June 2026
Babe, are you ok? You barely touched your Substack.
What is up, my dudes? It has been a rough month for me. Hope that you all are doing well, hanging in there, or some combination of the two. I won’t get too much into my own B.S., but I'll just say that the great philosophers from Blink-182 were spot on when they said, “Work sucks. I know.”
I know. I really know.
I've got some fun things to talk about, though, and I have fun writing this here newsletter of mine. So I hope you can bear with me if I am a little out of whack. You see, I was in the whack, but it can be damned hard to find your way back into it sometimes. You know?
So, I signed up for an event right before Halloween and my birthday that I am super excited for. It will be hosted by Memento Mori Ink Magazine, who are in collaboration with Crystal Lake Publishing. It is also sponsored by Hellbound Books. So there are a lot of cool people involved in this one.
It will be a Sip & Spook themed event with books, art, candles, raffles, and more. It is also going to be at an amazing looking place called Lit Book Bar in Richmond, Texas. Looks like a fantastic venue and like a really cool spot to fill your book bag. Can't wait to meet some awesome spooky book people at this one. Really sounds like it's going to be a blast.
I also did something very exciting this month. I saw an open call for a short story collection and realized… hey. I have a lot of those things! I did some math. Yes, it hurt. And realized that I have enough short stories for a collection.
I worked on it feverishly and compiled enough stories and a novella to create a book that is well over 60,000 words. That was a heck of a lot of fun, and I was very pleased with the final product. We will see what comes of that, but for now, being able to work on it was quite the pick-me-up. So many different little worlds all wrapped up in one neat package. Gotta love it.
I had a great Father's Day this month as well. I got to host a family gathering and spend the day with my dad. We went shopping together, planned everything out, and I couldn't help but think while we walked around the store together that I am one of the lucky ones.
I don't take that for granted, and I know the holiday can be a hard reminder for so many of the dads that were lost or the dads that weren't there who should have been. But I thank God for mine and the way that he always loved me unconditionally through the many self-inflicted hardships and hang-ups throughout my life.
He has always shown me the way that a man should love, provide, and be there for his children. For that, I'm eternally grateful. He's a good dude. Here's to you, Pops!
I got to have some Father's Day fun with the wife as well. Pictured above is the smug grin on my face after the first time in our marriage that I have ever beaten her at air hockey. I should be ashamed to say that…
But I'm not! It was awesome. I finally did it. Take that! 😉😆
We went to watch Obsession and ate a giant popcorn with tons of that artificial liquid butter substitute-like product on top of it. It was the best. She was scared out of her mind. I thought it was amazing. We went home and watched Free Guy to help ease her mind. That one was a lot of fun.
That's about it for this month. And you know what? After writing about it, I think I might have gotten my whack back. Or gotten back into whack. But definitely not whacked it. One of the other two.
Sometimes the hardships in our lives can take our focus off all the beauty that is happening in the midst of it. I know that I have been a lot worse off at a lot of different times. That much is for sure.
Thank you for reading. I hope you had a great June and that you are bearing the heat and staying hydrated. Take care of yourself. ✌️