It has been odd for me to actually get reviews of my work.  This is a first for me.  I have had a few people say that they like my work before, but that was in a gallery setting or my friends.  This is different somehow.

When the review first came out, I had friends read it first.  They told me that it was good.  I didn't read it until about four hours later.  There is a part of me that hates this part of my profession.  It doesn't matter if I get praised or condemned, I just don't like to hear it.  I just do what I do.  If I listened to the praise or criticisms, I would try to be something other than myself.  I would be creating works that were trying to please certain people.  At the end of the day, I am the one that has to live with myself.  I have always tried to be true to myself, the characters, the story, etc.

I think the most amazing thing about my book is how it is being read.  In the review, Jacqueline Aguilera says:

This work can easily be read alone or on a Saturday afternoon with the one you love.  It can be shared between and across the generations.  Gunthridge has given us one of those novels that you pass on to those you care for in your life.  His work is an opportunity to experience now what will later be considered a classic. Read Gunthridge’s Life and get a taste of profound writing in its youth and prime, poised to be as influential on the future of literature as the writer himself.

People can discuss the artistic merit of the book, or how it appeals to the humanity of all of us.  But for me the most unusual thing about my book is how it is not being read alone.  They might start by reading this silently to themselves, but I have heard a lot of people end up reading it with somebody else.  And it's not like a book club reading together.  People are reading this together.  This blows my mind.  It seems to go against everything that I know about books.

My friend Lauren was reading my book.  She would laugh at parts.  Her boyfriend would then wonder what she was laughing at.  She would read passages to him.  He then tried to read it over her shoulder.  She was amazed.  Joey never reads.  And now I am seeing the same sort of situation in the review of my book. 

It reminds me of when I was in high school.  I would write scripts.  Christine was always the first person to get a copy.  She told me one morning that she got in trouble the night before.  She was laughing so hard at my script that her mom wondered what she was laughing at.  I'm not sure how she was able to explain why she was laughing so loud when she was in her bedroom by herself. 

I was kind of glad that she got in trouble.  She didn't really get in trouble, but...  It made me happy that I had made her so happy that she could wake her mom up with her laughter.

I was in class the other day.  There was some free time.  I put in a slight plug for my book.  I had a few copies for people to look at.  I got onto somebody for looking ahead in the book.  The teacher made a comment about authors being protective of their work and not wanting to ruin any of the surprises.  I wasn't worried about a ruined plot.  I was worried about somebody ruining a joke.  I'll tell you everything that happens in the book.  I just won't tell you the carefully laid out jokes.

It's so hard to make people laugh.  They want to, but they fight it.  And if you hear somebody laughing, you wonder what you missed.  You want to be in on it.  It's a lot easier to make somebody cry.  And if you see somebody crying, you don't know if you should ask if they're okay or not.  Do you want to share in their crying?  But if somebody laughs, we want to share it.

I have always defined drama as life as we would like for it to be.  Comedy is life as it is.  It's harder to be a comedian because we have to accept the absurdity of our human existence.  Drama is easier because we can imagine how we would live our life.  Drama is taken more seriously.  I know that.  If I wanted the easy path, I wouldn't have chosen to write comedy.  Anybody can make you cry.  I can make you laugh so hard that people will wonder what you are laughing at.

Live, laugh, love.  Life

Jack Gunthridge