Wednesday, August 1, 2012
I've Arrived
So, I didn't win The 2012 Nicholl Fellowship. . . . . When I entered into the competition I fully expected to win. I didn't cross my fingers or knock on wood or wish for the best when I saw over 7,100 scripts were submitted, because I really expected to win. I'm not saying this out of disappointment, I'm saying all of this out of a place that grinned and decided to keep pushing when I got the "bad" news.
I'm not a profe$$ional writer, but I am a competitive writer, and to me that means I arrived at the place where I have faith in my talents. Faith enough to put my work out there for it to be judged, scored, rewarded, etc.
Congratulations to the folks passing on to the quarterfinals. Good luck and I look forward to working with you all.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Commit To Life
I wish everyone the best on New Years Day, I really do. I know I have made my share of resolutions and broken them by the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.
All this love for the new year has to be put in perspective. Commit to life, not the new year, but life. If we didn't keep time and dates, wouldn't we have the same desire to make certain things happen in our lives? If we didn't know January or March or May, wouldn't we still want to be the same people?
Marry life and be the mate that doesn't look to make up for ignoring your mate all year long on anniversaries.
Commit to life.
Happy New Year y'all.
All this love for the new year has to be put in perspective. Commit to life, not the new year, but life. If we didn't keep time and dates, wouldn't we have the same desire to make certain things happen in our lives? If we didn't know January or March or May, wouldn't we still want to be the same people?
Marry life and be the mate that doesn't look to make up for ignoring your mate all year long on anniversaries.
Commit to life.
Happy New Year y'all.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Warrior
What do we war for? What fight do we take on everyday? Fighting doesn't have to do with spilling blood, but it does have to do with our passions and purpose. I talk a lot about what I want from life and more specifically from my writing. Part of the reason is I struggled with the possibility that I could make a living solely as a writer and now in this moment I believe if is 100% possible. I say that on one hand and on the other hand I feel odds are ridiculous. In the battle of odds vs ability, ability will always win. Be a warrior that is about your purpose and passion.
war·ri·or [wawr-ee-er, wawr-yer, wor-ee-er, wor-yer] noun
1. a person engaged or experienced in warfare; soldier.
2. a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics.
war·ri·or [wawr-ee-er, wawr-yer, wor-ee-er, wor-yer] noun
1. a person engaged or experienced in warfare; soldier.
2. a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Dear 28
Dear 28,
I see you. You are very present and look very promising. Underneath it all, is this day we are meeting just another day? Everyday is a new beginning set apart from the day that came before it and a day that will come after it by a different set of numbers. But 11/23/1983 is my set of numbers, so today is more personal than yesterday although tomorrow will surpass its greatness. 11/23/1983 is my gateway more than my birthday because life doesn't only grow or arrive once a year. I've only known you a matter of minutes so far according to my cell phone clock, but my commitment to you is long overdue.
Like never before, I will treat your newness with wisdom and discipline. I will treat each of our days together like a word that builds a sentence, because sentences build paragraphs and paragraphs build complete works. A missing word leads one to assume the intention of the writer instead of the communication being clear. Every word will be a stamp of greatness and every stamp of greatness I create will be a word, better yet a work, because my mother and grandfather taught me the virtue of the process and the purpose and power of growing my faith in God through that process.
28, together we will be legendary.
Yours,
Tyler Paul Gilmore
born 11/23/1983 in Pasadena, CA to Doris and Timothy
I see you. You are very present and look very promising. Underneath it all, is this day we are meeting just another day? Everyday is a new beginning set apart from the day that came before it and a day that will come after it by a different set of numbers. But 11/23/1983 is my set of numbers, so today is more personal than yesterday although tomorrow will surpass its greatness. 11/23/1983 is my gateway more than my birthday because life doesn't only grow or arrive once a year. I've only known you a matter of minutes so far according to my cell phone clock, but my commitment to you is long overdue.
