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Roll that beautiful bean footage...

Nashville Skyline is a rainy summer morning kind of album. I turn it up kinda loudish and walk across the dining to the sun room where I begin this short residence in front of my computer.

These past months, I haven't purposely been avoiding this... activity, but, just the same, the other day, it hit me like an epiphany that I had not done it in forever. After taking a few days to contemplate the absence, I have come to the conclusion that taking a break is a healthy thing to do, sometimes.

Sometimes, it's more important to focus on living your life for a while, and just taking it all in until you realize you have gained not only some bounce in your step, but also a new sense of clarity, and you remind yourself why you do what you do.

I'm sure it's not my longest break. Through the years, I have taken breaks, and I have always managed to come back to this blog, all in good time.

Good things are happening in the world of Gabe Gott. It's better that I keep them to myself now, but when the time comes, you'll be the first to hear from me.

Divided We Conquer? A Meditation on Society in the Over-Share Age

Originally, this week off was to be solely designated for finishing my second novel. Then, of course, I became hugely distracted by my Strat and just kind of went with it. Playing guitar is probably the best way that I've found to relieve stress and find my sense of self. Kind of a mental health sort of thing, you know? It's good to have a stay-cation every now and again to remind you about what's important.

Writing and music are both important parts of my life, there is no doubt, but I just need to let things unfold naturally, and just focus more on writing how I write and playing guitar how I play guitar, producing the works that I produce. I have actually started to feel pretty comfortable doing these things how I do them, so I am just going to go with it, for better or worse. Naturally, my job is also important to me. Not just as a means to make ends meet, though, because I feel like I have finally found a company that will give me a chance to prove myself. When it all comes down to it, the thing that is most important to me is my life with my wife, our starting a family, or rather, starting a new branch of this large extended network of family I was both born into and have built up over the years, and the prospect of that, as much as we both want it, is also very nerve-racking with what is going on in the world today, and especially in our own country.

We, the individual parts of society, just don't see ourselves enough as one collective entity. We become too localized into our own lives, and our grievances--some real, some imaged--that we forget that, like any body, if any one part of us is weak or suffering, then we all are weak and suffering. We are supposed to all be branches from the same tree, but we have lost insight into what makes us us.We really just need to sit down and decide what it means to have the trait that we conveniently named after ourselves and then gave a meaning to that we have no hope of attaining if we expect too much from nature and each other and expect too little from ourselves.

We need to try harder to respect each other. After all, if we can't at least agree to do that, then why do we think we can accomplish anything else meaningful? If no one else's input is valuable, except those whose agree with our own opinion, then how do we expect to learn anything from someone who's had different experiences with life, having developed different ways of thinking about things, and can maybe even provide some perspective on our own lives---helping us find the things that we all share?

Those are the things that make it worthwhile to agree to disagree, at times, while also expecting more of ourselves, and holding each other to the same standards that we hold ourselves. If we let our standards be too low, then it is our own fault that we end up a certain way. There are some things that are worth hoping for, and that does include peace, but peace doesn't come without mutual respect.

I always wished that my kids would grow up in a world that was better than the way that I found it, but the prospect of that, right now, seems pretty dim. Hope isn't entirely lost, but we take it for granted that much more each day, and each day, that much more of it is lost. How long will it be until we have none?

Let's not find out, let's aim higher. In order to hit our mark, we all have to be trying equally as hard, and helping those who need the help, when they need it, and not ask why, but ask, instead, how are you? That's the kind of world where I want my kids to live, and while I am sure it is idealistic, there is nothing wrong with having ideals. What else should we be aiming for?

Stay-cation Station

Things are getting serious this morning here in Highland Square. Where should I start?

My New Direction: The Bookish Rocker

Sitting in my recently cleaned and organized office, the chaos of thoughts blowing and tumbling through my brain as I look out the window at my backyard and try to figure out what to write. I close my eyes, my breathing measured as I take in the light that peeks through the blanket of clouds resting over this winter-kissed Akron morning, and I realize that it's been too long since the last time I meditated.

Sonic Youth's "Teenage Riot" comes over my Spotify and I decide that it would be better if I put on the album, and search for the CD. I can't remember if it is in the pile of plastic squares sitting in a stack next to desk, or on my shelf. I used to really pride myself on this collection, and it is pretty expansive and diverse. Overall, though, the music that I own in all the various forms could always be more expansive and more diverse. My record collection is still a baby, and needs more time and care; my folder of MP3s contains all the best from my CD collection plus all the stuff that I have bought on Amazon over the years. In my car is my iPod, which has all the music that I have bought from iTunes and copied from library collections, and I realize that I need to copy everything from it onto my computer before my Nano finally bites the dust. It is on its deathbed for sure. I can no longer listen to it unless less plugged into something (like my car). That is why I am determined to put more music on my phone so I have more options when I am at work.

My mind switches directions with precision, and I open  Dottie's case and stare down at her sunburst smile and it makes me smile. On the other side of the room sits my bass and my new Mexican Strat, which I realize I have had for two weeks and I have yet to name it. Sacrilege! I must remedy this at once!

If I had another guitar amp, a drum set and a small, powered monitor, I could easily get a jam going here. Hell, that would just be the ideal scenario--including the organ, I could really get a good jam going with what I've got. That being said...

My First Blog Post of 2017, or How Not to Cook Waffles [in Three Easy Steps]

Today I decided to make myself brunch. I used my waffle iron that was the wifey's gift for my birthday, and I must say, if Wally Waffle was a real person, he would be ashamed that I ever ate at his establishment.

