Brandon Davis Jennings's Blog

I have dedicated this year to writing and illustrating childrens' books (you can read more about that here A Year of Children's Books), but that doesn't mean the other work I've done has disappeared or that I will never work on things like  The Red Book or Battle Rattle and Waiting for the Enemy again. I spent too much time thinking about the ideas in those books to just let them go entirely, and I have a couple novels sitting around that I will revisit when I can focus at a more brain-awake time of day than 4 a.m. But they're on hold for now as I work the things most important to me: being a husband and father.

Back in 2012 I had a group of essays published by The Literary Review. They were short pieces I had written when I was experimenting with "flash" form out of necessity. I wanted to get into an idea, and then get out of it so that I could get on to the next idea, and I wanted to make the work short enough that an editor would be more likely to read the whole thing (believe it or not, when you submit things to magazines, the longer they are, the less likely they are to be read...can you believe that an editor might not read your whole story? How could they possibly decide on if they should or should not publish it if they haven't read the end? Honestly you are lucky if they read the whole first page most places: the more you know). I've never enjoyed reading flash nonfiction (or any flash form really), but you don't have to enjoy reading or writing a form in order to write it. So if anyone is being told that, don't believe it's true. Anyway, some people do enjoy flash literature, and I am lucky for that.

This year The Literary Review published a new issue that was a compilation of work spanning from 1957-2017. It features work by Mao Tse-Tung, Joyce carol Oates, Vaclav Havel, Okogbule Wonodi, Terese Svoboda and some guy no one has ever heard of...me. The folks at TLR included me and my little essay about the day I learned I would be stuck in Saudi Arabia indefinitely for the invasion of Iraq in a book with work by writers whom I never imagined my name would share page space with. 

Here I am holding one of my contributor's copies. You can see my daughter's monitor in the background because it is basically always with me unless she is awake, and then she is with me. That is how I roll.

Not only did they reprint this essay in the current issue, but a man who I choose to call a friend despite us never actually meeting in person, Frank Fucile, interviewed me, and then The Literary Review published that interview.

I'll make a separate post about the interview when I get more time, but for now I wanted to at least post the links to the interview, and to The Literary Review so that anyone who is interested in getting a copy to read can do so. The interview is free (it's online), but you'll have to buy the current issue of The Literary Review if you want to read it: which makes sense because it is made by people who must eat to survive. I suppose that is a subject for a different time, but if you keep consuming things for free and complain when the people who give you those things for free make you watch advertisements or figure out a way to mine your data so that they can eat, you may have forgotten that nothing is free. 

Read the interview with Frank Fucile and I by clicking the button below:

Get a copy of the most current issue of TLR by clicking the button below:

I've had a few good years in a row writing "literary fiction", but it is time for me to do something different. I've been working seriously on art for the past year, and I've spent a lot of time making up stories to tell my daughters while I Dad all day long. So it just makes sense for me to combine those two things and focus on being the best dad I can. This year will be dedicated to writing and illustrating children's books.  

This is the cover for the potty training assistance book I did for Shannon in watercolor and ink.

I'm planning on doing a little bit of "how to illustrate and write a kids' book" style stuff on my youtube/patreon page as the year goes on, but I don't want to get ahead of myself; I never really loved teaching when I was getting paid to do it, so I don't know if I'll be motivated to do it for free: even if I don't have to grade any essays. As I discovered during the last quarter of 2017, if all the parts of a project are not essential to getting it done, then those non-essential pieces will just get tossed aside. I have no interest in being a "content creator" on social media. I want to tell stories that people want to read or that can be useful in some way. I don't want to advertise for garbage products that no one needs.

I have a lot of people to thank for this opportunity and for the support I've had over the past few years, but the person I need to thank the most is my wife. Tina has never done anything other than be positive: even when I was sketching Pandas on toilets or grumpy elephants at four in the morning. It amazes me every day to see how hard she works to be an awesome mother and wife. Our girls are very lucky to have a role model like her, and I am lucky she lets me hang around.