Like never before, I will treat your newness with wisdom and discipline. I will treat each of our days together like a word that builds a sentence, because sentences build paragraphs and paragraphs build complete works. A missing word leads one to assume the intention of the writer instead of the communication being clear. Every word will be a stamp of greatness and every stamp of greatness I create will be a word, better yet a work, because my mother and grandfather taught me the virtue of the process and the purpose and power of growing my faith in God through that process.
28, together we will be legendary.
Yours,
Tyler Paul Gilmore
born 11/23/1983 in Pasadena, CA to Doris and Timothy
Thursday, June 23, 2011
The Powerless Past
I almost feel like it is a waste of time to write this blog. The power of the dream I had last night was immeasurable.
There I was, a young kid riding in this time machine smiling and flying through a time I didn't know personally, but the young man that looked just like me in my dream seemed to love it. And as fast as the dream and my flying fun began, the machine broke.
Thankfully my dream didn't break here!
I looked at the machine the same way Doc Brown would look at his creation. I was heartbroken. I was lost.
I scrapped together the metal, talked to some folks and together we put together a new time machine that was supposed to be better than the one I wrecked. I was broke and exhausted because all of my money, time, and energy went into this machine.
I didn't care, because I was going back in time. I stepped on the metal panels and electricity began to move through my body, but I didn't go anywhere. The electricity settled and the woman controlling the experiment told me the machine wasn't working and she would need more money to get it to work.
At this point in time, I was more broke and more exhausted. I didn't have the energy to get new materials or evaluate how disappointed I was.
I was disappointed in the machine, but more disappointed in myself because I aimlessly put so much effort into going back in time with no agenda instead of working to make my future great. I was familiar with this past, but my excitement about going back to the past meant I was regressing as a man.
To make a long story short, dwelling on the past will leave you broken and exhausted. You can reflect on it, but the way things appear and the way we remember them are not always the way the should have been or the way they should be.
Be fearless and fly into the future folks. Once you reach infinity, go beyond.
There I was, a young kid riding in this time machine smiling and flying through a time I didn't know personally, but the young man that looked just like me in my dream seemed to love it. And as fast as the dream and my flying fun began, the machine broke.
Thankfully my dream didn't break here!
I looked at the machine the same way Doc Brown would look at his creation. I was heartbroken. I was lost.
I scrapped together the metal, talked to some folks and together we put together a new time machine that was supposed to be better than the one I wrecked. I was broke and exhausted because all of my money, time, and energy went into this machine.
I didn't care, because I was going back in time. I stepped on the metal panels and electricity began to move through my body, but I didn't go anywhere. The electricity settled and the woman controlling the experiment told me the machine wasn't working and she would need more money to get it to work.
At this point in time, I was more broke and more exhausted. I didn't have the energy to get new materials or evaluate how disappointed I was.
I was disappointed in the machine, but more disappointed in myself because I aimlessly put so much effort into going back in time with no agenda instead of working to make my future great. I was familiar with this past, but my excitement about going back to the past meant I was regressing as a man.
To make a long story short, dwelling on the past will leave you broken and exhausted. You can reflect on it, but the way things appear and the way we remember them are not always the way the should have been or the way they should be.
Be fearless and fly into the future folks. Once you reach infinity, go beyond.
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Being There
I have this thing with numbers. I call it a thing, because I don't know exactly what it is, but they have a way of sticking in my brain and that way creates memories that seem like yesterday when they are really over a decade in the past.
Sometimes, I sit back and I take a deep breath and think was it really me, or just some kid I read about? I remember everything, but the memories do not have a first hand familiarity because we have grown so much without the people that occupy those memories. That is not to say we have not grown because of them.
I remember looking down at the ground and counting 14 grass squares. These squares covered the plot where my grandmother was buried. Before the squares were laid, I remember she passed away at 5:47pm, but her death certificate said 5:49pm. After the squares I remember the eight words the family chose for her tombstone. There were 17 steps that led up to the #2 apartment where the same numbers that read 728 were in front of the building.
I am her third grandchild, after George and Timothy, before Eric and De Johnette.
