Enter Freely, And Of Your Own Will

ARTICLE THE 1ST
1305.14


Hmmm, I suspect that I've probably mangled that quote from Bram Stoker.  Mangled only slightly, but mangled nonetheless.  At the moment, however, there isn't a copy of Dracula readily at hand, so I have no way of checking the accuracy of my memory.  It's close enough that it will suffice for my purposes.

Besides, the alternate choice for this entry's title was Canto 3, Line 9 of The Inferno.  Probably in the original Italian.  Dante Aligheri might find my choice amusing, but of course he has been dead for nearly seven centuries.

In any event, this is my blog, and welcome to it.

My name is Johnny Carruthers.  I am a journalist, in two senses of the word.  First, my BS is in Journalism.  And since I know that any number of questionable zingers are already racing through your twisted little minds at this moment over that last line, feel free to zing away, whether in public or private.

Are we done yet?  Then let us continue.

Second, I am a journalist in the sense of a one-liner I heard from some of my professors in college:  "A journalist is an out-of-work reporter."  While I have made numerous attempts to do so, for whatever reason, I have never been able to ply my trade as a member of the fourth estate.  Given my opinion of the current state of what is usually called the mainstream media, this might not be such a bad thing.

More than a journalist, though, I am a writer and/or a storyteller.  I think the best way to describe it is the borrow another quote, this time from my friend Paul Gadzikowski.  He describes himself as a cartoonist, then adds, "It's not how I make a living; it's what the label on my soul reads."  Substitute "writer" for "cartoonist," and the same could be said for me.

I'm a writer.  And I have written a few things (okay, more than a few things) that, for one reason or another, I don't think are publishable.  At least not commercially publishable.  I'm pretty certain that there's not much of a market for sonnets, for example.  I would still like to have someone read these various things, and in the words of Pat Benatar, "Hit me with your best shot."

Hence, this blog.  I'm going to be posting various bits and piece of my writing here, whereupon it will be streaking across the void of cyberspace, slamming into your computers like an ultracharged picoparticle of unobtanium.

What will I be posting?  At the moment, I have no idea.  It will be as my whimsey takes me.  I will say that if I ever decide to participate in the insanity known as NaNoWriMo, the result will more than likely make its way here.  I'm not sure if I'm that crazy, though.  Or if I have an idea that would make it to novel-length.

Feel free to hurl any epithets, insults, brickbats, or other aspersions upon my writing skills you might wish.  Hey, if you don't particularly like my choice of template, say something.  (I'm pretty sure that it's going to change.  I haven't decided whether or not this is the right look.)

The title is probably going to stay.  I like both the pun, and the implied snarkiness.


Copyright  © 2013 Johnny Carruthers