A year or so ago I’d have said that I’d never be doing this again, and then I realized something – why in the hell not?
For me, my journey all started because I wrote some stories down, those stories got published, and one day I found myself traveling, talkin’, and more. It seemed that I could do no wrong, even though I did do plenty wrong and them some. I wrote some more, got published some more, got booked to speak more, and it all was this hellacious treadmill that looked to only be gaining momentum. And along the way I raised some hell and had more fun than I can ever admit to here.
Least for me it was fun, and for a lot of other people it was, too. But, one day you wake up and realize that you’re tired, you’re worn out, and you’re doing things that you know you really shouldn’t be, yet you still kinda enjoy doing them. So, you keep on. And on.
This is the place where I’m supposed to apologize for being bad, for doing some things that I shouldn’t have. Well, screw that. I’m Ed Sr.s’ grandson, Ed Jr.s’ baby boy, and anyone who ever mistook me for the pure and narrow is basically a damned idiot. The Williams’ loved life, loved its temptations, and loved its possibilities. They understood that we all have our pure times, our less than pure times and worse, but whatever times we were enjoying we all loved each other. And stood by each other. And didn’t practice something that I call “situational morality.”
Y’all know what situational morality is – that’s people who go along with you and do the same bad things you’re doing or worse, yet if things don’t go as they wish they suddenly get self-righteous, or worse yet, malignant. They suddenly get weirdly religious, they besmirch your name even though they hide their own, worse yet, they even besmirch your children’s, two people they don’t know anything about and never will. They’re the people who want to run off with you but get mad when you don’t, they’re the people who pretend to want to advance your writing career when all they really want is to be on the receiving end of a humpin’, they’re the people who breathlessly report what you’re doing online when they themselves are trolling the web every night like self-possessed whores. Bottom line, they’re the people whose lives are so adrift that they latch onto yours, proclaiming their hatred of what they think you are yet never letting their eyes drift from any single thing that you do.
I let myself get tangled up with a few of these types and paid the price. But, I learned something from all that, something that should’ve been obvious yet became clouded through all the shenanigans – I like who I am. Very much so, in fact. I’m a good guy in some ways, I’m a bad boy in some, and I’ve lived a life that I wouldn’t trade for anything. Better still, I have enough piss and vinegar in me to live a little more of it, too. So, for the record, let me state this – I’m going to have fun, I’m going to be who I am, and I revel in being a Southern Outlaw Author. Absolutely love it. And I intend to keep being one. I love writing stories, I love getting out and meeting people, and there’s no reason I can’t again. And I will.
Watch soon for news…..
