What is Gleaning Words?
Gleaning Words is my attempt at gathering—or “gleaning”—various entries from my collection of journals and notebooks.
Since starting my first journal at roughly 13 years of age—that’s 1993, you know, back when they still had cassettes and VHS tapes, CDs were starting to become a thing, DVDs hadn’t yet arrived on the scene, and the Internet was as much a real word as “Google”—I’ve amassed over a million words in journal entries, 1books, stories, 2courses, blog posts, poems, 3songs, and other forms of written media.
Author’s Note: I don’t exactly know if the “one million words” thing is true or not, but if I was a gambling man, I’d bet money on it—a whole lot of money.
Who are you?
My name is Eric Beaty, and I’m what I call a multifaceted creative. I use that term because I’ve never been able to pinpoint all of my interests in any other available words.
I’ve heard the term “polymath” used to describe people like me, but I don’t accept it, mainly because the word “math” is included, and I prefer writing, music, and other such right-brained activities more so than logical, left-brain things like math. Seeing as my wife is a high school math teacher, she would vehemently disagree….
But I digress.
I’m first and foremost a Christ follower. (I would use the term Christian, but in this day and age everyone is a Christian, so the term has become almost meaningless.) In that same vein, I’m an ordained (since 2011) Independent Freewill Baptist preacher (since 2007).
After that, I’m a family man with a beautiful, quirky wife of just over 11 years and a new infant son of just over 1 year old. Though I adore writing, I’m also a musician with 30 years of experience playing guitar and singing/performing, mostly in church settings, and love to focus my creativity on polishing my musical skills.
I could say more—couldn’t everyone?—but I’ll finish this little segment by saying that I’m now in my 40s, which means I’ve learned and experienced quite a lot over the years. Things like love and heartache, happiness and depression, life and death, fullness and emptiness.
Many such things have been recorded in my aforementioned journals. Now that I have so many (millions of?) words in my personal writing library, I feel it’s time to rediscover who I was, who I am, and who I want to be, all the while helping others do the same with the help of this publication.
Why Should I Subscribe?
Why the Need for Subscription-Based Writing?
While not all of my posts and content here on Substack are behind a paywall, I make much of it subscription-based. Why?
Because this newsletter, Gleaning Words, is all about gleaning my various journals for new ideas, insights, and articles about living the creative life.
Searching through and typing/recording tens of thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—of words for the best entries is no small task and takes large amounts of time and effort. Sure, it’s fun, but it’s also time that takes me away from my wife and new son, DJ.
So if you like what you read here on my Substack, why not consider becoming a paid subscriber so I can spend more time with my family—and buy the little tyke the occasional pack of diapers or baby food?
Get Extra Features
If you decide to become a subscriber of the free edition of Gleaning Words, you’ll receive occasional public posts to whet your appetite. But if you’re on the fence about becoming a paid subscriber, here’s what you’ll get:
Access to additional Subscriber-only Posts, Chat, and Full Archive
Access to 4Video Posts and Podcast Episodes as they become available
Commenting and Messaging privileges
Become part of a Community of people who share your interests
And, if you should so generously decide to become a Founding member, not only would I be most humbled and grateful, but I’ll also give you free access to my 6-hour course Fixing Scrivener Compiling Headaches as well as honor your name or username at the end of each new post for the duration of your annual membership.
Stay up-to-date
You won’t have to worry about missing anything. Every new edition of the newsletter goes directly to your inbox—or the Substack app available for your phone.
And if you’re feeling generous, you can even donate or give gift subscriptions to your family, friends, and fellow Substackers.
You can even get in touch with me directly if you feel so inclined.
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Future features may also include other special content only for paid subscribers.
