What is the Stonebrook Institute of Higher Thinking?
It’s my practice field, that’s what.
The Institute is where I come to get a few words out of my system. This is where I put down thoughts in something that aspires to be a readable, entertaining order. I do not always come here regularly, but I should be here more often because, like I said, this is practice.
“Practice for what?” You ask. Fair question.
Until I was about ten years old, I wanted nothing more than to be a paleontologist. Although my dinosaur phase has never entirely faded away, I soon discovered I loved reading even more than dinosaurs (and if I was reading about dinosaurs then more the better). Since I was an imaginative child who loved to invent super heroes and play with imaginary friends it was not a big leap to go from a love of reading to a belief in the possibility of creating stories of my own.
I majored in English at Georgia Southern University and worked in journalism for about a decade.
I did not write a novel.
It admit to pervasive laziness. I have been given enough talent as a writer to slide by with minimal effort. I am what Stephen King calls a “competent writer.” I am not what he would call a “good writer.” The prescription for working from competent to good, at least according to the wonderful book On Writing, is just like the punch line to a famous joke.
Tourist: How do you get to Carnegie Hall?
Local: Practice, baby. Practice.
At the time of this writing, I am working on a launch for a much larger project, The Sunday Eagle, which will combine my previous experience in journalism with my love for all things Georgia Southern University. I am also writing a very short novel.
The Stonebrook Institute of Higher Thinking isn’t always about my writing. I love to blog abut books, big ideas, little ideas, humor, what my interesting friends do and anything else that comes to mind. I love feedback, either on the comments section or on Facebook, where I pimp out every new blog entry in the hopes that one day one of them will go viral.
I hope you like what you see here and come back often. As a former sports writer I know that watching practice is usually not as exciting as seeing the game itself, but sometimes something spectacular happens.
