Engaging Moments

Our second oldest son, Walter, is preparing for marriage and we’re all quite excited.

Of Typos and Godliness

I got an email this weekend from someone who read the latest chapter of Eighty-Sixed and suggested that perhaps I needed a proofreader. That was the first clue to let me know this was someone new to Greg Takes a Risk!

(Welcome to new readers, by the way!)

Regular readers know that part of the fun of this “risk” is sharing content with you that until now felt too “risky” to release into the world (not only does sin make us stupid, but fear does, as well). Thus, the risk is putting it out there, imperfections and all.

I wrote the original first draft of Eighty-Sixed between 2015-2016, and am now making it available for free in serialized format. The kicker to making it free is that you get to help find all those pesky typos and goof-ups before I eventually send the whole thing off to be published.

As typo-finder expert Lisa wrote this week:

By the way, even though I’m finding several typos, I am thoroughly enjoying your book! Thanks for the opportunity to read it AND edit (both are fun)!

And as a reminder, if you’re the first to find any typos in Eighty-Sixed, let me know in the comments of the chapter where you find them and I’ll list your name in the acknowledgments when the book hopefully/finally/eventually/someday goes to print.

This reader also reminded me to “Keep your writing godly!!” [sic]

Many people showing up here are used to me pretty much only writing about God (thus far my only published books are faith-based books). As I’ve written regarding creativity (and I’m working on another post on this topic), even if God isn’t mentioned in the writing, God is always there in the creation of it. So no need to worry about Him being absent from anything I put out into the ether.

He’s there with every tap of the keys.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Change in Schedule and Holiday Posting

As we’re looking down the barrel of Thanksgiving here in the states, followed by celebrating Advent and eventually Christmas in about 6-7 weeks from now (see what I did there?), I’m going to be doing a ton of writing of a different sort for my work with Rosary Army.

Because of that pending and substantial writing workload, I’m contemplating a few different options for Greg Takes a Risk! between now and the end of the year including:

1. Only posting once a week (instead of twice), alternating between these Wednesday columns and weekend chapters of Eighty-Sixed. Honestly, I’ve contemplated doing that in general, but I’m not as much of a fan of that idea as I really like the regularity of the weekly chapters of the book, which leads to…

2. Pausing these weekly essays until after Christmas and only posting chapters of Eighty-Sixed, unless…

3. The things I’m writing for Rosary Army could somehow also apply to the weekly newsletter or…

4. I can’t help myself and finish up some of the essays I’ve been crafting and can’t resist the temptation to share them with you right away.

All this to say, I’m doing a lot of juggling and planning and such right now. This is always the busiest time of the year for me because this is when our non-profit enters our annual “make it or break it” period where we raise 90% of Rosary Army’s operating capital. And we're working on some of our most ambitious plans ever for the next few years and need to raise the funding to make it happen, so obviously, that needs my primary focus for the next few weeks.

But this whole writing thing has been so therapeutic (once I finally sit down to write), so I may ignore all the plans above and stick with what I’ve been doing.

So if this doesn’t reach your inbox one week and you find yourself starting to panic, don’t worry. I’ve got other things cooking and I’ll keep posting as frequently as I can.

One more housekeeping thing:
Posting essays on Wednesdays, and chapters of Eighty-Sixed on Fridays, has been a little tight recently. So over the last few weeks, I’ve experimented with releasing the serialized novel chapters on Saturdays and kind of like it more. Feels more relaxing to read (and write) fiction on the weekends, plus it gives me an extra day or so between major posts, so I may continue to experiment with that release schedule (assuming I don’t implement some of the above ideas between now and the end of the year).

So going forward, instead of committing to new chapters on Fridays, I’m going to shoot for more generalized “weekend” releases.

Name Endorphins

With that, last week I made a joke that apparently all the new paid subscribers to Greg Takes a Risk! have names that start with J.

The trend continued this week.

Thanks to Judith and Jim (More J’s!) for your support of this work.

This week, let’s try this:

If your name starts with any letter from A to Z, you’re apparently obligated to become a paid subscriber to this Substack.

My thanks in advance.

Substack Chat

Substack launched a new thing for me to be terrible at this week: Substack Chat.

I love the idea. I honestly do. I have zero confidence in my ability to keep up with it.

According to the Substack powers that be:

Chat is a new space for writers to host conversations with their subscribers. We’ve designed it to be simple, fun, and seamlessly integrated with your Substack.

