for regular American men in 2024. I suspect that the more I leave my bubble and speak to people, the more common threads I will notice.

It’s the right time for a good vacation and it’s the right time to apply myself to something new. I’ve felt like I’m getting pulled a lot lately. Like I’m not really in the drivers seat. I’m curious to learn about how other people feel about this as well.

I’m coming to understand that I’m an instrument and I’m not here for self-gratification.

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24

I’d buy it, probably in kindle format as that’s just how I get most of my books now.
Stay out of the political realm and just detail the nature of your human interactions - would be an interesting book. Maybe interspersed with some personal essays/anecdotes.

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And he better mention how all of us shaped his life for the better

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Ahh, therein lies the rub my friend. It is not your life!

It is in the telling of your life!

I am going to out myself here, and this might be better in my own thread, but this is important!

We are challenged, rightfully so! But, how do we, as masculine men (warriors) find our way in this ever changing world?

I attend a men’s support group when I am in Portland that is sponsored by the Portland Psychedelic Society and this is a frequent topic. If interested, I will expand.

Amen.

27

I like this idea and volunteer to be the Chicago branch of the trip.

No LSD, but I do have adrenochrome sitting on the shelf somewhere.

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LSD presents too big of a hassle for me to incorporate into any point in my life for the last 25 years, so it’s probably out for a vacation activity. The guy who has been my avatar since day 1 might suggest otherwise, but I don’t believe drugs or alcohol improve my writing.

Both had their part in how I write and what I write about and alcohol has certainly been consumed during some of my posting here. I’m not looking to generate any more booze-clouded thoughts on a screen in front of me.

I actually haven’t touched any alcohol since early February and I think it was affecting me more than I realized. The increased level of clarity is coinciding with feeling the “pull” I mentioned above.

I’m still employed and probably will be for at least a few more weeks. There are a number of ways I can do this, but a conversation I had last night might be opening up plan A. I’m at a point in my career where I can likely land a job that I wouldn’t need to begin immediately. Getting a job in June that I begin in October or November would present an ideal window and that’s what I’m aiming for right now.

It is tempting to put my two weeks in tomorrow and just go, but there are smarter ways to make the trip happen.

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That’s the general idea but I don’t know if I can write about the things I want to write about without politics coming into it in some shape or form. Political humor is very easy these days too. I certainly won’t be attempting to create a policy or party advocacy book.

I have friends and family occupying every socioeconomic level except for billionaire. Politics affects everyone whether they realize it or not, and people’s opinions seem to be growing stronger about it. It will come up in conversation, especially on a road trip right before the 2024 election.

From what I can observe in my circle, the people with the strong opinions are in one of two groups. I’m curious if this observation holds when I venture outside my circle.

The first group includes everyone who is being presented with increasingly difficult social and economic circumstances and believes that local, state or national policies are at least partly responsible for this. This is most working people I know here in Maine.

The second group includes people who do not face difficult socioeconomic circumstances but strongly believe that they know what is best for the people who do.

I realize other groups exist, but I don’t personally know any working poor people who are still outspoken supporters of the current regime and all of the wealthy people I know are good-intentioned, regardless of their political affiliation.

There’s probably a few outliers that I’m not thinking about, but that’s what I’m seeing right now. There’s plenty of things to write about that don’t have anything to do with politics, but ignoring contemporary politics entirely would be no different than ignoring history in my writing.

Sometimes the connections I make end up upsetting people and that’s too bad for them. If that makes my writing unmarketable, then so be it.

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30

Rage Throw GIF - Rage Throw Angry GIFs
Would you consider putting in your notice like this and filming it for t-nation? Asking for a friend…j/k…kind of

I would also enjoy reading your thoughts as you journey through this great country. I would be most interested in hearing from random people you encounter and what you gleaned from interacting with these individuals. I’d buy a copy, I vote for a hardcover edition where you pose stoically for the back inside flap author picture!

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I forgot to add, it’s the autograph sessions where you’ll really make your money

32

Fixed it for you.

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I would have considered quitting in spectacular fashion and filming it if, by some bizarre and improbable chain of events, I was still working at State of Maine DAFS on a project that consumed tens of millions of my neighbors’ dollars while accomplishing absolutely nothing.

Thankfully the past happened and I only worked there for a little under a year. It is now six years later and they still don’t have the software turned on.

I work with nice people now and I will want to help them transition. The importance of our behavior in a business and a society that’s responsible for everyone’s livelihoods is a theme I’d like to incorporate more in future writing.

It’s still a little early in the process to start thinking about autograph session income and any loose women who would want me to autograph them with my penis while we cavort on top of a pile of money.

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Rumor has it there’s a laptop where the Russians present a step by step how-to for this sort of idyllic encounter.