To those of you who've been kind enough to commission work from me, thank you so much. It means a lot to know that some of the stuff I am making will be enjoyed somewhere other than in my own home, and that it might help you to sell your products. 

As for social media. I am still going to be pushing stuff through facebook, but I will not respond to messages there via messenger and not likely to posts either. I don't have time. I will push stuff on twitter but won't respond to messages on twitter. I don't have time. I will check instagram once in a while and post there as well. So you can maybe communicate with me on Instagram, but the best bet is to just comment directly on my website or email me or send me a letter in the mail or call me. You know, like an actual person. Oh, or if you have a message for me and you want to tell me on The Daily podcast, I listen to that almost every day. So I would hear it there. Sorry in advance if I don't respond to your message because you didn't read this. But I know if it is important, then you'll try again.

I'm going to set up my patreon page soon  to showcase the originals and the one-off artwork I do as things move on, and I'll get a gallery up here on the website as well once I get a few minutes in the coming days.

Thanks so much again to everybody who's helped me spread the word about my books and my work. Enjoy your New Year's Eve safely and with loved ones if you can. For those of you who have not had the kind of year you'd hoped for, I hope that 2018 makes up for it.

Happy New Year,

Brandon

Calvin and Hobbes meets Tank Girl.

Phew. Things are starting to get back on track as far as art and writing go. I've been silent for a while because there was a lot of stuff going on with moving and unpacking and all the other little things that have to get done when you move into a new house. There is still a lot to do, but I am happy I'm able to do it and grateful to have the minor annoyances that come with moving into a place where my wife and I chose to move.

The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault has been reviewed a few times now on amazon for anyone who wants to see what other folks have had to say about it, and there German version of Waiting for the Enemy was released on October 24th by Amazon Publishing (in case you read German and want to read my book translated by Like Schoenfeld.) 

I am linking here to the most recent review of The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault written by Tim Bazzett. 

Tim Bazzett's Review can be read by clicking the button below:

I am in the middle of these two kid's books and working on some other stuff that is highly unrelated to the work I spent the last ten years on, and it feels good to move away from it for a while. Thank you to everyone who has bought a copy of The Red Book and to everyone who's taken the time to call or to write me a note and say some kind words about it. It means a lot to me. I hope this book does something to help someone out there who feels alone, angry, and helpless. All right. Happy pre-Halloween.

You can get a copy of The Red Book by clicking either of the buttons below:

Back before The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault was even an idea, I was submitting many of the little essays that made it into that book to magazines and journals. Many of them were published (thankfully). 

The Literary Review was kind enough to publish three of my essays in a single issue. The issue was called "Cry Baby" and eventually a couple essays from that issue were translated and published in a Czech magazine. (I had no idea until after they were already translated and the magazine was printed, but when I contacted them about it, they sent me a couple copies and got me in touch with the translator and it was fine.)

A couple days ago when I walked down to my mailbox to grab all the junk mail, I noticed a letter from The Literary Review which I just assumed was one of those subscription renewal notices that  I get all the time. I opened it and read it and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were asking if I would be interested in letting them include one of the essays from The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault in their 60th anniversary issue. 

This means so much to me (and probably to Tim Johnston at Little Presque Books as well). I am obviously hoping to get more interviews and readings and reviews. All those things are extremely valuable to me as a writer; those are the ways my book gets attention, and a book needs attention if anyone is going to buy it. A book no one knows about is a book no one reads. So for The Literary Review  to ask to reprint one of my essays right now when I need all the help I can get to spread the word about this new book is a serious blessing.

This book would not exist without the encouragement and support of all the magazines out there who said yes to my work as I was in the middle of it. My success is also partly a result of all those magazines who said no to the work. Rejections drive me probably more than acceptances do. If no one ever told me no, then I would have little desire to work harder.

If you haven't grabbed a copy of The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault yet, then you can do so by clicking one of the buttons below. Tim and I are hard at work trying to get it onto the shelves at indie bookstores near you. 

Thank you all for your support in whatever form it has been in. 