For now, it’s only available to those of you using the Substack app on iPhones (messages are sent via the app, not email). You’ll need to turn on push notifications so you don’t miss a chance to join the conversation as it happens. I’m guilty of not doing that last part myself. Guess I better fix that right now.

It’ll be on Android devices and computers soon.

Substack Chat is basically a conversation space in the Substack app that is set up exclusively for subscribers to Greg Takes a Risk! — kind of like a group chat or live hangout. I’ll try to post short prompts, thoughts, and updates that come my way, and you can jump into the discussion.

How to get started

1. Download the app by clicking this link or the button below. Chat is only on iOS for now, but chat is coming to the Android app soon.

2. Open the app and tap the Chat icon. It looks like two bubbles in the bottom bar, and you’ll see a row for my chat inside.

3. That’s it! Jump into my thread to say hi, and if you have any issues, check out Substack’s FAQ.

I posted a few things the other day and reader Sheryl responded almost immediately (thanks, Sheryl!). If you want to try to contact me more directly, give it a try and we’ll see if it gets legs.

Considering I’ve all but given up on other social media channels, I’m not overly optimistic about this, but I’m still willing to give it a shot if you are. I’m a sucker for new technology and will stay devoted to it as long as I’m not responsible for keeping the ball rolling.

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Engaging Thoughts

Our second oldest son, Walter, is preparing for marriage and we’re all quite excited.

A few weeks ago, his future in-laws threw a very lovely engagement party.

This is my favorite picture of the day. I can’t quite explain it, but to me, this summarizes my relationship with Walter perfectly. It’s serious but stupid all at once.

I love how I look like I’m giving him a stern warning, but not really, and he’s acting like he’s terrified of my warning, but not really.

Makes me laugh every time I look at this.

This week on our Adventures in Imperfect Living podcast, my wife and I shared our experiences at the engagement party. That conversation led to a discussion on the advice we’d give engaged or newlywed couples.

Here’s what we came up with:

1. Never use contraception.
   We were a contracepting couple for our first couple years of marriage. When we stopped using it and decided to trust what the Catholic Church has taught about it for centuries now, our marriage and family were absolutely transformed. I’m absolutely convinced that there’s a direct correlation between the strongest marriages and the rejection of a contraceptive mentality.

2. Never miss Sunday Mass - without fail
   We’d also add “holy days of obligation” and additional nuances to this one.

3. Go to confession at least monthly and remind each other to go
   Oh my goodness. This part of our discussion alone could have gone on for an hour on our show. Frequent confession has strengthened our family and marriage in so many ways. If I go longer than a month without it, I can feel all of my nastiness brewing to the surface. Regular confession is such a needed gift.

4. Pray together at least before meals and at least one Rosary together a month.
   This was making concessions for couples who struggle to pray together. There are times when praying with my wife is simple. Most of the time, it’s a struggle, simply because I struggle to pray out loud with others in general. Praying the Rosary together regularly has become easier over time (and I’m talking years of practice to get to this point). We pray it every day, mostly on our own, but we try to pray the Rosary together at least 3-4 times a week. Game changer.

5. Touch one another.
   And it doesn’t have to always be sexual. Jennifer loves to hold hands. Like prayer, I sometimes struggle with this. My reasoning is stupid, though. Oftentimes, as soon as we start holding hands, I feel an overwhelming need to crack my knuckles. I have no idea why. But I’m a big fan of leaning against each other. There’s something more intimate and trusting about that to me when we’re sitting on the couch or in a booth at a restaurant. It’s like we’re holding each other up. I love that.

6. Men - be chivalrous
   This was a fun part of our conversation, and I’m glad Jennifer was the one who brought it up. But seriously, guys, open the car door for your wife. Go fill up the gas tank for her car so she doesn’t have to. And apparently, if you’re me, make the bed every day.

Some of the other things we discussed include figuring out the division of labor, getting clarity on finances, and being clear in your needs with each other (i.e., avoiding being passive-aggressive at all costs).

It’s a fun conversation. You can find it wherever you get your favorite podcasts or listen to it here on our website.

What advice would you give? Leave a comment and let me know.

Wrap Up

That’s it for now. I have several more (hopefully) thought-provoking essays in the works, some of which I may need to break down into multiple parts. I think you’re going to enjoy these when they’re ready (hopefully soon), so stay tuned.

As always, thanks for being here and giving up some of your time to spend with me.

Reminder, the next chapter of Eighty-Sixed will come out this weekend. If I say “weekend” it could be Friday or Saturday, so that gives me a little wiggle room ;)

If you haven’t yet started the novel, you can do so right here.

Thanks for being here. Means so much to me.