A couple of weeks back, I talked about the question that I am asked more than any other question when on book tours or in television or radio interviews, and it was about that coveted single piece of advice I’d give to sum up my philosophy on life. I told you it was “Never Settle” and it will always be that. What I didn't say back then, was that while that is the most common question threaded through all the various interviews, there are about six dozen other questions that have been repeated ad nauseam to the point of absolute delirium. Every person ever charged with asking me questions, for some reason goes through the same motions, and asks me the very same things. “When did you start writing?” “What is your inspiration?” “How do you deal with writer’s block?” There exists a laundry list of questions I’ve answered so many times, I can literally feel Sarah’s boredom creep in and settle like a storm every time she hears them uttered. What I’ve always wondered, in and amongst all this asking, is this: How will you know me, if all you ask is all I’ve already answered? How will you know me, if all we speak of is writer’s block and my poetic process? How will we ever know one another if we do not dive deeper.
Truth is, you won’t, we won’t. I’ve always been an oddly private person, despite the fact that I quite literally spill out my guts every day and week in poetry and essay, in photography, in vulnerability. Those that have wiggled their way through the Autism and privacy will tell you, I am open to everyone, but getting to the core takes a long, long time. I think my Autism presents most often as an outward viewpoint, rather than an inward one, I quite literally have zero interest in myself when speaking to others. I’ve often said, I was born without an ego, as it’s just not part of the way I operate. I think quite a few people on the Autism spectrum are this same way, and I’m beginning to wonder if it is a superpower of sorts.
Saying all this, it made me realize that many of you who show up here every single Sunday probably know me better than almost anyone else in the world. The freedom in which I’m able to share with you all here is unmatched anywhere else, and so I do believe you see more of the ‘core’ than almost anyone else outside of my family. This is true, and will remain true, but it also made me realize there’s probably a great deal you don’t know as well, and the problem is, I’m rubbish and shit at offering up that information in an improvisational fashion. I am fantastic when prompt, open to answer quite literally anything, to anyone that does the asking. Nothing, is ever off-limits, no matter how strange, dirty, clean, or personal. You ask, and I will always answer, it’s always been this way, and always will.
Because I’m shit at the ol’ self-reveal, I’d much rather you ask. Every now and then questions flutter out of you and you do ask wonderful things, and it starts wonderful conversations, but I think it’s time we did so again. Here, so near the closing of this tumultuous year, why don’t we get to know one another better. Ask me a question, and once I answer it, the deal is, you need to answer it, or some variation of it that is relevant to you, too. I want us to start 2023 closer than we’ve ever been, understanding one another more than we ever have, and I think this could be a fantastically beautiful way to do so.
If we ask the same questions, we’ll give the same answers, so I think it’s time we started asking new ones. How will we know one another if we do not do so, if we do not risk it and dive in?
Let’s dive, take the plunge, and learn more of each other. Ask me anything you wish, no matter what you wish to know, and I will answer. Please, just go beyond the usual, the writer’s block, or how to get published.
The time is now, ask new questions, get new answers. Here we go.
Asked the same questions
I will give the same answers.
How will you know me?
How Will You Know Me? | 11.20.22