First submissions to The Tao of Blogging!
Oh writers of Medium, show your wisdom in one great quote and have the chance to become part of a published collaborative book! Send in your submissions or nominate someone else in the comments below. Send in your submissions or nominate someone else in the comments below. If you’re shy, send me a private note, or email me here.
And now, without further ado here are the first six spreads. (Sorry, smart phone users, I know the images will be small, so I included live text.)
From dudemesticated, “If It Makes You Feel Better, I Have Stitches In My Asshole.”
Gratitude: If you think you’ve got it bad, think about your wife. If your wife thinks she’s got it bad, there’s someone else that would trade places with her in a New York minute. Always go the extra mile to help someone you love.
From SF Ali, “Also, I want 7 girlfriends …oh, that’s the testosterone, not Islam, speaking.”
Tolerance: Religion, texts, even human beings aren’t inherently good or bad. I’ve faced hate crimes since 9/11 happened 14 years ago. We drop bombs on brown kids a world away to feel safer and sleep sounder at night. But that doesn’t make us civilized.
From Victoria Easterday, “I am the air around the donut’s hole.”
Perspective: There is yin and yang, but the symbol shows there is yang within the yin and yin within the yang.Why do we try to separate opposites when there is a continuous spectrum? Strive to find the third perspective.
From Mike Essig, “Do I hit the panic button that will eject me to anywhere but myself?”
Anger: Sometimes, for no apparent reason, we are reduced to fulminating idiots, quivering and flummoxed by divergent impulses. Be true to yourself, regardless of the result, or the discomfort you feel.
From Randomly Me, “I am a meditation challenge dropout”
Enlightenment: Sometimes you have to drop out of dropping out. If you meet Buddha walking down the road, don’t kill him — that’s what everyone does. Just give him a nice bear hug, (or perhaps a bear claw) and be on your way.
And last, but not least, if we can get his permission, Hassan S. Ali, with “Avoid standing directly under loose wrecking balls.”
Survival is Good: In this crazed, distracted age of social media, do the simple stuff: breath; perform basic biological functions, and, as tempting as it is to text or look at Facebook or Twitter while 5000-lb objects are hurtling toward you, chose not to.
I hope you enjoy these pages. My plan is to come up with 52 stories, so readers can have a weekly laugh as well as something to think about.
Shameless promotion #1: yes, I’m looking at you S Lynn Knight and Lizella Prescott. You’re asking people to submit entire stories to your writing challenges. All I want is one really funny, but wise quote from which we can draw a life lesson.
Shameless promotion #2: I call upon all contestants from The Grammar Games to step into a different kind of arena. Send us a great quote you’ve written, or one you’re read.
Shameless promotion #3: All supporters who #Will Write For Donuts, now is the chance to create something that may actually lead to more compensation than you have ever received from Medium or other writing platforms. Or, we could donate 100% of the anticipated microscopic profits to a good cause, like a literacy program. It’s up for discussion.
Because, in the imagined words of Jon W:
“We all want the fucking donut.”
[UPDATE: We’ve already gotten some good new quotes. Be on the look out for more. And shamelessly promote this idea to other writers you love to see if they have suggestions. Thanks!]
[UPDATE 2: One of our writers has quietly given me a few gems, and I would like to take a vote on which one is your favorite, because I can’t decide on which one to use in the book. I would use all of them, but to be fair, I’m hoping we get fifty-two different writers to contribute. Please indicate your vote in the comment section below.]
On writing: “Content” is the dirtiest C word.
On exercise: Planks are for pirate ships.
On burning bridges: I am freer for my losses.
On tech: I don’t speak Twittish.
