How To Screw Up Getting Published
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You know you are a little too busy when you get published and don’t even realize it, but that’s exactly what happened to me last month.
Remember vaClaytion when I went to Clearwater Beach for those few days? Well, on the day I left a website called Pop Matters ran a feature story I wrote on their front page! Exciting eh? Due to some miscommunication I never realized that my story was out there in cyberspace being enjoyed by faceless masses kind enough to pound the tweet button.
Through a simple follow up message with one of the editors I discovered that my story had been in the top ten for 2 weeks. Also exciting even though I didn’t know. This short saga somehow brings closure to that whole “tree falling in the woods with no one around” dilemma. Yes, it makes a sound.
So now comes the fun part where I get to tell someone. I hope some of you will click over to check out my latest feature, a true combo of pop culture and the meaning of life as I am wont to do. The article is called Retirement of a Gen X Gamer, or My 8 Bit Childhood.
Pop Matters gets about 1 million visitors a month, so I’m happy to be on the board over there. Every credit helps, a fact I’m especially aware of as I type this post from a writer’s conference outside Chicago.
Then again, I’m gonna try to not stay so busy that I miss the good parts! Like my man Ferris Bueller said, “Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”
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Life. Culture. Education.
Life as Pop Culture Professor Clay Morgan
In The Matrix, Morpheus tells Neo he can take the blue pill and go on believing whatever he wants to believe. Or he can take the red pill to stay in Wonderland and find out how deep the rabbit hole goes.
This is a red pill type site that provides information in an entertaining way. It’s about clear thinking and good writing. It’s about finding meaning amidst the absurd. It’s about humor and truth.
I’m a writer / speaker who teaches history and political courses at a couple of local colleges. Where is local, you say? Well, that would be Wonderland of course.
On topics ranging from pop culture to the meaning of life, my brain’s always poppin’. Take the red pill and unplug.
EduClaytion 
Congrats on the article — will go chickety-check-it out now.
Thanks Amanda! Hope you like.
Excellent article Clay! I wonder if we could ever actually argue that we were ahead of our time in the 80s… I’m sure I could easily debate that my lifting of the controller every time I wanted Mario to jump paved the way for the more modern controllers which now rely on hand movements to operate. 😉
That’s a good point! We used to poke fun at the person who had to move their entire torso to play video games. Now you really have to do so!
I’m with you! My sister used to tease me incessantly for making the motion with my controller that I wanted the character to make. Somehow, too, I thought that pressing the buttons harder would somehow make them run faster or jump higher.
I did the same exact thing….
Well played, sir!
Now that you’ve succeeded in making people enjoy School Picture Day, I have the only reasonable sequel that’s worth coming out of it:
Bad school picture tournament.
I’m in.
Oh yeah. We’ve already played around with how to promote humiliating picture day. Then again, I do that once a week it seems.
Sorry I missed School Picture Day but I’ve been caught up in life and haven’t been at my blogs. So glad I read this one. I really enjoyed your article. I’ve been reading all the years you’ve been playing and now that I’m retired I have started to dabble in games. Since I read a lot of fantasy and Sci-fi and horror, some of these games have become a natural extension of the books I have been buried in. So take heart, in retirement you can jump back into the game pit.
No worries. Just glad to have you back. I like the reversal of gaming after I retire!
I am so proud of you! That is a fabulous piece of writing, and I am using it on the first day of school with my students. That should get their attention! I am still addicted to Tetris. All those pretty shapes that fit together so neatly. 😉
Thanks Renee. I like to hear positive feedback from you since you! I’d be honored if you showed it to peeps.
Congratulations, Clay! You’re one of those awesome people who I love to see succeed. All the best to you. 🙂
Great essay. “Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A select, start.” That’s the anthem, all right. Congrats on getting in the top ten. You’re definitely the authority on what matters in pop.
I love that Mark! I might have to use that somewhere.
So…my autographed Gaterland bracelet could actually be worth something now? Cha-ching.
