Forthcoming

A while back, I saw that Barrelhouse put out a call for "Dive Bar Stories," and I knew right away that I wanted to write one and submit it--for two reasons: The more obvious one--Barrelhouse has been doing some great work for the last couple years, putting out a great magazine. The less obvious one (at least to you, that is)--I didn't have a specific dive bar story I wanted to tell, but I had a particular dive bar I wanted to write about.

Well, there was a story I pretty much wanted to get at, and I wanted to get at it by way of a particular bar, but I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. What I did: I took my laptop to the bar one afternoon while the Cubs were playing. On my way from the parking lot to the bar, I ran into a former student, and we chatted for a bit, and I told him over the course of our conversation about my plan to go to the bar to write for a while. He chuckled like I was telling a joke, and I didn't bother to let him know that I was telling the truth.

I ended up doing just as I planned--going to the bar, ordering a Coors Light, and starting the essay. I wrote a couple thousand words that afternoon and eventually went home and then spent the next few days away from the bar, shaping what I'd written.

And the good news: My essay "Home of the Poor and Unknown" is forthcoming in the next issue of Barrelhouse.

I couldn't be happier, though I'm a little worried some part of my brain is going to start encouraging me to write in bars while drinking more frequently.