Who, what, where, when, how, and why? Paramount in our understanding, these six words are remarkable resources in how we traverse through both this world, and our lives. Each individual question helps in illuminating our inquiries. In combination, they unravel life's greatest mysteries- including our place amongst them. So in hope of shedding a little light before you begin investigating these works, here is a road map so to speak. Of whom you're now in dialogue with, what these pages are all about, where they hope to lead you, when you'll find more answers, how i intend to do it, and why in the hell this is all happening. Follow me forward child.
Who
Who am i? i suppose the evidence suggests that i am none other than Mr. Write. You will no doubt be quick to notice my i's are never capitalized though my name always is. One of many frustrating dualities Dearest Reader, that i'll refuse to fix for your ease. Whether Mr. Write is my given name, or a nom de plume that straddles over the obvious and egotistical, that shall remain unknown. What should be unmistakable is that, if nothing else, i am but a fool. Now before i start burrowing ahead with armchair philosophy about who, or what i am, how about a brief biography?
Growing up i was a voracious reader. My family spent a quarter of each year tucked away in a cabin with no telephones, where i read and read and read. Whilst the woods and water were great allies for my imagination, the months away from them were not. Outside of Summer, the other seasons were spent locked away in a suburban cage. Books, films, and music were my only escape, an outside chord to lift me away.
Throughout school, i had romanticized university. The fateful day i arrived upon the ivory towers i found a dismaying reality. The dream i'd dreamed had proven to be only that, the community i'd sought was nothing but a mirage. Without making it through my orientation, i left. What now? i had no idea. i knew the best way to understand the present was to learn of the past, so i headed to Europe with a one way ticket, and an embarrassing little amount of cash.
My plane landed in London where i'd live for the following years, traveling across the continent whenever i could. In my head i crafted an archetype of some rugged vagabond Kerouacian Indiana Jones types that i hoped to meet, but ultimately became. i was successful at a job which i loved, and was being groomed to scale the corporate ladder. The years slipped. A similar epiphany that caused my exit from university struck. i realized in my search for a life well lived, it was inevitable that i would become unsatisfied "living for the weekend," toss my material goods away, and cast myself to some far away mystical land.
As predicted, a few months later, i found myself in India. i'd jest how i had come to "find myself," or seek "enlightenment," whilst i was really just indulging in my own fantasies of being an explorer. The joke was on myself. Just shy of two months of sneaking into ancient temples, crashing weddings, and what not, that all came to an abrupt end on the roof of a small shack deep in the Forest of Gir. Iron barred around the home to keep the infamous endemic lions at bay, and i sat safe watching the stars above, listening to Fleetwood Mac. As the cosmos shone and the bush rustled, it occurred to me what i could personally do to perpetuate the greatest good. In a world of woe art had been my life raft. Within songs, film, literature, i found brief moments of surreal connection, recognition, inspiration, and understanding that saved me. And if i could do that for anyone else, even for a few moments, that would be a life well lived. So naturally, i decided to start a punk band. It took three days of hitchhiking, motorcycle taxis, and buses before i found an internet cafe, from which i fired off message to friends in Canada. We agreed to the band and i set off home.
The next couple of years were a bohemian battle trying to make something happen with others less reckless, or as ambitious as myself. When it all finally capsized i found myself lost hitchhiking around South America. i ended up living in a favela in Rio De Janeiro, where i worked as a ghost writer, trading articles and essays for a surfboard, places to stay, and more often than not, literal beans. Delicious black beans. The road called and my thumb (and only my thumb as i lived on less than five dollars a day) took me all across the Americas until moved into a treehouse on the side of a volcano in Central America. From there a cocktail of madness and bravado inspired me to attempt to hitchhike to Australia. After making my way down to the Panama Canal i hitched sailboats across the Pacific. The adventure never halted. After Australia i returned to the ocean, moving through Oceania to Asia. From Singapore i hitched to Spain, across Asia and Europe, then Cairo to Cape Town, and finally across the Atlantic. When the pandemic began to take speed i was in the middle of a journey through West Africa, and made the wise choice to return home to my family.
i have had a life of adventure, and i'd love not only to share, but write the next chapters of it with you.
What
So What is this? This project is my dream job. To create everyday. To share. An idea of what success looks like to me, as well as my goals, are found below. The intention is to move you, as often as i can. Yes the you that is in the process of reading, or hearing this very sentence. Whether its making you cringe with puns, or daydreaming from a particular sentence, i want you to think. i want you to remember. i want you to feel. i want us to help each other. i recognize that the act of helping others is the quickest vehicle in helping yourself, and so we shall aid in one and other's salvation. Make no mistake, this journey is not about monetary gains (though that’d be pretty swell too)- its about humanity. The humanity within me recognizing the humanity within you.
