The Importance of Being Ernest

Ernest Cline

Chapters (2)

Cover

No part of this book may be used or performed without written consent from the author, if living, except for critical articles or reviews.

Cline, Ernest.
1st edition.
ISBN: 978-1938912-30-6

Interior Layout by Lea C. Deschenes
Cover Illustration and Design by Gary Musgrave
Author Photo by Dan Winters
Interior Illustrations by Len Peralta, www.lenperalta.com
Proofread by Helen Novielli
Edited by Derrick Brown and Cristin O’Keefe Aptowicz
Type set in Bergamo from www.theleagueofmoveabletype.com

Printed in Tennessee, USA

Write Bloody Publishing
Austin, TX
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To contact the author, send an email to [email protected]

MADE IN THE USA

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING ERNEST

Introduction

INTRODUCTION

I started writing and performing poetry in the mid-90s when I moved to Austin, Texas. I had already tried my hand at both standup and improv comedy when I lived in Ohio, but drunk Midwestern comedy club patrons proved not to be the ideal audience for my geeky sense of humor.

Poetry slams – and especially the Austin Poetry Slam – turned out to be a far better fit. Every week I would show up at the late, great Electric Lounge to recite my nerdy three-minute monologues about working a tech support job or loving to play old Atari games. Five randomly selected judges in the audience would rate each poet’s writing and performance with scorecards, just like an Olympic event, and if the judges liked what they heard, you could win the evening’s grand prize of fifty bucks.

As it turns out, Austin was the perfect town for my writing. I won a lot of those weekly competitions and would go on to become the Austin Slam Champion three times. I also represented Austin several times at the National Poetry Slam, where I met a slew of other talented writers and performers, many of whom are still my friends today.

I stopped competing in poetry slams in 2001, but that same year I released a self-published chapbook of all my slam poems titled The Importance of Being Ernest. I ran off copies on the printer at my day job and stapled them together myself. I also self-produced a CD collection of my slam recordings titled Ultraman is Airwolf. Selling my homemade CDs and chapbooks at local shows and on my website made me feel like a one-man punk rock band, and it also helped me make my rent more than once. But most importantly, the response I got from putting my writing out into the world did wonders for my self-esteem, and it gave me the confidence to continue to pursue my dream of becoming a screenwriter and a novelist.