Let's open it up
Memoir only for the moment, done with previews, new interview format, and memoir on Substack
Sailing season is on!
Spring is in full swing here and sailing season is ON in the San Francisco Bay. I used to shoot photos and video on the water all the time when I was kitesurfing more, but it’s much harder to film with wing-foil gear, and I wasn't often in the frame myself. Just the other day I had the pleasure of getting in the picure myself a bit, thanks to my friend Ben and inbound full-size container ship NYK Orion. Here’s a little glimpse into my world as a lifelong sailor, windsurfer, kitesurfer, and wing-foiler.
Memoir only right now
As you may have noticed, I’ve been focused 100% on memoir these past several weeks, and so I haven’t been publishing much else. I’m committed to finishing a full manuscript of my memoir project by the end of June, and to that end I’ve been putting out a chapter a week here on Substack, and that means that ideas for other pieces are stacking up! As they say, it’s a good problem to have.
This year has been a big change for me in that for the first time in my life I’ve developed a pretty regular morning routine, which includes working out and a short meditation almost very the morning before breakfast. As someone who’s always resisted discipline and regularity of any sort, I’m in fairly foreign territory, but it came about organically, and it seems to be what I need right now. For one thing, it’s a relief not to have to decide what to do or even what to eat each morning. It makes things simpler and frees up time and space in my head for writing and other creative energy.
This also means that I haven’t put much time into recording audio or my podcast lately either. However, episode #20 with YouTube pilates and yoga superstar Sean Vigue is finally ready and will be released May 29, and in the meantime I did record an awesome conversation about men writing memoir with fellow writer
, and I plan to do more of those in the future. Please let me know if there’s another writer on Substack that you’d like to hear an interview with!No more previews
I’ve also decided to change how I release chapters from my memoir here on Substack so that new chapters now go out wide open to everyone. This means that all of the chapters that I’ve published so far are available now.
Here’s chapter one to get you started:
Chapter 1 — Learning to love Mickey's Malt Liquor—and waking up with a concussion
Grey San Francisco light seeped through the lone window of the attic, just enough to rouse me from where I lay tangled in the covers of a mattress on the floor. Everything hurt. I ran my hands slowly over my body, checking for damage. As I expected, there was the burning itch of skin scraped raw, along with the soft blue glow of bruises on my knees and …
Previously, I’d been publishing new chapters as partial previews with full access for paying subscribers only, but to be honest I'd started to dislike the feeling of running into a paywall in the middle of my own writing.
Everything’s an experiment, and it’s OK to change your mind. I will continue to ask readers to support by becoming paying subscribers if they wish, but the most important thing to me right now is that as many people find my work as possible.
Thanks for being part of this
Please considering sharing one of your favorite pieces of mine with a friend, on your own social media today, or on Substack Notes.
If you haven’t checked out Notes yet, it’s a great way to interact with the vibrant Substack community, find new writing, and read and share shorter pieces—as well as the best way to reach me, aside from commenting on a post directly. If you want to find me on Notes, go to my profile, scroll down until you see Latest, and click on Notes (sorry there isn’t a way to link to that directly yet).
Paid subscriptions are now only $33.33/year
I’ve lowered the price of an annual paid subscription to just $33.33. That’s barely more than half of the cost of a monthly subscription over the course of a year, so there’s a big incentive to go annual.
Other Writers of Memoir on Substack
Michael Mohr's Sincere American Writing
by Alex Olshonsky
by Euwyn Goh
by Marika Páez Wiesen
by visakan veerasamy
Cured: The Memoir by Sarah Fay
…and 43 Of My Favorite Memoirs—Some of Which I Guarantee You Haven't Heard Of
What Can I Do For You?
Are there topics that you’d like to hear more about? Some way you’d like to be more connected? Some writing you’re working on yourself? What’s your biggest challenge right now in your own life?
Comments below ⬇️
At least eighteen essays
…about addiction, masculinity, creativity, and intuition, as well as anxiety, fitness, sobriety, self-discipline, purpose, love, adventure, pain yoga, intuition, the collective unconscious, psychedelics, masculine archetypes, and being a child-free man are all right here, along with this one ⬇️
Sex is Better Sober ...and 19 other reasons why Alcohol is Obsolete
I like to use the word obsolete to refer to something that’s perhaps not quite already entirely of the past but that’s on its way out, that should be gone soon, and that I am choosing to remove from my consciousness. By declaring something obsolete I’m no longer referring to it as present in my life.
Cheers!
— Bowen
Exciting to hear you aim to finish the manuscript by the end of June! I’m taking notes about how you’re organizing payments as well. Still don’t feel I have a pulse on the market for these things. But man I can’t wait to have a whole manuscript under my belt! Here’s to a great finish for yours ✨
Have you checked out https://thanksforlettingmeshare.substack.com/?
Randall’s a really entertaining (and consistent!) writer. His Substack is the first one that popped into my head when you mentioned interviews.