It'll be on the shelf somewhere as soon as we can make it happen. Until then, your best way to get it is by clicking the buttons below:

Tomorrow from 1:30 until 4:30 you can talk to me, buy a copy of The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault and meet a bunch of other local authors at the South Bend Public Library Main Branch in the Humphrey's room. Read more about the event on Facebook by following this link: READ Local! Author Event.

For those of you who already have a copy of my book, this is an opportunity for you to drop by the library and get it signed (for free, of course) and to ask me questions. "Why are there endnotes and why does this book have math equations that don't make any sense?"

And since the iPhone 8 came out today, you can take a picture with me and then make a super high resolution meme out of it that will cause instantaneous world-peace. 

I do not know when the next event like this will be that I can actually attend, so if you want to see me in person and buy a book, get one signed, or just talk to me for a few minutes with my full attention, this will be your best chance. You could try to FaceTime me like the random little kid did yesterday afternoon (and immediately hang up when you realize I am definitely not who you were trying to call), but why would you want to look at my face on a screen at that size? It's scary enough at its normal size. Also: I am going to shave for this. That's how important it is to me. Not my beard. The beard stays, but I will shave my neck. 

I would love to see some of you out there if only for a few minutes. Without readers, there wouldn't be much point in writing any of this stuff, and I am grateful to all of you who've reviewed my work in the past (or are in the process of reviewing it now), and I am thankful to all of you who've taken the time to contact me and let me know that you liked/loved the book. 

I hope to see a few familiar faces there and hope to meet some new folks as well. I'm gonna be in this town for a long time, and this is one of the first major steps toward building an engaged literary community that I'm taking. I'm grateful the library selected me to be a part of this event, and I hope there are many more events like this in the future. Part of the battle I am fighting these days is one against ignorance, and in order to combat ignorance, we have to engage one another. Peaceful engagement is what I am trying to promote. Come talk to me. I'll be happy to do it.

And for those of you who still haven't purchased a copy of the new book who want to get one the new-fashioned way, click on the button below to buy it from your preferred store. See you tomorrow.

This Saturday from 1:30 until 4;30 p.m., I will be at the St. Joseph County Public Library in downtown South Bend to talk about my books, sell you copies directly, and to sign them (if you want them to be valued less than they are unsigned: kidding....) Also: The book is 14 dollars, and I can take payment through PayPal or cash. I don't think I'll have a card reader. 

I won't be the only author there, so even if you aren't interested in reading about the military, PTSD, anxiety, or overcoming hopelessness, come out and see what other authors in the South Bend area are writing and talk with them.

This won't be a reading, so you can drop in and out at anytime during the event without feeling like every one in the audience is judging you. It'll be fun; I promise. And maybe if you request my book from the library, then they can buy a copy and you can check it out. I have no idea if that's true. But it seems like it could be. Why not? 

Here is the book cover.

I'll be sketching and chatting with folks the whole time. I do want to meet you because no writer can have a career without readers. Please come by and say hello. That means just as much as buying a book.

Here is the link to the event so that you can see what other authors are going to be in attendance: READ Local! Author Fair.

And in case you want a copy of the book but don't want to leave your house or can't, or if you have to work, you can get one from either of the two buttons below at any time. 

I'm looking forward to seeing as many of you as can make it. 

A little promo poster for the book. NBD.

The cover for The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault; designed by the almost always unspottable Timston Johnston. 

This Saturday, September 23rd, I will be at the READ Local! author fair at the St. Joseph County Public library from 1:30 until 4:30 p.m. to meet and greet, sign books, and sell them to you. I'll have a stack of The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault, and I'll be wearing a smile most of the time.

There should be a good number of other local authors as well: potentially 30 of them, all hanging out in the Main Library "Humphrey's Room". 

For anyone who is looking for a way to support local writers in the South Bend and Mishawaka area, this is a good opportunity to come out and see what the writers living in the area are up to. It won't cost you anything unless you want it to.  

