Steve Passey, a talented Grit Lit writer out of Alberta, calls in for a fast-paced and insightful conversation filled with loads of helpful writing advice. You can find his work on Amazon, Secret History Books, and his WordPress blog, Steve Passey Writes. His new book, Cemetery Blackbirds, comes out February 15th via secrethistorybooks.com. Cheers!
Listen: Episode 6 with K At The Movies.
This week, I chat with K at the Movies, and we each reveal our Top 10 films of the decade! Spoiler alert: No movie on one list appears on the other. So sit back, grab some popcorn, and listen to us move through at least 20 different movies released in the 2010s! You can tune in on the link below, and make sure to subscribe on Apple, Spotify, Google, or Stitcher. Also, for a TON of movie content, check out K’s wonderfully diverse movie blog. Annnnnnd Action!!!
Five Years After
One of my favorite things to do is not see you.
It’s only been like five years. Surely, if it were the opposite—I mean in terms of my favorite activities, you know—such would be apparent.
Shared behavior is no excuse for it being acceptable, but broken hearts act crazy, and I can do crazy to a clinical degree. I apologized. Sincerely, me. I had to do closure all by myself. I’ve come a long way, baby. And it’s only been like five years.
Stealing the friends you suggested I call. Moving to my same street. Surprised you didn’t throw pebbles at my window and shower my lawn with WTF upon coming to investigate.
I could text you my schedule, if you’d like. If I still had your number. Like my phone, you’ll notice your name nowhere on it. Even though it’s only been like five years.
I’m sure it will be pleasant and the talk will be small, if we ever bump into each other again, as it has been the handful of times we have bumped into each other over these last five years. Except for that one time a couple years ago, when you stormed out of the bar and broke a glass because I wasn’t paying attention to what you were saying. You wanting more closure and all. Sometimes I forgot who dumped who. Forgive me. But that time was more understandable, as it had only been like three years.
And I’m sure when we see each other again but more from a far, like we have a handful of times over these last five years, you’ll act like it’s weird and awkward we’re in the same vicinity i.e. neighborhood. Like you did when we used to go out, and you were always saying your ex might pop up and his friends were spying on you.
The good ol’ days.
I honestly hope I never see you again. And not in a mean way or anything. I just hate having to write about you five years after.
Listen: Episode 5 with Lesia Schnur
This week, Lesia Schnur, The Haunted Librarian, calls in from Atlanta to chat about her paranormal investigation blog, her current lesson plan as an English Composition professor, and how being a lawyer influences her approach to investigating the Unknown. A fun and sprawling chat, listen below and make sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google or Stitcher. Cheers!
Listen: Episode 4 with Kristen
The first episode of the new year welcomes Kristen from New Jersey. Click the link below to listen to us chat about her poetry, her connection to Sleepy Hollow as a child, the trials and tribulations of submitting work for publication, and much more. Follow Kristen at awriterssoulblog.wordpress.com, and you can subscribe to the Cold Brew Calls podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google. Happy New Year!
Apple Smack Library
His entire outfit was made from soda can pull tabs. Knighted with gifted smokes, pulling a yappy little shit behind him in a Radio Flyer. I once had a friend who would pinch a tab from a freshly opened Sprite. Unable to obey my thirst, I would hate him. I would also hate students who ate apples or any other audible snack in the library. But only when I was a student too. It was more than just the horrendous noise. It was the aggressive notion it displayed—so fucking studious they had no time to snack anywhere else but in front of sticky padded notes. Their time more precious, each pretentious chomp and thoughtful smack an unsubtle reminder of such. Couldn’t afford to spare an uneducated second but could afford all their textbooks by Week 1. You know, the kind who sat crisscross applesauce in their chairs, letting out deep sighs and sleepy smiles, tugging their feet under their legs with highlighted fingers. Made you wanna jump, jump.
