Hello, friends!
Summer vacation is done. The 2025-2026 school year officially begins on Monday. I’m terrified and excited. Summer vacations always go quickly but this one extra so. I’m kinda in mourning.
I spent Wednesday and Thursday at professional development days and several hours on Friday at school setting the classroom of me and a co-teacher as we embark on new roles. There’s still so much to be done!
There’s still plenty of work to write about, though. Ideas and thoughts to share. Stories to tell. I’ll be talking a bit about that in today’s essay.
Welcome to the 136th installment of Gauthic Times, the newsletter about my writing, my life, and growing older. If you’re a reader who subscribes via Substack, my website, or Patreon, your encouragement helps motivate me. I’m not breaking any records but I’m thankful to have any audience.
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I only revised about 23 pages of Project: Amusement Park this week. I worked on it Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, but because I had those PD days and then had to go in to set things up. I didn’t do any writing on Wednesday but returned to writing on Thursday, though diminished because of how tired/drained I felt.
Project: Moons saw another addition of around 2,000 words. The book is now 144 pages and 35,200 words long.
Both projects went well enough, though I feel as though some of the work on Project: Moons on Thursday and especially Friday was cut short because of being tired and interrupted.
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Today I turn 48. (Well, actually, tomorrow as I write this but today as you read this). It’s always strange seeing the number go up, especially since I still like the same things I liked when I was, say, nine years old. I mean, I like other things, too. Nine-year-old Billy didn’t know of Stephen King or Harlan Ellison or literature or certain films. Nine-year-old Billy didn’t know that Pamela, who lived two hours away and was a teenager, would be his wife someday. Billy didn’t know he’d be a teacher or even a writer. So, yeah, there are plenty of things I like (and love) now that I wouldn’t have known of back then.
On the flip side, I was looking at action figures and Legos this morning. I’m trying to decide whether I should watch Star Wars, Superman: The Movie, or Indiana Jones for my birthday. Or A Nightmare on Elm Street, which just popped into my head as a possibility. Billy would approve.
I don’t know that I’ve grown wiser with age, I tend to think that whatever wisdom is gained in age is leveled with a lack of youth and the pain of failure. But maybe I’m wrong.
One of the strange things about turning 48 for me is thinking about my parents when they were that age. My mother was 48 when my 27-year-old was born in 1998. That’s insane to me! When I see pictures of Mom at that age, I feel like she’s older than me. Despite knowing what I know, there still feels like she had a knowledge and know-how that I lack. My father was 48 years old in 1989. I was 11/12. Again, I feel like he had knowledge and know-how that I lack.
I guess that’s what happens, though. As I head toward 50 with increasing speed, I imagine that I’ll think of these things more and more.
The thing that I think that really hits me, though, is that with the world as it currently is, I don’t know what to feel or how to handle things. The institutions that were supposed to protect us are being torn down. The corporate media that once stood for decency and democracy ignore the things that we need to help but are still chastised by the people ruining them, making it more difficult resist and to find hope.
On the other hand, at 48, I know that history comes in tides and I know there’s a lot happening to resist the fall of American democracy.
Mainly, though, I try to keep my focus on what I’m doing. Focus on being a good husband and father, a good son and brother. Focus on writing stories that entertain and move people. Create art and work that will also entertain people. I’ll focus on writing essays and other “content” (what a soulless, uninspired term for creative output) that will share my thoughts, concerns, and maybe, just maybe, entertain readers. I’ll try to focus on being a good teacher.
Mainly, I’ll try to focus on being a good person, because we need good people more than ever.
My birthday wish is that you join me and get others to join me.
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That’s this week’s newsletter. Thank you so much for subscribing, reading, and for your support.
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Gautham: Bill Gauthier.com 
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