My father always gave me good advice (he always said).  Usually I recognized this after I failed to heed that advice and realized the truth of his wisdom.  I was lucky, too, in that I rarely heard “I told you so.”  Most of the time a look said volumes.  He did tell me once, however, that he was proud of the fact that eventually I was smart enough to learn the lessons even if I had to teach myself.  I read the quotation always attributed to Mark Twain about this when I was fairly young, but it still didn’t make much sense until I was old enough.  One of Dad’s pearls was, “Never say ‘Never.’”  Oh, how true I learned those words are.

I hated broccoli and cauliflower.  I couldn’t stand the taste of beer and whiskey.  After my maternal grandmother’s funeral, I swore I’d never go to another one; I even planned to miss my own.  I wasn’t going to be a teacher; I wanted to write poetry and prose, not lesson plans (I’d seen him labor over those).  Live in a small town in Iowa?  No.

Ahem.  I like broccoli and cauliflower.  Without cheese!  I drink too much beer and whiskey, and I’m even picky about what I have.  Unfortunately, I’ve been to too damned many funerals.  I learned to go to support those who are suffering most.  Still don’t like them for a variety of reasons, but I go when I must.  My own?  Still don’t plan to be there.  Let me know.  I lived in three small towns in Iowa for a total of about 30 years.  I go back often to visit.

My worst vow of all, though, is my pledge several years ago that I would NOT get a Twitter account.  What can I possibly say that’s worth saying in 140 characters?…and I write short poetry!

You probably guessed where this is going.  Since I’ve published my first book, I’ve had to start thinking of marketing it.  One of the very first things I read about marketing is that authors need to lock in their name, their brand, if you will, in all different social media to guarantee that someone else doesn’t get it.  Too often “undesirable” folk sew these up, and legitimate users are left with less obvious user names.

So, I don’t plan to do much “tweeting,” but I still try to never say “Never.”  And you can follow my not posting @DanCox03.

I promise never to write anything you won’t like.