Mishka Shubaly On Writing: Faith, Guilt, Stubbornness, Abandonment, Revenge, Forgiveness & Why He Swears He’ll Make It Up To You

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“We imagine memory to be something that records or preserves the truth and that’s not what it does at all—it transforms what happened.”

Mishka Shubaly

Devoted listeners are well-acquainted with the gravelly voiced, predictably disheveled, typically homeless, chronically self-deprecating, sometimes tortured, but always charming, self-avowed nomadic povertarian commonly known as Mishka Shubaly — back on the podcast for a record-breaking 7th appearance.

A writer oozing talent from his already overactive sebaceous glands, Mishka pens true stories about drink, drugs, disasters, desire, deception, and their aftermath. He began drinking at 13 and college at 15. At 22, he received the Dean’s Fellowship from the Master’s Writing Program at Columbia University. Upon receipt of his expensive MFA, he promptly moved into a Toyota minivan to tour the country nonstop as a singer-songwriter, often sharing the stage with comedians like Doug Stanhope and musical acts like The Strokes and The Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

But mostly he drank.

It sounds glamorous. It wasn’t. At 32, Mishka hit bottom, got sober and laced up a pair of running shoes. In between ultra marathons, he began publishing a string of #1 bestselling Kindle Singles – short non-fiction novellas — through Amazon. The Long Run*, his mini-memoir detailing his transformation from alcoholic drug abuser to sober ultrarunner, to this day remains one of the best-selling Kindle Singles in Amazon history.

Today, Mishka’s on the cusp of releasing his very first book book. I Swear I’ll Make It Up To You – A Life On The Low Road* hits bookstores everywhere March 8, 2016.

Brutally honest, fiercely emotional and muscular in its prose, it’s the booze-fueled, opiated account of a precocious young underachiever trying to be good (and failing and failing) until one day he succeeds. It’s about serial abandonment, school shootings, alcoholism, loneliness, artistic frustration, faith, guilt, sobriety, running, relationships, resentment, revenge, music, art, and creativity. It’s about one man’s attempt to reckon with the wreckage of his past and his journey to reconcile his relationship with his family, and most importantly, to forgive the father that jettisoned him.

I love Mishka like a brother. I love this book. And I love this conversation.

Peace + Plants,

P.S. – If you’re new to this podcast, dig the Mishka vibe and want to hear more, check out RRP episodes 27, 31, 65, 95, 104, and 171. That’s about 11 hours of Mishka to keep you all warm and fuzzy.

P.P.S. – If you are an aspiring writer, consider taking Mishka’s writing course at Yale University this summer.

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