Listen: Cold Brew Call 3 with Michael Lafontaine
Episode 3 of the Cold Brew Calls podcast is now available! This week, I chat with Michael Lafontaine from Sydney, Australia. He is the founder and Editor-in-chief of Secret History Books, which publishes great writing from a variety of talented authors. Tune in below as we chat about his goals for the site, his own writing process and inspiration, and much, much more. You can also now subscribe to Cold Brew Calls on Apple Podcasts, Google, and Spotify. Please do, and feel free to rate and share:) Happy New Year!
Music Credit: SUNDANCE
Track Name: “Perséphone – Retro Funky (SUNDANCE remix)”
Music By: SUNDANCE @ https://soundcloud.com/sundancemusic
The SUNDANCE Official Website is HERE – http://lefthandmusic.fr/
Follow SUNDANCE on BandCamp: https://sundancemusic.bandcamp.com/
License for commercial use: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/…
Music promoted by NCM https://goo.gl/fh3rEJ
Hometown Piss
The Wandering Goat. Eugene, Oregon. A rare December sky, more blue than white. No gray except for my sweats, and both bathrooms were locked. I opened a new book my sis or Santa left me the morning before, holding in a piss I didn’t take serious enough when leaving my mom’s apartment, keeping an ear out for my name or order, an unlatching bathroom lock.
My favorite hometown coffee shop, on the edge of the Whit, or the New Whit, for gentrify watchdogs playing at home. Small and charming, the entire room felt and looked like a stage in an Elementary School Auditorium.
And it smelled like waterlogged coffee.
Not in the sense that the coffee was actually watered down, but more like if the coffee was a piece of driftwood in the backyard of a groovy garden lined with chicken wire and unkempt rhododendrons, soaking up all the autumn’s rain before being picked up by the Seventh Roommate from atop loose soil spread across a garbage bag tarp and gifted to one of the baristas just recently discovered as a neighbor two doors down and her setting the damp and dank driftwood next to the steamer, its water evaporating into the beany aroma, staining the boxy room with a brand(less) new winter blend.
It smelled kind of like an armpit. But not offensively. In a comforting, Naked and Afraid sort of way. An armpit deodorized by organic, waterlogged coffee.
One of the bathroom doors opened, and I took my piss, which I had just started to ignore again. The lady pissing before me held open the door, nodding Hello and You’re Welcome simultaneously, beaming as if her farts didn’t smell. I’d soon find out they didn’t. Or that she didn’t fart in the first place. I thanked her. Not for not farting but smiling like she did, or for farting and not smelling and smiling like they didn’t, but for holding the door for me. It allowed me to get to the toilet quicker and piss faster and really just helped me avoid a complete fucking disaster altogether.
It was much appreciated, and I couldn’t tell if I felt glad to be home or relieved from peeing.
Be Merry: Subscribe to the Cold Brew Calls Podcast
I Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I’m currently enjoying the Great Northwest, having rotated through three different pairs of sweatpants thus far. After a visit from Santa yesterday morning, I should be able to comfortably expand this rotation to five or a six days — a different pair of sweatpants for each day of vacation. Sup.
Anyway, the Cold Brew Calls podcast is now available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google. You can click on the links below and subscribe for free, if you’re still feeling Merry, that is. I truly appreciate all of you that have listened and/or shared the first two episodes.
I won’t be back to Tempe until Sunday, so episode 3 (which is already recorded) won’t be out until Sunday evening or Monday morning. This just means you have plenty of time to catch up, if you haven’t listened to the first two already. Did I mention you can subscribe for free below?;)
Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your week. It’s coffee time for me. Cheers!
Apple Podcasts
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cold-brew-calls/id1492385170
Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/2nCmOFCW9Jnyt8tikq55wW?si=jy2z6PVDRPi1WU-QuOZKNg
Google
https://play.google.com/music/m/Ipc7nacysapvaz4ifq6va6dmxwe?t=Cold_Brew_Calls
Thanks, Sis
We settled on a new book. Whatever.
Happy Holidays and safe travels, from Cold Brew Calls☃️☕️
Cold Brew Calls 