Please allow me to introduce myself, I'm a man of questionable tastes Been around for over 50 years and a lot of it went to waste... I chose this screen name (BenevelentDemons) to honor the protective spirits that have haunted and shielded me from my own misfortunes. Some folk have guardian angels, I got benevolent demons. I'm good with words, I used to have a blog years ago on a site called Multiply. It's gone now, I moved over to Facebook, but there's a limit you can write in a single post. That and a lot, and I mean a LOT of content is shallow, dumbed down for the masses. I've been encouraged by many that I should blog. So here goes. Sometimes I write twisted karaoke, where I take a song and reword the lyrics. I have many vulgar Christmas caroles. (Dr. Demento left his mark on me growing up) Maybe I'll share some of them here. I'm self employed, mostly Mr Fix it handyman stuff, lots of lawn care, I'm good with motors, machines, I'm a carpenter,plumber, painter, roofer, electrical, I've built several computers, I make furniture and clocks for shits and giggles. Sometimes I wrench on my old hot rod project I have going. I like working with my hands. I was decent in school, most of my classes were AP stuff, I even took a few college classes, but never graduated. Driving a desk wasn't attractive to me. Plus jail & courts got in the way. As did drinking and drugs. For many years I was a semi-professional brain cell exterminator. Some of them weren't even mine! I occasionally made a profit from time to time. Drinking almost did me in and by the time I was 35 I had enough, hit my knees and prayed, "To Whom It May Concern, somebody, ANYBODY, to anyone listening: Fix me or finish me off!" That led me to AA, and I've been sober ever since. Today is SoberDate 8039. You do the math. This blog ain't about that. It's a tale of my journey. I was a bad drunk. Real bad. Blackout drunk. SUPERVILLAIN bad, I was a major asshole when I drank. I've been told horror stories of my misadventures. My code name was Heinous Anus. I can admit that, because I'm retired from that lifestyle. That and the statute of limitations has expired. I've always been a bit of a geek & a nerd. I've read a LOT of books. Thousands? Tens of thousands? I dunno, I haven't been keeping score. I don't have a favorite author or genre, as my tastes change and are as fickle as the wind. I dig my Kindle, but I still like paper too. I never studied or trained to write, but based on what I've read, I try to do like that. Writing is something of another hobby of mine. Spell check is my friend. A lot of what I write is from the heart, and personal experiences. I write what I know. So why not write about that? Write a FICTIONAL story about a Supervillain named Heinous Anus, an alcoholic with a split personality. His sober persona doesn't know what his drunk self does. Okay, I take artistic liberties, it isn't ALL about me. But there's enough of me in it. I don't have super powers, aside from being nigh immortal. (7 suicide attempts, 46 totaled automobiles, survivor of 4 tornadoes and ground zero of a class five hurricane. Yes, I have pictures, videos even. The day Hurricane Michael hit, I was out on the beach with a cell phone and 6 feet of Caution Tape, recording myself literally throwing Caution to the WIND!) I'm hard to kill. Thank my benovelent demons for that. (I have a story idea for that one too!) I also possess the power of flight, but it only kicks in when I have diarrhea. So it's not something I can rely on it. So anyway, I'm writing a story about a Supervillain called Heinous Anus. I got 2 chapters done. I have a plot and a chapter outline. It's going to be a book about the redemptive power of change, from a drunken supervillain buffoon to reluctant hero. Riddled with laughs and more than a bit of off color humor. Part of the reason I joined up here, besides having a forum to divulge myself, is to spitball ideas. Pick your brains, brainstorm, hit y'all up for ideas. Research. It's either you guys or Artificial Intelligence ghost writer programs. I'd rather not do that. And from peeking around here, some of y'all are against it too. Years ago when I was on Multiply, I was part of a creative writing group. Someone would start with a paragraph and then someone else would add to it, another paragraph. And so on. We wrote some hilarious tales! The kind of stuff that would have me laughing so hard my gut would hurt. I was kinda hoping this site had something like that. I miss that. Even if it has nothing to do with the story I'm writing, it gets the creative juices flowing. So here I am. Greetings & salutations, mortals. You can call me Ben. Short for Benovelent Demons. Mwa haw haw haw! (cue thunder sfx)
Oh yeah, almost forgot. I've been working on an autobiography for a while now, True Tales of Wow, Whoa, & WTF. Something my descendents can point to and say, "Yeah, THAT guy was my ancestor." Because if you can't be a good example, then be a horrible warning. If you can't be employee of the month, then be the reason everyone has to watch an OSHA safety video. Good, bad or indifferent, be awesome in all that you do.
Welcome, Ben, and congratulations on the sober time. I'm a little bit ahead of you, with slightly over 10,000 days clean.
Well, you have good taste in music. I salute you for that. We have a blog system here (I know, I probably write more in my blog than out here on the board most days). You could start a blog and copy this post to it to get it rolling. Just hover on Blogs in the navbar across the top, and click on I guess Your Blog to start one. It sounds like you're bubblin' over with stories. You've come to the right place. Consider us WW (Writer's Wrelief). Hi, my name is Xoic, and I have a problem. I can't stop writing (actually my recent problem is not writing enough, at least on my stories.). May the gods (or daemons) of writing grant you courage, serenity and wisdom.* * I've never been in AA, but I have studied Stoicism and incorporated it into my life, and they use the Serenity Prayer too.
Hello and welcome Ben, not only are you a good storyteller, you sound very interesting. I'd love to read your stories. Hope you check out the flash fiction and short story contests. Looking forward to seeing you in the forums!
I hope you're not expecting any Sympathy around here! Welcome to the forum. I might add that Benevolent and Demon are two words that I especially like, so nicely done on username. I've checked out your blog posts and greatly enjoyed them both. Looking forward to seeing more.