Oh you just wait Missy. eBay gold that one.
Most excellent post. I loved the second to last paragraph about life moving past you and not going back. Good stuff.
Thanks Rob!
Congrats on the article! Going to read it now … an autographed Gaterland bracelet? Um, do you need my new address?
Ha, I would love to send out another memento of the treasured loClaytion schwag. I’ll see what I dig up.
Clay,
This is a great excerpt and you did a great job of teasing the linked article. Me, being a glass-is-always-half-full kinda guy (unless it is empty) chooses to look at this differently. You did a great job of keeping us entertained while you were on vaClaytion, and now that you are busy with travel this week you keep us entertained with past, albeit unknown to some of us, works.
Great job as always – hopefully you will make it on the guest list of one of my great parties some day. 😉
-Garr
Thanks Garr and that’s right about those swank parties you throw!
Go you, that’s great! I read the article and enjoyed it immensely. I’ve watched my gaming husband gradually to the same conclusion about the value of gaming time vs. other activities. Though I have found the Wii to be a great leveler – since I seriously lack hand eye coordination our joint PS2 sessions, in any game, were a bit of a rout. However, we Wii together, vodka redbulls in hand, every Friday night. That kind of gaming draws us closer and is totally worth it.
Wii is fun for sure. I still jump in with the niece and nephew when they ask. Or I just want to play a lot.
Way to go, Clay! That is great news. I am not surprised at all that your article stayed in the top 10 for a few weeks – you are a fab writer. I also wanted to thank you for sharing Ferris’ quote – he was one wise teen! 🙂
Right on Tiffany! Thanks for reading.
Cool, man! I’ll be checking it out. Congrats.
Thank ye kindly sir!
That was a great article,post,blog,I give up on the correct lingo! It was great! Some have the pleasure of being able to actially picture you and your sis battling it out or you creating your greatest piece on contruction paper. Others can only transform the image of “Clayrella” you posted into a pint sized version of you playing your games. Either way,it warms the heart to see such a giant of a gifted & honest man,being so real. Even our silliness can morph into nuggets of truth and wisdom in our adult years. Again,I’m so proud of you for spreading your technique/ideas on connecting with students. The more human you portray yourself to be,the easier it is to learn from you. Certainly,in this age where drop outs are at staggering numbers,you are a breath of fresh air to both student & teacher!
Aw, thanks Jess. I really appreciate that. Glad you likey.
Woo Hoo! Big congrats! Will check it out when I send my british house guests packing this weekend. 🙂
British house guests? Sounds like a good blog post eh? Jolly good.
Congrats on your popmatters appearance, even if you didn’t know about it for a while. Few people can philosophize so eloquently about such elementary things as video games. It’s a fantastic article, and my fave part is the analogy of life being like those no-turning-back games. ‘Tis so true.
Thanks Kim! Love doing that meaning of life out of pop culture thing you know?
Love that article. Seriously.
You even touch on the Cold War. And that bit about going forward = taking it to the next level. You just gave a clinic on writing an essay.
Oh, you are sooo going in my kudos file. Thanks! That article took a bit to write for sure. Glad it worked because I had that moment in the middle where I was losing it (the piece). I think you probably know what I mean by that. Happy to say I was able to hang onto it.
Hm. I wonder if I have a book published somewhere that I don’t know about?!
Awesome story, Clay.
I hope you do!
Congratulations! So exciting!
Congratulations!
Congrats on the post, Clay!
I’m not an X-er, but one of my first purchases from my $3/hour part-time job in 1980 was an Atari Game System…it cost me $300, and games ran about $30 or $40 each. My favourite game was Asteroids…my brother and I played it for hours, and we both got pretty good at it. I still have my Atari stuff…
I mostly play word games now…you’re right…there are probably much better things to do with my time! Jim plays Steam, and Cityville, as well as a couple of others I’ve never bothered to learn the names of.
Good for you for giving it up!
Wendy