55 Comments

If I wasn't so mired in shit, I'd write a longer comment about my love for this post.

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Embrace the suck. That actually makes me teary eyed. That soldiers took the time to just cheer on their comrades reminding them ”this is it, life, you either embrace and try to find joy in this handful of warm crap or you just die, sad, waiting for your chance to be fulfilled in some imaginary way that will never come, because all it is is a handful of warm crap”

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I don't understand any of this. Every word I write is a pearl resting among its peers. I'll help you become a great writer, but I can't right at this moment: Seven publishers are out on my lawn fighting with machetes for the rights to my first draft. Try drinking.

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I do, but it makes me feel like shit.

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I'll have what ever you are drinking.

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This was a perfect anecdote to a gloomy Friday and what felt like a week of banging my fingers until they bled against a keyboard trying to not write shit but inevitable writing nothing but shit. Thank you!

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Well done, then.

"Nothing but shit" is infinitely better than "Shit, I wrote nothing."

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Dec 7Edited

Don't fight it for sure. Writers somehow, regardless of what comes out on any given day cannot stop writing any more than a big grass-filled cow walking through a pasture on a hot day can stop from dropping that large steaming pat. All one hopes for is that someone finds it and puts it to good use some place where a few nice flowers grow.

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some excellent shit, man.

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Am I your only reader that isn’t a writer? Hell, I’m barely a reader these days

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Barbara, Barbara, Barbara! Pick up a pen. Buy a note pad. Voila! Virtually ANYONE can write shit. I was amazed at how easy it was to begin.

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Why? Does the world need more bad writing?

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When asked if she thought university writing programs ruined writers, Flannery O'Connor answered, "Not enough of them."

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In Europe ( and I see that Target actually sells it here too) there is a kitchen dish soap brand called Dreft. I was told it was originally going to be called Dreck but someone in advertising gently explained why that may not be ideal. It occurs to me that Dreck might be a contender for a title of yours, one of these days or years, Shalom.

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I have a photo somewhere of a cafe in Paris called "Schmuck."

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By actual humans. YES!

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Sure, it hasn't stopped anyone else. You can do it, Barbara! 😁

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ha ha ha! Nope.

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I loved this. Thank you!

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This is some really good shit, sir. I wrote a debut novel a few years ago and lied to myself every sentence of the way. I kept saying, this is good, this is good, don't stop. It was shit of course but I finished it. And went on to write more shit. It's a shitty job in many ways, writing.

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Yes - one of the necessary skills of shitmaking is the ability to lie to oneself convincingly.

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Shit gets a bum rap!....but it's necessary! Monkeys throw it when they're angry. It feels great when you get rid of it. If you choose to look at it, it is an indicator of good or bad health and in that regard, it may even save your life! Shit even happens! Shit writing leads to greater thoughts as evidenced by all your published works that I enjoy immensely!

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As a writer of shit I applaud you

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Or as my iPhone calendar proclaims every Wednesday, “Stay with the bother,” for under the shit is where the gold is hidden.

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Aw… embrace the crap! Every day I try to do that :) loved the illustrations and reminder to self: hold onto my day job!

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Dec 8Edited

I have a similar filing system—I label almost everything a "rough draft," even when it's about to be handed in. It helps me know that it's not supposed to be good. It's all rough, and subject to being changed and improved. It takes some of the pressure off.

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“From that draft I saved one sentence.”

I will not ask which sentence I will not ask which sentence I will not ask which sentence I will not . . . .

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Here for the utter drivel.

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