Let the conference continue!
Have I ever told you how much I despise exclamation marks?
This is what an exclamation mark represents to me: The spot on the bottom is my eyeball. The slender pointed thing on top is a filth-encrusted, burning hot knitting needle that stabs me in the eye. It goes entirely through the eyeball, popping it like a grape, and continues onward to the center of my brain.
That is what exclamation marks do to me.
You know what else I despise?
Having to write a biography of myself.
The class begins:
By the way, in case you have not noticed, the noble colon is perhaps my most-favored punctuation mark.
It reminds me of halibut.
I know this: I will admit that even if you are a man, as I am, and you are a writer, again, as I, you probably cannot avoid using that utterly disgusting exclamatory implement of punctuation.
It is wise to avoid ever creating a character who routinely says shit like this:
"Squee!"
If I were, as I've wished in the past, an amoeba, I would split in two just so I could punch myself in the face for having written that.
On the other hand, I find characters who say the following to be both endearing and masculine:
"Holy shit!"
In this case, the exclamation mark is kind of like kissing your wizened, phlegm-hacking, chain-smoking grandmother: Disgusting, but obligatory. It is also offset by the indisputable coolness of the preceding two-word combination:
Holy + Shit
And, unfortunately, if you are a man, and you are a writer, somebody is going to inevitably require you to compose a short autobiography.
Autobiographies, like exclamation marks, make me feel slutty.
So I thought I'd give some tips to aspiring writers (especially manly ones) about how one goes about conquering the task of composing a short autobiography.
I have little arguments in my head between myself and myself.
This morning's argument went like this:
DREW 1: The people at Simon and Schuster are asking me to send in a biography.
DREW 2: Make shit up!
DREW 1: Why did you use an exclamation mark?
DREW 2: I like to fuck with you.
DREW 1: I got an email from a kid this morning. He asked why we don't have a Wikipedia page. I do not know why we don't have a Wikipedia page. I never thought about it.
DREW 2: You know what does have a Wikipedia page?
DREW 1: What?
DREW 2: Pus has a Wikipedia page. Also Underarm Hair has a Wikipedia page. You want to know why you don't have a Wikipedia page? Because you are a fucking loser, that's why.
DREW 1: Maybe I do not have a Wikipedia page because I do not ever submit short autobiographies of myself when people ask me to.
DREW 2: Let me write your autobiography for you. I will tell them all the most embarrassing shit I can remember about you.
DREW 1: Um. Look. I can't believe that author biographies and photos contribute in any positive way to the published work.
DREW 2: You don't believe in a lot of shit.
DREW 1: I'll have to give you that.
DREW 2: Did I actually just win this argument?
DREW 1: I think you did.
DREW 2: Squee!
This was my morning.
