What Happens If I Take This Seriously?

For a long time, I squeezed my writing into the leftover spaces in my life.

Typically, that meant before or after everything else. Lots of early mornings. Even more late nights.

No matter what, I always found a way.

Sometimes I wrote because somebody asked me to.

Sometimes I wrote because somebody was willing to pay me to.

But most of the time I wrote because an idea got stuck in my head and wouldn't leave me alone until I hammered it out onto a page.

I made it work. I always made it work. I had to tell those stories.

Over the years, some of those stories have found homes in places like Salvation South, Baptist News Global, Good Faith Media, HuffPost, and a handful of other publications that were kind enough to let me ramble for a couple of thousand words.

I'm grateful for every one of them.

But lately I've been thinking about writing differently.

Not necessarily more.

Not necessarily better.

Just doing it with more focus. More intentionally.

I want to do this because somewhere along the way, I've realized that writing isn't really a hobby for me.

It's the way I make sense of things.

All the things that inspire me: faith, the South, food, community - you name it.

And I want to make more room for that. I want to make room for the things that give me wonder.

So I'm starting something new with my name on it—Justin Cox.

That's not particularly creative, I realize.

But after years of writing under the blacksheepbaptist moniker, I've decided I don't need another name for the work I do.

My name is enough.

What's coming is a place for the stories I'm writing now, along with some of the things I've written over the years that deserve another life.

There will be longer stories and shorter ones.

There will be what I'm calling Field Notes—the smaller pieces that don't need 2,000 words or an outside publisher, but still seem worth telling.

There will be more stories about the South and home. Stories about food and unconventional faith. Stories about family and the neighbors who become family. True stories and stories more fiction than fact.

And there's probably going to be some things that don't fit neatly anywhere.

I'm alright with that because I've never been particularly good at fitting neatly anywhere.

But I do know I want to keep writing. And I'd like to give these stories somewhere to live.

I want these stories to be read. Shared. Passed along to somebody who might need them. That's the start.

Down the road, there will be a way for those who want to support my writing to do that. I'm not quite ready to get into all of that yet.

First, I want you to see what I'm trying to make.

Because the part I want to focus on right now is simple:

What happens if I take my writing seriously?

Not myself. God forbid. But the creative outlet of writing.

Since I had my first story published 6 years ago, I've wondered what might happen if I gave my writing the same kind of attention I've given everything else I've been called to do.

Honestly, I don't know exactly where that leads.

Maybe it'll lead me to do what I've heard a number of you say and write: "that book."

Maybe I'll stick to essays or journey into fiction.

Maybe some of my stories will find their way into places I haven't imagined yet.

I honestly don't know.

But I do know that I don't want to spend the next ten years wondering what might have happened if I hadn't tried.

So this is me trying.

And if you've read something I've written over the years and thought, "I'd like to hear more from this guy," then I'd love for you to be part of what's coming next.

~Justin