I blasted through Hemingway’s “A Farewell to Arms” and took a detour from my plan to read his short stories. My deviation did not come from a place of disappointment; I enjoyed the book and even its bleak ending, which, for me, hit closer to home than I was expecting. I couldn’t help but draw small similarities and put myself in the shoes of Frederic Henry, a WW1 ambulance driver who fell in love with a nurse. So, as an ambulance driver who has fallen in love with a nurse, the ending gave me a small scare. The fact that the book drew me in so deeply speaks to Hemingway’s literary prowess. In an age when it seems young men romanticize war, the author and the novel made it clear how misguided they are. Then I found out the novel was loosely based on Hemingway’s real experiences as an ambulance driver on the Italian front lines during WW1, and that was when the book roundhouse kicked me in the liver. From that realization, I did a bit more research on Hemingway’s life and was surprised to find out, as his writing suggests, that he was brutally blunt. So much so that after his father’s suicide, he said something along the lines of (and I don’t have the exact quote pulled up), “I expect I’ll go the same way.” And he did.

My plan was to keep exploring Hemingway’s work, but as soon as my grandfather heard I wanted to read “Lonesome Dove,” Larry McMurtry’s Pulitzer Prize winner was in his Amazon cart. Within a week, the lofty novel was at my doorstep. I had never read a western before, and considering the reviews, my expectations were exceedingly high. By the time I finished, it felt like the shortest 800+ page book I’ve ever read. I rarely come across a book that I truly “can’t put down,” and this was one of them. What surprised me the most was how funny the book was. Honestly, I was sitting on my couch with my Chianti wine, laughing my ass off at some paragraphs. Since finishing, I have added at least three new vocal stims to my vocabulary: “by god, Woodrow; it’s been one hell of a party,” “poke,” and “water moccasins!” After the book, I watched the mini-series and was very impressed by how book-accurate it was, from the events down to every line they say. I was happy for my fiancée to experience the mini-series as well, and she really liked it too. As I write this, I learned Netflix may be creating their own Lonesome Dove adaptation; do with that as you will ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

I also read Toni Morrison’s Beloved, which happened to be around the time of the Lindsay Clandy trial, and although they are vastly different in time period and overall message (one being a mother protecting her children from returning to slavery, the other being postpartum depression), I couldn’t help but see a connection between the two. Especially since Morrison based her novel on a true story. I just thought it was something I should mention. Beloved was a very thought-provoking work, and I enjoy Morrison’s poetic writing.

In other news, I am somewhat proud of myself; I reached 1100 Elo in chess in under a year. Maybe that isn’t impressive to anyone reading this, but I’ll pat myself on the back.

More literary magazines have opened their submission portals in the last two months, and we’ll see if my short story, Abby Buchanan, gets picked up by one of them. If so, the blog will be the first to know, and I can even dive into what the editing process looked like.

I’ve been in a bit of a writing slump, so if this month’s blog feels rushed or all over the place, now you know why. I expect all writers experience this at some point in their career. I think as long as I get some words down every other day (at least), I’ll pull through. My notes app is filling up with story ideas so, hey, at least theres that to be excited about!

Bring on October!