GBOGFY at Motoblot
I had an interesting and fun time promoting my book at Motoblot last weekend. Some great conversations with friends and acquaintances and also with people I was meeting for the first time.
I spent a bit of time and a chunk of money on creating and purchasing a custom 10′ by 10′ canopy, along with an 8′ table and a custom table cloth, ordered a few dozen copies of my book and posted up on the street in front of a bait shop in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago.
Jepson’s Malort had a booth across the street and Underburg was just a few “doors” down. Mexico by Moto was right next to me and John “JB” Brown and I spent a lot of time chatting among ourselves during downtime. The downtime was generally fairly short-lived, though, and I found that the time passed pretty quickly. Weather was fantastic Friday and Saturday and I personally had a great weekend.
Who ARE You?
On day two, Saturday, if my memory serves, I had a very interesting conversation with a guy I had met a couple of years ago at Motoblot when he was a bike builder and contestant and I was leading the “Valhalla Ride” down to the Museum of Science and Industry in Hyde Park. Following that ride, we began to follow each others’ Instagram accounts and we had exchanged comments there a couple of times.
However, when we began talking I had no idea we’d met and were at least somewhat acquainted. It was an interesting chat right away, as the gentleman’s line of questioning seemed to me to be of a sort of “why would anyone read a book you wrote” sort of query. Of course, I couldn’t be sure if that was the intention or if it was just my own perception. After all, this was a question I had certainly asked myself a hundred and thirty seven times beginning in February of 2025, when I first decided to write my book. After all, it’s a pretty fair question. I mean, who the hell am I to publish my memoirs, right?
The conversation went on for maybe ten minutes or so and I am honestly still not sure whether this motorcycle builder whom I hold in high esteem for his abilities and efforts wrenching on motorcycles was of the opinion that I was a nobody who had no business writing my memoirs and publishing and promoting that book. Regardless, I am glad he stopped by my booth and that I had the opportunity to have that conversation.
Good Enough
Remember that song called “Sing A Song” they taught us as kids? I feel like it must still be something teachers and parents use to let kids know that they should not be ashamed to try, to create, to perform and express themselves. I fucking LOVE that song and am grateful to whomever wrote it.
One of the most important things I learned as a kid, but something that took years and years to understand and to accept and to believe was the message of that song. “Don’t worry that it’s not good enough for anyone else to hear….” as the song goes– “Just sing…. sing a song”. Fucking A. Sing that song, MF…
If You Don’t Like it, Keep Scrolling
One modern way to politely tell someone to perhaps worry about themselves or even to fuck off is to suggest they “Keep scrolling”, which refers to the commenters with their negative squawking on social media. If you don’t like what you see, perhaps just go look at something else, right? No need to yuck somebody’s yum.
Now, again, I feel like someone asking me why I wrote and published a book is a fair question. I haven’t exactly cured cancer or even written a play or been in a beer commercial, for that matter. I am not a Kardashian. I didn’t tell some random guy on the street to spit on a cock. But I HAVE lived a life and had a number of adventures and publishing 60,000 or so words describing the adventure that so far has been my life… is that so odd? Is it egotistical? Presumptuous? I don’t really think it is. I mean I am inviting you, if you so desire, to pay a meager $20 for a paperback copy or just $4.99 for the Kindle version and then spend about 6 or 7 hours reading it. But ONLY if you enjoy it enough to decide it’s worth finishing. I will even refund your money if you can tell me why I should.
Of course I hope you will read it. Of COURSE I want you to like it and to think I am funny and interesting; I’m only human, after all. I have always been a creative and the most difficult part of being that type of person is encountering negative feedback or even constructive criticism. That is something that can take a very long time; to get to the point where you can accept that not everyone is going to like everything you paint, draw, sculpt, etc.
But that isn’t why I wrote the book. Primarily, I was accepting a challenge and taking on an adventure. The experience is always going to be the reason for me. It was a hell of an experience writing it and now I am learning about marketing a book written by a non-Kardashian nobody from Waterville, Maine. This part is even more challenging and perhaps less fun. It’s not quite as much work in some ways, but more difficult and frustrating in others. But it is an experience and it is a challenge and that’s what I live for.
