This is ODD
Welcome, dear Reader, to the land of ODD!
Why Old Dog Dumps? Now that I’m in my sixties, I am something of an old dog, sometimes even a dirty old dog according to my wife, though I swear I’m not yet an old fart. When I start driving 10 kilometres per hour below the speed limit, that’s when it will happen. I’ll officially be an OFD—Old Fart Driver. The designation will be right there on my driver’s license.
As for “dumps,” perhaps that says something about what you should expect here. The world is filled with important voices, serious voices addressing the state of the world and the crises we’re facing. I know, because I subscribe to a number of these blogs and newsletters. I value the wisdom, insights, and calls to action these voices express, their instructions for how to survive our current dumpster fire. But you won’t find that here. No, you’ll find dumps.
So that’s ODD. What about “Dispatches from a Journeyman Writer”?
I’ll explain that more fully in another post, but let me say simply that a journeyman writer is what I am. A journeyman is a tradesman who’s completed an apprenticeship and can work either independently or under the guidance of a master tradesman. When I started writing stories in 2016 at the age of 55, I apprenticed myself to the craft of fiction. Almost ten years later, I’m beginning to feel that I can call myself a journeyman, though not yet a master. “Journeyman” also has “journey” in it, and that’s what I’m taking as I retire after 35 years as an English professor. I’m getting my butt out of my comfy chair, shedding my scholarly garb, and hitting the writing road—naked, metaphorically speaking, and afraid. You’re welcome to journey with me, even for a little while.
Building an ODD Community
It’s my hope that what I dump here brings you a little joy, maybe even a bit of laughter. Until now, most of my writing has been in the mode of domestic comedy, and that comic vision of writing and life is likely to be my focus. I’ll certainly be offering updates on my writing, but I hope to go deeper into where the stories come from and where I’m coming from, to explore both the writing and reading of stories as forces for good in this world and in our lives. Occasionally, I may talk about life on a hobby farm in southwestern Ontario, Canada, where I currently live with my wife April, dogs, cats, horses, free-run egg-laying hens, and Cayuga ducks, as well as two of my adult children, their partners, my granddaughter—and, just to keep things interesting, my mother-in-law.
My goal is to post twice a month to start with, typically on Fridays. If you have something you’d like me to dump on, let me know, and I’ll try to work it into this schedule.
So welcome! Feel free to subscribe to ODD because it is, indeed, free. (Did you think I would ask you to pay for my ODDities?)
Dump Something on Me
That’s me. What about you? Are you a reader, a writer, maybe both? Go ahead. Dump something on me. You’ll feel better for having done so.
