THE MAN'S BOOK OF EVERYTHING - Page 2

Sometimes the best you can do is just to take it, turn your back so you won't unleash the rage, and wait until you can let go of the anger and just forgive.

I'm not sure that my son will ever learn to be better. I'm not sure that my wife will ever learn how to love or cherish her family. I'm not sure of anything except that some day this body will stop and that will be the end.

So, why try so hard? Why live by moral precepts that are more stringent than those espoused by the idiot religious?

Because I can, I suppose. It's my mountain, my challenge in life, my challenge to those around me.

You don't have to be some dumb-ass stupid follower of a corrupt god. You don't have to bleat your way to church on Sundays and chew the cud of 'godliness'. You can do better than that.

Just get out of the closet you are hiding in. You're no longer some teenager who just came face to face with the realization that life ends, and you with it. You're not the child afraid of the dark. You don't have to be paid to be good. Good is its own reward.

But, must it be so lonely?

THE MAN'S BOOK OF EVERYTHING - pg 1

First thing a bosswife does is hand an internwife a pair of VERY SHARP knitting needles. Then she says, "Hah! Them mens, they thinks they knows summins. They thinks they got a prick. They ain't got no prick. We wimmens gots the pricks. These right here needles do have a FINE prick. Mek sure to jab em in the kidneys right off, jest to learn em who's boss. Ya hear?"

I'm not kidding. This is the real stuff guys. It says so right on page one of THE MAN'S BOOK OF EVERYTHING.

Arghhh! They published it!

Stone Musings #5 is published online at River Walk Journal.

That's a good thing, no?

They've published essays 1-4, and now #5, even though I had withdrawn it. And, since I had withdrawn it, I found a contest where I thought I had a great chance at winning $500, and entered there. Only to find, by sheer chance, that River Walk Journal had published #5 also. So, I've just faxed the Texas Writer's League, withdrawing from their memoir contest.

Damn.

Anyway, the people at River Walk Journal seem to like my work. Here's what they have had to say about it, so far.

JM Munsil's "Stone Musings #1, #2, and #3", set the stage for a new tradition at River Walk Journal - the publishing of longer, more involved works.

As you know, editors enjoy writing like "Stone Musings #4" because it gives readers a real look into the writer's life. Reality television, even though it is typically stilted, is so popular because audiences like to see real people in real struggles. In addtion, this piece gives a look into the way the writer reacts with his family. It sounds trite, but the best writing isn't easy for the writer to create, or often times, even read once it is in print.

Please accept our sincere congratulations on such a well-written piece of work.

We have one on-theme essay in our creative nonfiction section from a new author, Evelyn McFarland. Ms. McFarland's narrative details her flamboyant coming out on campus. In our general literary offerings we have another installment of Mike Munsil's "Stone Musings," and Holly Mitchell's "Ascent into Being." Mr. Munsil's piece is another chapter from his earthen ponderings - contrasting well with Ms. Mitchell's more rarefied piece.

There's a link to Riverwalk Journal over to your right. No, over there. Down a little. See?

Why Sword's Edge?

Is the title of this blog just some attempt to be dramatic?

No, I come by the Sword name honestly. My birth name was Juan-Miguel Munsil Sword. In Chile we follow the patronymic (Munsil) with the matronymic (Sword). Here, to make it easier, I use the anglicized version, John Michael Munsil. Most folks know me as Mike.

I'm a Dad, a husband and a writer. I have published a bit of creative non-fiction, and a poem. I run the Liberty Hall Writers website. And for a living, I work as an environmental scientist.

That's all for now. See you later.