At least they turned out how I prefer my waffles--a little on the crispy side. They were edible, they just came out of the iron in small mangled chunks. Unfortunately, the waffle iron doesn't have temperature controls, and I definitely didn't use the right type of oil.

They tasted fine, though, and I also had some sunny side up eggs, which turned out fabulously. I mean, you would have to be a totally idiot to fuck up sunny side up eggs, though.

Anyways, I am glad to be writing my first blog post of 2017! Huzzah! I hope everyone's years so far are going well. I have zero complaints on mine. Rave reviews, really. Here's to keeping it going, no matter what else is happening in the world!

One thing that will being happening on Friday that doesn't fill me with anguish and dread, my poetry chapbook, Live Organ Transplants, will be making it's way out to the world. In the last couple of weeks especially, it has just kept getting better, and I can't wait for people to read it.

I wasn't originally planning on doing anything else poetry again after this, but I have definitely reconsidered that, as I think it's be safe to say that this will be the best thing that I have published so far. I know that I say that every time, but every time it turns out to be true, which is a good thing, and even though I shouldn't be, since I am the one who puts in all the work, I am surprised every time that it happens.

Well, it's not Leaves of Grass or anything, but I am pretty happy with how it has turned out, at any rate, and if you are a poetry fan, I hope you dig it, as well. If not, I have more new fiction coming out on April 1st.

There's been a rumor going around that some other event is happening this Friday, but my mind just can't fully accept that is really happening. I hope that my poetry is some kind of counter to that whole train wreck, at least. While many of the poems were written prior to November, some by years, many of those are surprisingly prescient, and, of course, most of the brand new ones are directly in response to the election.

Please also check out this new literary magazine on Medium, Literally Literary, to which I have contributed some poetry and fiction. Not only am I happy to have some stuff published there, I also really enjoy reading it. There's new work posted every week. Jessica, Heath, and everyone who contributes are truly passionate and gifted writers and I feel really lucky to be counted as a part of their community. If you're curious, and you haven't read them yet, here is what I have published there (so far):

• Everyday Battlestar (poem)
• Truck Shop (short fiction)

This looks to be an exciting year here at gabegott.com, too. I have many post ideas swirling around my brain, and now that work is slowing down, I will have the time to keep this website updated on a weekly basis. I am not committing necessarily to Saturdays, but to weekends, in general. There could even be more midweek posts, too. Anyways, look for more about music and other topics, and less about my writing and the projects I am working to complete.

There will, of course, still be some of that, too, but less of it. A moderate amount. How does that cliche go, that variety is the spice of life, or something to that effect? Well, that's what I am shooting for here in 2017.

Time to go clean up my waffle mess, before it is too late--otherwise, I will need a chisel. Peace!

A Toast for the Coming Year

Don't Let the 2016 Blues Keep You Down

Greetings, party people! I am coming to you live from Akron, Ohio, on the last day of 2016, which has pretty much been the best year on record here at the Gott household. *coughs*

I am coming to you today because it has come to my attention that I need to stop making declarations about whether I am or am not going to do something or another, because invariable, I almost always end up doing the opposite... Like right now, for instance, writing this, when I said two posts ago that I was done for the year--so let it be known, from this day forward, I am no longer going to make declarations, and am instead going to plan to do things silently to myself and then follow through with them.

Actually, I might be better served to make plans to do the opposite of what I intend to do, because in not following through with my plans, I will actually be working towards doing what I really intend to do, because apparently, and I think there is some documented evidence to show this, that is just how my mind works.

I know, right? I don't know that if I can change that at this point, though, so I am just stuck with working around it. By 34, I think your personality is pretty much set, and I think my oppositional nature is pretty firmly in place. As long I get to where I want to go, the journey is just a part of the fun. If it was easy, everyone would be doing what they want for a living...

*pauses*

Even though this year has been a difficult one for me personally for a variety of reasons totally unrelated to celebrity deaths or the election, I feel like I have also experienced a lot of growth, both as a person and as a writer, and I can't wait to see what 2017 has in store, and I mean that, truly.

At this point in my life, I have faced a great many obstacles, and, certainly with a great deal of help from my wife, my family, and my friends, I have somehow gotten this far, and while my life may not be perfect, and it certainly hasn't gone as planned, I wouldn't change anything. Why dwell on something when it is impossible to go backwards? I just try to learn and pick myself back up and dust myself off and keep pushing forward.

While the world might seem to have a dark cloud over it right now, everything is always changing, and sometimes great things happen when you least expect them. Often times, these great things come out of adversity, and when you do have a negative experience, it might be difficult to understand when it is happening, it doesn't ultimately help to dwell on it too long and let your life be controlled by that experience forever.

Sometimes, and more often than anyone would probably care to admit, we have to learn things the hard way, because sometimes that's the only way that those lessons will stick for any length of time. And while these mistakes might seem avoidable to some, just because it seems that way, it doesn't make it true, and often times, it is from those experiences that you learn something you didn't even know you needed to know, and you come out stronger, and better, for having survived.

It's all in how you choose to use that knowledge that makes a difference, which is why I have faith that, even if things don't go as planned in the coming year, great things will happen, regardless. It's all in how you define greatness that matters, and whether I succeed or fail at my plans, I will achieve greatness in the knowledge that I gain from the experiences.

If I keep going, and I keep learning these lessons, and keep seeking out more knowledge on how to get where I want to go, eventually, if I am determined enough and work hard enough, I just might find myself where I want to be.

With three books coming out, and a novel I know I can finish if I set my mind to it (after all, I have done it before), and much, much more that I plan on accomplishing (or not plan, but work towards by planning the opposite), I know that 2017 will be a good year, and I sincerely hope the same goes for all of you.

*raises champagne flute*

 Cheers!