Coffee Chronicles: Tire Shop Edition
Side Note: I wrote this a few weeks ago. I have now come to see from the essay published Sept 1, 2026, that I will fail my own personal challenge. I am still going to post as mush as i can for the next month. So enjoy these post.
I am always having Tire issues: flat tires, blowout tires, weird lumps in tires. I will take Tire issues over car accidents every time. Normally, on Sunday my friends and I do a podcast, and then I spend the rest of the afternoon either going to work to catch up for the week or going back to my boyfriend to watch TV and eat dinner. Today, I said, let me take care of my car, because I want to keep this for at least 15 years. What typically would happen, I would walk to a nearby coffee shop, order a specialty latte and sandwich, and act like a writer, in one of those 90’s rom coms. Today, I sat at the National Tire and Battery across from a cemetery, because today was Mother Nature’s Day to rain. I am not mad about the rain; we need the rain. Honestly, I don’t need that latte, but it would be nice. Sitting at the NTB as the technicians change my tire, and my oil was overdue. I worked on the first draft of an ok short story. I will not submit it because it’s blah, but with some revision I can see potential.
Anyway, I have been playing with this idea: publishing 30 days of essays. I know, crazy, right? I wanted to post 31 days of short stories in August, and I never made time, but if I take the rest of this month to edit, write, and create the images I want to include, I can do 30 days of posts. Now why, may you ask, 30 days of posts? Well, I came up with three reasons.
One: I have so much finished and unfinished work just taking up space on my phone, computer, and in my head. What good are these rants, essays, stories, or poems if I keep them to myself and only share them once in a blue moon with a select group of people? The one time I shared my blog outside my close circle, a comment I got said it touched them and that it was a good blog. I can’t tell you how gassed up I was. I almost posted everything to Substack with the tagline, ” your new favorite writer. I desire to share my thoughts and life experiences with others, to inspire, to challenge, if nothing else to provide a laugh, in the absurdity of this life.
Two: Being scared has not helped anyone. Tell me one person whose being scared has helped. I am not talking about life-and-death scenarios. I mean the person with the great idea who never did it because it was too much work. The person who is afraid of what their family or friends will say, because they went after their passion and failed. As a society, we give too much power and validation to people who never tried anything in life except breathing. My being afraid to share my work is just Wack. I know the internet is where people like to bully people, but you know what, I can turn off my comments. How will I get better or expand if I don’t post? I don’t want to be the person who passes away, her family finds her old notebooks and computers, and they are like, “She wrote the most beautiful stories; why did she never share them?” No, rather share them and be ridiculed, than not and be basic. Also, several astrologers on all socials have said that if you put your work out there, you will see great success. I hedge my bets on those three ladies, because they have been right on quite a few things.
Third: This reason is so juvenile, but I like it. WordPress has these two badges; one is the post 30 days in a row badge, and I am like, why the hell not. The other is the Vampire badge, and again, I am like, do I have to write a story about vampires? No, I just wrote After Dark. I can do both and get two badges for coming out of my comfort zone. Create a portfolio I can show a few people when I want to pursue writing opportunities. I think once I have posted all the finished products on
Fourth, I need to learn how to use WordPress. My WordPress design is trash; I need to learn how to make it look better. Posting 30 days in a row may help me learn how to post on WordPress better. What do I mean by better? I’ll look at the stats; this is a win-win. I can take more WordPress classes, update the look, and work on making a presentable website that people would love to visit regularly.
These are just the thoughts I had while waiting for my car oil change and new tire. I wanted to share them as I go on this journey of 30 posts in 30 days. This will be interesting, and I hope to accomplish this personal journey. Below is a link if you want to buy me a latte.
https://ko-fi.com/chemichelletales
Until Next Time,
Che Michelle
Also, I use Grammarly to clean up my writing.
Leave a comment