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Dao.

Never too early.

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That is very admirable and a really mature way of looking at it. At jobs that I’ve left simply because a better, often more lucrative opportunity presented itself and I was not leaving due any problems with the job or environment, I have been helpful too. I’d given my two weeks and then spent them trying to help those left, who had to pick up my work, learn how to do the work.

I guess I asked that as I was romanticizing the one time I did in fact burn everything down to the ground in a very ugly quitting scene…I just thank god it was before everyone had a camera & video recorder in their pocket! It felt amazing and awesome at the time, but very quickly afterward I realized I had really done some damage! Eh, you live and you learn!

Also, I really do think that there are “author groupies” & they go to autograph sessions to help an author release any tension he might have in his body. Hey, sometimes those bookwork-librarian types can secretly be crazy freaks behind closed doors…or, in the back seat of your rental car! You just have to point to where your writer’s block is “causing you tension”.

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@meastlake1 Thanks. I need to stay away from daydreaming about non-existent groupies and doing two chicks at the same time while we play with all of the book money, autograph money and money from premium sexual services that I plan to offer to select clientele after achieving my now-imminent fame.

If I actually manage to publish a book there will absolutely be a shoutout.

I appreciate the gentle coaching on aspects of writing I’ve either forgotten or never known in the first place. I’m hoping to find an abundance of rabbit holes to dive down on this trip.

Knowing what words mean will probably help my odds of getting published. “Memoir” is a word I managed to confuse with “biography”. I suspect I might have tuned it out of my vocabulary because it sounds French and wimpy, like something a Hollywood actor would write.

I now understand that most of my writing here has been memoirs, but I don’t like calling it that at all.

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38

Just a quick update on this particular project of mine…

Nothing resembling a coherent book is presently taking shape, but I think I need to attempt to tell Lewiston’s story. Almost 100 percent of my spare mental energy has been fixated on putting words to the local dysfunction in a way that provokes thought and hopefully tugs at some local ethical strings. T-Nation gets the first draft of many of these thoughts.

I did not do the road trip this year due to ADULT RESPONSIBILITIES getting in the way, but I’m not particularly pinned down to my current occupation and it remains a future possibility. My retiree sedan continues to be a smooth, powerful and very comfortable ride with natural handling characteristics that would be ideal to drive across the continent.

There has been a lot to write about happening right here in Lewiston, and doing so has not won me any new friends among what passes for our local political and social elite, who are not particularly elite.

Make no mistake about it, these people are deeply dishonest, nefarious to all citizens of Maine and in control of state and local government. They are also weak bullies who happen to have power at the moment, but not enough power to fuck with me.

Most importantly, I now have a coach. I’ve connected with the only person writing about politics in Maine who makes me feel dumb, and she’s taken pity on me. It feels weirdly similar to how I lucked into my jiu jitsu coach. Her credentials, abilities and achievements in her realm of writing are even more impressive than his were in athletics and grappling.

By stepping into the fire and demonstrating that I was unafraid, I managed to connect with the best in my area and get high-quality instruction free of charge. This bitch is tearing into me in a way that nobody on these forums does, and it is wonderful for me to experience.

Let’s see if it results in me making more sense to people.

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39

Well… leave a dick pic or something

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I still haven’t invested in digital photography equipment capable of the resolutions, contrast, and color vibrancy needed to adequately capture the magnificence of my special purpose and then distribute the images across the internet.

In the meantime, I wrote this in response to my new friend, who had the audacity to suggest that the Mayor of Lewiston was like a pirate. I am in the process of not simply insulting my elected officials, but making the case that insults are much too kind. They either don’t know what they are doing, which is bad enough, or they do, which is much, much worse. I am finding that there are many interesting aspects of this story that I believe should be told, and I don’t see anyone else trying to tell it.

I think there’s a pretty strong argument that Letters of Marque granted significantly more legitimacy to your so-called “pirates” than a woke mayor From Away elected in a backwards, illiberal state like Maine.

Unfortunately for the sake of this comparison, the system of elections that grants Maine’s politicians their authority is the envy of every warlord-led breakaway people’s republic seen in the undeveloped world for the last 100 years. I’m hoping the peacekeepers from the UN will arrive here soon to re-establish order.

I don’t see any need to besmirch privateers, who were often incredibly skilled seafarers and navigators, when we can compare him to a modern out-of-state jackass with a loud boat that everyone who lives here wishes would get off the damn lake.

Requested dick pick attached. He is 100 percent in office because of Democrat election rigging. The guy on the right who lost is still quite active in local government, thankfully. Sheline is a complete clown and was effectively absent during the mass shooting, emerging only afterwards to offer his sanctimonious platitudes to the people he works to swindle.

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