Unlike more realistic, humble, and discerning people like
in this honest and self-aware piece, I thought writing would come naturally. I’d read a lot of books and majored in English in college, after all. So why not write? And while we’re at it, write a book?Nevermind that I hadn’t written anything of real substance over twenty plus years in a business career. My emails were beatific well-structured gems. My TPS reports stellar. Cogent. Concise. To wit: I used words like “cogent,” and “concise.”
After years spent writing and revising and writing and revising and sifting through the flawed truth of words, and especially my own flaws, I got the memo. Writing is not for the faint of heart.
Coincidence Speaks is, at its own heart, a book about convergence. From the outset, I wanted to write a story that explores the relationship between our inner and outer worlds, and eventually of Reader and Author, without going too painfully agonizingly adverb-ily meta about the whole thing. Substack unexpectedly turned out to be a great platform for exactly this.
Anyways. Rather than prattle on any further, I really just want to offer my profound thanks to some lovely folks here, and everyone reading (in my future/your present!)
By no means is this a complete list:
for your heart and priceless feedback on the character of Clara. for beta reading an early painfully awful and massive manuscript and being a silent reader/investor extraordinaire. for a major confidence boost in Part I, and a legacy of excellent haikus. Some of the highest of -ku’s.. for the Immediate First Like Award. Suspect this should be a universally recognized award across much of Substack. for the heart-likes, always felt and always appreciated. Yours pulse at a special frequency! for sharing a sacred glimpse through your Window to Heaven. for the encouragement in the introduction and early chapters. for your stoic encouragement of my writing in general. for your keen observations on relationships, and the breadth of your wide-ranging Story Arks. for your encouragement in Part I, and for being a great human being. for your memoir. For your connective heart. For your uncommon courage and candor and curiosity. For giving much to many. Your voice is the rare gift that opens the space for others to claim their own. for rocking out in general, and understanding my vibe. for being the family creeper par excellence, lurking like a champ. for looking forward to Fridays! :) Thank you 1000x for your well-timed words. for your sudden potent haunting of my Crashing a Funeral piece. And for being an inspiration. And of course for your Freebird/Zoltar Anima Mundi-ness. One word won’t leave me alone when I think of you, and it is highly insistent about being included here: “Dedicated.” for coming along every step of the way. for your support, openness and contagious enthusiasm for everything in life. for your profound wisdom around how the heavens coincide with the earth. … where to even start? From even before the first chapter you’ve been supportive and tuned in and so generous with your intelligent incisive insight. On everything from structure to flow to timing to narrative voice to highlighting quotes to brilliant chapter summaries. Thank you for the care and attention you gave and give. for being the very first reverse reader of Coincidence Speaks. Transforming Paul Endrum into palindrome…… for showing up out of the blue on my very first piece of writing on the internet ever, and looking past my obvious issues with a rather large grey cat. Riding in the passenger seat, now taking the wheel.And —
to all reading from the silence - I see you - THANK YOU.
Eric/E.T. Allen
Wow, that's such an honour to have been mentioned by you here, E.T. Thank you. Really. Thanks.
I was mentioning to @Aria Parker the other day that there's so much myth and legend surrounding being a "writer", but being a "writer" is a club open to everyone and anyone who dares to join, who dares to put themselves out there and just write. And you've done it. Applause!
Time flies by with "20 years in a business career", or bringing up families or generally doing all the non-writerly things like trying to survive, that are demanded of us, all of which are wonderful and rewarding and human condition things. But through it all some of us feel compelled to write, to share our experiences in some writerly form. And that's you E.T., you've actually done it. That's' brilliant pal. What a beautiful thing. I've just subscribed to your Stack. (Loved your Freebird piece).
I can only repeat Troy's perfect line, "Keep writing, keep shining, keep inspiring, keep being you".
I have never finished a book, and I admire anyone who has. It's a true accomplishment. Keep writing, keep shining, keep inspiring, keep being you, E.T.!