At this point, I’ve typed and deleted and typed and deleted eleven different introductions. Three of those were Buzzfeed-style lists. Most of them started with a line akin to: “I’m absolutely terrible at these sorts of introductory posts.” From the sheer amount of times I’ve tried to do this, I still hold that sentiment to be true.
I was incredibly honored to be asked by Janice and Michael to take the helm here at Enclave. Honored and terrified. The mix of honor and terror is something I’ve learned to embrace over the years. Happy to be included, but feeling like you really don’t belong because you’re not good enough, so you bust your ass to satisfy your own inadequacies, even if they aren’t inadequacies and merely a loop of negative thoughts in one’s own head. I guess it’s living outside one’s comfort zone, if the comfort zone is the fragile little space where the voices in your head aren’t mouthing off about how you’re not good enough. Anyway.
In attempting to come up with some sort of personal mission statement or motto or charge that I plan to lead with, two things came to mind.
1) Kick ass.
I want Enclave to keep doing what it’s doing. I want the amazing writers and artists and creative to keep kicking ass. Then, I want them to kick even more ass. I want Enclave on the tongue of every writer, not just the ones writing for us.
2) Get Slaughtered
I made my surname into a hashtag as a means of building my personal brand (someday, I may tell my parents I’ve commodified our name). This is the sole case where having the last name Slaughter has come in handy. Being that my life is as much about alcohol as it is about words, the alcohol connotation is obvious. But, there’s also the—I hope, at least—the feeling of determination that can come with it.
I’m going to do my damndest to do those two things. Rather, I’m going to do my damndest to help the authors of Enclave do that. They are the real talent here. I’m going to lead from behind. I’ll sit on a horse with a sabre and yell charge (or, in this case, Get Slaughtered…though in the context of war that would be a bit counterproductive), but the real beauty of Enclave, and being able to sit at the helm, is being able to watch the great things that have already started and what I hope will be more great things to come.
So, to recap.
Kick ass and #getslaughtered. That is all.