More than anything, I remember April 7,2000. I asked her for 10 dollars to get a shirt for a Sadie Hawkins dance that no girl asked me to. I took out the trash and she said, "maybe". I ran to the store, and she said "no". I laughed until she let me get all the way to the bottom of the stairs and on my way home. She called me back and handed me the 10 dollars and the next time I saw her she was in a coma. The time I saw her after that, the priest took a rose from her spread and placed a rose in her hand and it made everything peaceful for the moment.
And the peace from within has grown past that moment into a lifestyle. I have more to say, but I have even more to do. Walk in peace and love yall.
"If we had not loved each other, none of us would have survived." - James Baldwin from The Fire Next Time
Sometimes, I sit back and I take a deep breath and think was it really me, or just some kid I read about? I remember everything, but the memories do not have a first hand familiarity because we have grown so much without the people that occupy those memories. That is not to say we have not grown because of them.
I remember looking down at the ground and counting 14 grass squares. These squares covered the plot where my grandmother was buried. Before the squares were laid, I remember she passed away at 5:47pm, but her death certificate said 5:49pm. After the squares I remember the eight words the family chose for her tombstone. There were 17 steps that led up to the #2 apartment where the same numbers that read 728 were in front of the building.
I am her third grandchild, after George and Timothy, before Eric and De Johnette.
More than anything, I remember April 7,2000. I asked her for 10 dollars to get a shirt for a Sadie Hawkins dance that no girl asked me to. I took out the trash and she said, "maybe". I ran to the store, and she said "no". I laughed until she let me get all the way to the bottom of the stairs and on my way home. She called me back and handed me the 10 dollars and the next time I saw her she was in a coma. The time I saw her after that, the priest took a rose from her spread and placed a rose in her hand and it made everything peaceful for the moment.
And the peace from within has grown past that moment into a lifestyle. I have more to say, but I have even more to do. Walk in peace and love yall.
"If we had not loved each other, none of us would have survived." - James Baldwin from The Fire Next Time
Friday, December 31, 2010
At Year's End
This year I have learned several things. . . . Here they are in no particular order.
1. A man's relationship with a woman is endangered when he does things that lead to his demise instead of the fulfillment of his life.
2. Peers are people that you share a level of success and goals with. Friendships end easily as people grow and possibly tear in different directions. Don't deny your potential or the company you keep and should keep.
3. Know the value of people, logic, God, faith, and love.
4. There is nothing wrong with telling a truth that will hurt people's feelings when understanding is at the end of your statement. (If you don't share a truth, clarify it as your version of the truth)
5. There is a difference between friends and followers. Thank you FaceBook and Twitter.
6. Every young man needs his father and if he is not available, God is and He orders the forgiveness of the man's absent father.
7. Your definition of hero should be based on one's acheivement of something they were shown by God alone. *Grandpa*
8. There is no proof that blood is thicker than water in the context of relationships, but water is more readily available than blood and both blood and water are more readily available than what we would like our family to be.
9. My relationship issues are dissolving as I dissolve the relationships that give me issues.
10. Don't panic about anything your job tells you. Just listen to God.
1. A man's relationship with a woman is endangered when he does things that lead to his demise instead of the fulfillment of his life.
2. Peers are people that you share a level of success and goals with. Friendships end easily as people grow and possibly tear in different directions. Don't deny your potential or the company you keep and should keep.
3. Know the value of people, logic, God, faith, and love.
4. There is nothing wrong with telling a truth that will hurt people's feelings when understanding is at the end of your statement. (If you don't share a truth, clarify it as your version of the truth)
5. There is a difference between friends and followers. Thank you FaceBook and Twitter.
6. Every young man needs his father and if he is not available, God is and He orders the forgiveness of the man's absent father.
7. Your definition of hero should be based on one's acheivement of something they were shown by God alone. *Grandpa*
8. There is no proof that blood is thicker than water in the context of relationships, but water is more readily available than blood and both blood and water are more readily available than what we would like our family to be.
9. My relationship issues are dissolving as I dissolve the relationships that give me issues.
10. Don't panic about anything your job tells you. Just listen to God.
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