by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
One of the things they tell you when you’re growing up is to “be yourself.” And, yet, here I am facing something of a paradox. On one hand, the only way to get literary types to take me seriously is to produce a quality novel. But to produce a quality novel I feel as though I need some help from…literary types.
That’s probably been one of the most aggravating aspects of developing and writing these novels — literary consultants are surprisingly judgmental. You would think given how weird creative people are, they would be a bit more accepting of weirdos like me.
How all of this usually happens is they look me up on the Internet, look at this Website and are taken aback by how weird they think I am. It’s something of a “Kook Tax” as I call it. You sometimes, you have to take the L. Sometimes, you have to just accept that “normal” people with stable lives and relationships and jobs just are unwilling or unable to accept you for who you are.
All I can say is, I can’t help who I am. I’m “different” and I’ve been “different” my entire life. When it comes to creative, if you can overcome the Kook Tax, then you’ve accomplished even more than than you might have otherwise if you were normal.
It’s not like I can change anything about it one way or another.