i will. not. hold myself. back because of the confines of grammar. i do not believe that makes good writing. i believe in impact. i believe in you, and i am starting a fire of courage within myself. i want to travel to speak to you, i want to be invited to dinners, i want to break bread. i want it to be an event when i come to town that you look forward to. And if i can't speak to you individually, i want you to know that i wanted to, and that i am so grateful that you came all the same. i want to take this second to thank you, in the middle of this paragraph. Thank you for giving me, and these words, value by giving us time. Time, is the only commodity i treasure. As i type this my sole intention is to give my time in the hopes that it changes your time for the better (and in doing so validates my time and we cycle so forth). i want to remind you of the good things, i want to give light to the dark things, i want to persevere and i want you to too. i want to keep hitchhiking, i also want to be whisked away by my friends in planes and boats. i want to get there, where ever that is, with you by my side. i want to atone for my faults and flaws by creating works of beauty. i want to fucking swear wildly. i want to use adverbs, even though i know it's weak writing, because sometimes i feel weak and thats ok. i want you to share this. i also want you to hold it special for yourself, a secret lantern in the dark. What is this? This is hope. This is faith that everything is going to be ok. And it will be, because i am going to work exceptionally hard to make it so. First and foremost, on my perspectives and fears.
Where
It will begin online, until there is an expansive amount of material. At which point pieces will be collected, and fashioned into something physical for you to hold. It will be in your ears, it will be in your thoughts, and in due course, it will be live, for us both to enjoy.
As for my location on the globe and where these works will be crafted- that will be an adventure as always. In far away lands, by vast, gorgeous views of nature, in airports, on friends' couches, and on occasion, horrible cubicles. Though this time there's an end goal. The intention is to create, and with that to continue creating a life well lived. In that process i'd like to build a home. Not only to further nurture this project, but for a life shared with friends and family.
When
In remembrance of the great Ram Dass: Now. Publishing something every week. Working every day. Thinking every hour.
How
Like a snowball. Building slow at first, until i find my rhythm and an avalanche follows. To begin with i'll start releasing something weekly. This will grow.
What will i write? There will be an array of material:
-Fiction--> Short stories, as well as serialized ones
-Essays--> Allowing this armchair philosopher to wax poetic
-Memoirs--> To remember
-Comics-->To cringe and cackle
-Reviews-->Films and Records
-Podcasts--> Narrations, interviews, radio shows, etc
-Poetry--> Short poems to bookend the weekends
-Music--> When time allows it there will be tunes
-Short Films/Skits--> When my finances and time allows for it
-Photography--> Again when my finances and time allow for it
Until the current pulls you under the whirlpool, and we begin to drown in works.
Why
The Why, to everything, if not important, is always fascinating. The Why is where we find depth, and meaning. It's the Whys that connect, and inspire us, lead us both forward and towards each other. My hope is that through transparency i'll give you, and myself for that matter, a valuable lens in which to help navigate, and understand this project.
A lesson i've learned time and time again is the importance of being vocal about your wants, and desires. The things (material or experiential) won't find you unless you make yourself known. So with that i've made a list to map out my intentions, and goals. A great artifact to rediscover at the end of this endeavour.
To impress my toughest critic (myself)
To create with humour, beauty, and honesty
To fail fearlessly
To inspire endlessly
To nurture hearts previously broken (including my own)
To break my bleak, sorrowful, and worst of all, self-indulgent attitude
To not hurt anyone with my art. i'm happy to offend and confront feelings, or opinions that need evolution or evisceration. But i don't want to hurt anyone
To be a light in the dark
Not to get myself crucified (again)
To be held accountable to myself
To tackle not only my own existential dread but the dread of others
To give you something to look forward to in your days and weeks (and in turn, something i am excited to share)
To visit you. To create demand for live events, musical, spoken, and otherwise
To be invited, to minds, to homes, to conversations, to performances, and events
To be hosted, and create in beautiful places around the world
To make friends, and share great experiences, and in turn share those experiences with others, transcending time//space
To be shared, to broadcast the things i love
To collaborate, to be hired, or invited to join projects i like (such as films). To contribute to my greatest work (a life of lifetimes)
To create the perfect job for myself, which encompasses all my joys and curiosities no matter how flawed, and half baked they may arrive
To get my yah-yahs out, so i’m finally ready to start a chapter in my life starting a family
To use this project as a catalyst and earn enough for a home to house said family, a house with more character and beauty than i could ever write, within 5 years
To earn enough so i can be generous with meals and events with friends and family. Quoting Ram Dass' wisdom yet again: "Tell the truth and feed people." I’d like to be able to do that on as large of a scale as possible
To wage war with my greatest creative adversary- Time (by making Time, rather trying to find it).
To become fearless when releasing material. To understand that nothing will ever meet my standards (and accept that, in truth, my own standards are perhaps beyond my own abilities)
The truth is that its my goal is to make something, somewhere, in the mess of all this creation that touches, and impacts every single person in a meaningful way. i don't expect everyone to like everything, i know i will create flops, and that things won’t land- especially my humour, but at some point i intend to move you
Millions believe that all that is known began with a sound. More believe it began with a word.
So with that thought:
In the end, with my pen, it'll be all write.
Thanks for joining me,
-Mr. Write