I'm not gonna hard sell anyone, but I will gladly tell you anything you want to know about my books and what I am working on and how many diapers I change on an average work day. 

If you really wish you could've made it to the library this Saturday but you have other plans (or you just don't want to go to a library), then you can always get a copy of my book the new-fashioned way by clicking on either of the buttons below.

I'll be sending more reminders and talking more about this as the week goes on. Alas, I am only one man. So any assistance I can get from you kind folks out there in the area with spreading the word is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much to all of you who've already bought a copy and for all of you who've taken the time to talk about the book with friends and family. I'd drink a beer with each and every one of you if it were possible.

Hey all. I was recently interviewed by Bryce Berkowitz from West Virginia University's MFA program. I started my undergrad degree there right after I was done with my enlistment in 2004, and The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault does talk a bit about my experience there. Not too much, but some. And I did learn a lot about being a civilian while I was there, living with my brother and playing in a band and then, thankfully, meeting Tina.

My answer to the question, "What would I say to prospective readers of this collection?" can be read by clicking on the button below.

Thanks to all who've shared pictures of yourself holding the book and who've shared the info about the book on social media (or the old fashioned way: told someone with you actual mouth.) If you want to know where you can get a copy, please just click on one of the two buttons here:

The book this all started with.

Not Calvin. Please don't sue me, Bill Patterson. 

Hey everyone. So The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault has been out for a day, and it has already made it's way into the top 50 of one of the charts on Amazon. These charts are crazy and shift on an hourly basis, but it is really wonderful to be able to say that The Red Book is officially a best-seller in books about The Iraq War category. I cannot thank you all enough for making this a reality. 

Yesterday many of my friends posted things to share my news with their circles of friends on various social media platforms and I am so grateful to all of you for helping out. I'm hard at work here still trying to get this interview finished. Frank Fucile wrote some super deep questions that have helped to remind me of why I wrote The Red Book in the first place. 

I am still trying to get George W. Bush's address so I can send him this portrait I painted of him and a copy of the book. I am only half kidding. (Or not at all if you have the address or know how to get the stuff to him.) 

Things are a little hectic cause we're doing house showings almost daily at this point, but once I can get my feet back under me, I am hoping to have some fun promo stuff to share.

Thanks so much to everyone who has helped spread the word. Please do not stop now. 

The Red Book or Operation Iraqi Freedom is My Fault is available today, and will be available forever more. I owe Timston Johnston at Little Presque Books an immense amount of thanks for all his belief in my work, for seeking me out and proposing we work on this book together, and for saying yes to a couple of the essays that appeared in Passages North long before this book had been conceived. I owe him thanks for believing in the work and for doing everything in his power to help me get it out into the world. Thanks, Tim. Now I never have to say it again.

If you (non-Tim's) care about anxiety, depression, war, defeating ignorance and cynicism, then this book that we've toiled over for years is for you, and as of today you can order a copy on amazon or at Barnes and Noble. Tim and I are working to get the book into Indie stores near you, so if you absolutely refuse to purchase it from either of these links, that doesn't mean you're out of luck. You could demand it at your favorite store since the customer is always right; that's what I hear anyway. You could also buy one directly from me at a reading.. That is, once set those up. I still have to move and sell this house and a bunch of other things: like take care of my daughters and spend time with my wife and dogs (and cats when they decide they want to remind me they exist.) But I hope to do at least a few of those locally and once Oprah hears about my book and makes it a huge deal nationally, then I'll go wherever I'm paid to travel. (Har har....)

Buy my book by clicking on the appropriate button below!

It's Labor Day and it is publication day, and I slept in till 5, so I am feeling pretty awesome. Thank you to everyone who's helped me get this book out in the world, and thank you to everyone who buys a copy or tells a friend to do so. And if anyone knows how I can get a copy of this to George W. Bush, Mike Tyson, or Tim O'Brien, please let me know. Or you could just buy it and send it to them on your own. That's fine with me too. 

George W. Bush paints portraits of veterans and now some veterans paint portraits of George W. Bush.