Jeremy Mark Lane

Over forty letters are traveling from Weatherford, Texas to Newtown, Connecticut thanks to the 4th grade class at Juan Seguin Elementary.

Thank you to the teachers who partnered with me on this, and to the students who took the time to reach out to those hurting.

Words don’t always help, but sometimes they do.

Nicknames are kind of a thing in my family. Everybody has a nickname, and it’s the only name you go by unless you’re being introduced or things have gotten really serious. My grandfather, in particular, has given every one of his grandchildren a nickname, and it goes through a multitude of versions as time goes on. It occurred to me this morning that I’ve carried on this tradition.

So, in honor of my son’s second birthday, I am sharing all of the nicknames that Jeremy Corbin Lane has taken on during his first two years of life.

Bea Butter (read Bee-uh Butter, given by his sister who had trouble saying “baby brother”)

Bea Bub

Bea Bub Bub

Bea Beebs

Bea Beep Beep

Sonny

Sonny Boy

Sonny Bea

Sonny Bea Bub

Sonny Bea Bub Bub

Son Beebs

Corb

Corbinini (Italian flair)

Corbinita (when his sisters make him wear girly stuff)

JC Lane (when he’s in trouble)

I count 14 nicknames. If the math holds true,  he should have roughly 70 nicknames by the time he’s 10.

Happy Birthday, Son. Daddy loves you.

I’m not sure how far to trust science experiments performed on rats, but are parents, not politicians, in a better position to impact this country? Yeah, probably.

Check this out.

I feel like I’ve been talking about this book forever. You probably do too.

The book was written in spurts over about eight months, and changed very little even when it went into editing. One story was changed from first person to third, and an element was added to tie all of the stories together. The things I wrote about were all close to true – some dangerously close, and others buried so deep in fiction that even the people involved would ask, “Is that what I think it is?”

It’s been interesting to learn about the book industry – especially right now as so many things are changing – and I’m proud to see how many people have enjoyed the stories. I made some mistakes in the process, but got really lucky on some things, too (like finding my ridiculously good editor, Ashley Luckett). Cool things are still happening (I know of a couple of college professors adopting the book for their class), but I just feel like most of it is behind me now. I admire the people that write every day, throw most of it away, and keep writing every day. I am not one of those people. The stories were ready to be told and needed to be told all at the same time…like the scrapbook of a period of my life and where I came from. There’s more writing in me, I just have no idea when more stories will be ready. Time will tell.

One last thing…the Audiobook. This might be the thing I’m most proud of. Thanks to the great work of Timmy Coufal, this is an Audiobook that doesn’t feel like a normal Audiobook. It’s unique. I really, really like it.

How to get it:

1) Download the free Audible app

2) Search ‘Author’, then my name

3) Listen and enjoy

By the way, if you’ve never used Audible before, you get your first book for free. No strings attached. I hope you’ll give it a try, and I hope you enjoy it. I hope you leave a review. I hope you tell your friends.

Thank You:

• To my wife, for her unwavering support

• To my children, for being so excited to tell people about the book
• To Ashley Luckett, for being a genius
• To Timmy Coufal, for being a genius
• To the large number of reviewers who took the time to read and review my book
• To everyone who spent their hard earned money to buy a copy, and to those that will in the future

Here’s to good things, and a second book one of these days.

I’ve been watching a lot of The Wonder Years lately. Love that show. It has a way of making you feel really old and reminiscent – like seeing your life in little flashes of old home movies.

The night I graduated high school, I got into the Camaro I borrowed from my cousin, cranked Third Eye Blind’s “Graduate”, and peeled out of the parking lot. It is now a perfect illustration of most of my high school years; something that was so cool, but actually wasn’t. I was a jerk in high school. Not enough of a jerk that I didn’t have any friends (I had tons), but enough that I think back on some things and say, “Yeah, shouldn’t have done that.” In fact, I shouldn’t have done most of what I did. 31 year old Jeremy says 18 year old Jeremy was an idiot. For those that went to school with me, I can see you nodding.

For all the bad of social media (there are negatives), it does have one pretty big positive: A person can go back and see who and what everyone turned out to be. As determined as I was to peel out of that parking lot and never give another thought to anything or anyone in that town again, I’m glad I didn’t. And I’m damn proud to keep a distant eye on the people I grew up with, and to see the incredible things they are doing.

Stephanie, Heather, and my very own little brother are all teachers. Let’s go ahead and call that the most challenging and important profession in America. This is something you realize when you walk your own kids into the building on their first day of school.

Jeremy is in a band called the Chorderoys. They are seriously good. Remind me a little bit of The Doors. It was probably the first album I’ve bought in 5 years that wasn’t John Mayer. Go check them out.

Courtney owns a Therapy Center that works with children who have autism. I don’t want to be dramatic, but this is life-changing stuff she’s doing.

Ronnie and Brad are both firefighters. As in, literally saving lives.

Buzz is in the Coast Guard. I’m fairly certain this was just his way of having quick access to go fishing, but still, pretty cool.

Whitney’s a nurse. So is Erica. Lacy works for Foster’s Home for Children. On and on it goes.

I know I’m missing so many others. A few people served our country (thank you). A couple didn’t live to see thirty. Almost every one of my old friends are doing the most important thing in the world – raising children of their own.

Oh, there was a girl in high school that I never really dated, but on the weekends we would bum a bottle of Crown Royal from my buddy and go find a place to drink it. Usually, all of it. I hope her mom isn’t reading this. This girl has created three incredible children, built a successful business of her own, and put up with me for eleven years. And me, well, I get paid to make up stories.

All in all, high school was pretty good. I just think that The Wonder Years are probably happening right now.

Today marks my eleventh year of marriage. It absolutely does not feel like eleven years, and at the same time I cannot remember even a little bit of what it feels like to not be married. Which is fine with me.

I feel like we’ve seen quite a bit. I also feel like the days go by much faster than they used to. I’m not sure if there’s anything that can be done about that.

People ask me, “How do you do it?”, and I have no answer to the question. There’s nothing intentional about marriage – at least our marriage – it’s a natural existence. It’s not hard. It’s not perfect, either (what is?), but it’s not hard. Sorry, but I don’t think it should be.

I know one thing: My wife makes me a better person in every aspect, and the thought of not having her is scary as hell.

Happy anniversary, April. I really love you a lot.

I spent Sunday evening in Aledo speaking to the children at Camp Hope about the importance of reading. Camp Hope is a great program put on by the Center of Hope teaching kids all over Parker County essential life skills and encouaging them to reach their full potential.

I did my best not to scare them with the statistics, but they’re not made up. Keep reading. Keep your kids reading. And when you’re done with a book, give it to me and I’ll find a good home for it

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Yeah, I know, you probably buy books at all four of these places.

Where do you most often buy books?