Sometimes when you write shit down, you have no idea what's gonna be big when other people read it. Truthfully, I don't pretend I have a damn clue what excites readers--that's why I try to write things that excite me + hope readers feel the same. For those of you who haven't read it yet, I published a lyrical essay a little more than a week ago in the
Good Men Project entitled
"How to Stay in Love." I wrote this piece about LB partially because I'm still crazy in love 6 years after we started dating, and partially because the older I get, the more I realize how uniquely awesome our relationship is (+ I should know, I'd had
tons of shitty relationships in my life, so I've got a point of reference).
Anyway, Kristin Shorten, an Australian journalist from
News emailed me last Monday + asked if they could republish my essay on one of Australia's top news websites. And I was like: fuck yeah! So
here's an abridged republication of my essay,
"How to Stay in Love" in the lifestyle section of
News.com in Australia, along with a few pics of LB + me in Socal + Buenos Aires for your viewing pleasure. I've also included, just for the hell of it, a picture of the front page, just to give you some context of where my essay fits within the bigger picture of today's news cycle on this website + why it got republished in journals + news engines like
The Herald Sun, Courier Mail,
News Whip +
Optus Zoo, among others. My essay was even republished on a German website called
Ad Hoc News with a picture of Michael Jackson!
There are a lot of things I'm not qualified to write about (of course,
this has never stopped writers before). But one of the things I feel
I'm eminently qualified to do is write about love. I've been in love
more than once. I've been in too many relationships to count. Some of
them have been horrendous slogs, others ephemeral + dramatic flare-ups, +
quite a few fell somewhere in between. Either way, one thing I'm good
at is connected to one thing I believe in wholeheartedly, which is the
capacity for humans to love + the redemptive place that love can play in
our culture. My life would have no value without it. My best writing
comes from a place of love (of characters, places, experiences,
languages, ideas, etc., etc.). My best relationships are overflowing
with that stuff too. Anyway, this time I wrote a lyrical essay about my relationship with LB, which the Good Men Project was
happy to publish because they love it when men talk about love. If you
have time, I hope you'll read it + tell me what you think about my
piece, "How to Stay in Love."