This is not the article you are looking for...

Beyond the Bookshelf with Matthew Long

                                                Exploring the Stories of Our Lives

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This is not the article you are looking for…

Ok, I am not Obi-Wan wielding the Force, but this is definitely not the article I had planned. I wrote a beautiful article on the life and influence of Willa Cather that was all ready to go this week. I spent a lot of time researching and was rather proud of it. You were going to be very impressed with my intellectual acumen. But life is full of surprises and you must wait patiently for that article until next week.

For now you are getting a rambling, stream-of-consciousness, spilling my heart out, confessional sort of story. A couple of years ago I realized the time was coming for me to hang up the uniform and retire from the Navy. I had some contractual obligation remaining, however I wasn’t enjoying the work, and I wanted to prepare for the transition to civilian life on my terms. One of the most significant decisions is what I will do after the military. Throughout my career I worked on submarines, aircraft carriers, and admiralty staffs as an HR and administration professional. Many service members retire and return to work for the Department of Defense as a civilian while others find opportunities in the corporate sector. My brother retired a couple of years back and decided to go out independently and eschew the 9 to 5 timecard life. What would I do?

My thoughts were all over the place. One week I planned to pursue a lucrative position in a corporation making big bucks that I could bank for a future retirement. The following week I wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail, grow a beard, and settle in a cabin in the woods. That last idea actually still appeals to me but not to my wife, so we are going to compromise, which means no beard, no cabin, and we will see about the Trail someday, but since she followed me each time the Navy moved us for 20+ years, I am ok with compromise. Suffice it to say I was struggling to identify what direction I wanted my professional life to take.

Last fall, I hired a coach to help me figure things out. I won’t go in-depth here since I have written about that previously. At around the same time, I decided to throw the towel in on social media and, on a whim, started writing using the Substack platform to create this publication. I don’t like using the word newsletter as I don’t write about news and this isn’t a letter. So I tend to say I write articles for my publication. Those words vibe with me more than a newsletter. When I created this publication I just picked the first title that came to my head which lasted for about two weeks and I realized it wasn’t suitable. So I modified it a bit and have written under the name The Books of Our Lives since November. This isn’t a bad name. I like it. And if I was going to write strictly about books then I think it would be an excellent name to stick with.

But I don’t want to write strictly about books.

So let’s circle back briefly to what I will do after the Navy. I am going to write. I am not going to work for anyone else. I will stay home, clean the house, walk the dog, and make dinner for my family. I am going to learn photography and gardening and take up bird-watching. I am going to read excellent writers and be challenged by them. I will salvage what remains of my soul and hold it sacred for me and mine. 

But I am also going to share myself with the world. I am going to put myself out there and make myself vulnerable. I want to write whatever the heck stumbles into this cavernous head of mine. Some of it might be good. Some of it might be bad. But I am going to write dammit because I will die if I don’t. I must put pen to paper. I must exorcize the words from my very being. I will breathe life into my ideas and create something new because that is what an artist does. And writing is art. And writers are artists. And I am a writer.

I am grateful the Substack platform is a vibrant artist’s colony existing in the background of all the publications. Many readers subscribe by email (thank you!) and don’t see all the conversations behind the scenes among the creative artists, primarily in the app or website Notes function. It is a stark change from social media in how welcoming, encouraging, and supportive the community is. It is a greenhouse of artistic growth with new creative spirits planted daily. I have benefited significantly from my exposure to these brilliant and encouraging minds and have seen my writing develop through their tutelage and friendship.

So what’s in a name? Why do we have names? Do they matter? Is it important what we call things? The Books of Our Lives wasn’t a bad name but a restrictive one. I felt it limited me in what I could write and where I could explore. I thought it took itself a bit too seriously. I felt that I had to write something about a book every week. Don’t get me wrong - I want to write about books. I love exploring literature and how it interweaves with the fabric of our lives. But as I looked ahead I realized that more than just books I am keenly interested in stories. I want to discuss stories, those who write stories, and those who live stories. I want to explore The Stories of Our Lives. How do stories impact us? Where do we find them? How do we live them?

This week I gave some intense thought to this publication’s name. It may seem silly but for me the name is a signpost, the first thing you notice, that tells you a little bit about what everything is all about. I asked for ideas from the community and had an overwhelming response. It was impressive to see how many people responded with recommendations. I wrote them all down, played with them, said them aloud to myself, imagined what each would say to a reader, and slowly whittled away at the list until one remained. I sent it to my wife, children, parents, and siblings. What do you think? Does it resonate? My amazingly supportive family responded in the affirmative.

We will continue examining great literature and the authors who wrote it. We are still going to explore the intersection between life and literature. But with this new path set before us we will go Beyond the Bookshelf to explore stories wherever we find them - in articles (like this one!), music, movies, oral traditions, and most importantly, life. How do stories influence us? We all have a story. We all love stories. What do they mean and how are they important?

One of my writing mentors,

Jeannine Ouellette

, wrote an article for her subscribers this past week. A section spoke directly to me and I wanted to share it with you.

1. We discover the most power in our stories when we shake off our own seriousness and let ourselves play, let ourselves make something that might be nonsense. Playful is—again and again and again—the portal to the profound.

2. We can, as Glennon Doyle says, do hard things, even when the hard things are posing as silly exercises.

3. There is magic in throwing ourselves into newness, into the unexpected task, into the “who knows what will happen here.”

I am excited to throw myself into the newness of this writing adventure - to explore stories new and old. I look forward to having readers write about the impact of stories on their lives - if you are interested in writing a guest post let me know! I plan to do interviews with artists who are trying to tell their own stories. I want to dive deep into stories' social and cultural impacts to explore their influence on individuals and groups. I dream of writing some of my own stories - memoir or fiction, who knows! This space is for sharing stories and I look forward to hearing yours as we journey together, Beyond the Bookshelf, to explore the stories of our lives.

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