Larry Brown's Ghost

Larry Brown once stated that “If you want to write, you’ve got to shut yourself up in a room and write”.

Sometimes the best advice is the simplest and most straightforward.

I have been dabbling with the idea of being more of a “writer” for several years now. I had a blog in the past, which mainly consisted of essays about various things going on in my life. Opinions, thoughts, memories. Some of it was good. A lot of it was garbage. But over the last couple years I have become much more intrigued with trying to step outside of the self-made box I found myself in. I have begun to write more fiction, mainly short stories. I have read more poetry, and have tried my hand at a bit of it. And I have dove even further in to a lifelong love – reading.

Larry Brown has played a big part in all of this. After hearing his name for several years and having his work recommended to me by some legitimate upper-case W Writers that I know and respect, I began to read his work voraciously. Especially his short stories. His work, and his backstory, did something to me.

Larry Brown was non-college educated, except for a couple creative writing classes from Ol’ Miss. He was a blue-collar, working class guy, with a career as a firefighter for the town of Oxford, Mississippi. He had always loved reading and writing, and one day he decided, “hell, I’m going to do that”. He dove into the work of learning how to be a writer fully clothed, creating much of his early work while on duty at the firehouse.

Thank God he did. Because it all clicked, and Brown gave us some incredible literature before his untimely death in 2004 at the age of 53.

I by no means consider myself worthy as a writer of even carrying the manuscripts that Larry Brown produced, but I gain a lot of inspiration from his story. And his work.

I’m 41 years old. I have a wife and two young boys. I work as a career firefighter in Asheville, North Carolina. I got a few years of college under my belt before jumping into the fire service, but thus far most of what I have learned in terms of writing has been self-taught or picked up through small classes. Reading is one of the loves of my life. And I want more than anything to build a writing craft that actually bears fruit worthy of being read.

I’m chasing Larry Brown’s ghost.

My hope for this site is that it will be the vehicle that helps me in that chase. My plan is to deposit in this space writings that I am working on. These might be short stories, poems, essays, or thoughts on books I’m reading. All I know is that if I’m truly ever going to seriously write, I have to shut myself up in a room and write as Brown said. This will be the landing pad for the products that come from that.

I hope whatever you read on here is worth your time. If not, feel free to let me know. If you read something that you like, please let me know that as well! I need all of the feedback and constructive criticism I can get.

Because I don’t know that I’ll ever chase him enough to catch him, but I’m going to try like hell to do so.