Meet Damon Thomas

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Damon Thomas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Damon, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

My 90s Dixie County, Florida high school had no college prep courses. But there was little thought of college back then. Most were just headed to the sawmill. Those looking to move on did Dual Enrollment. With a 70 mile trip to Lake City Community College. An English course there helped me a lot. We were asked to write about “Home.” My story was midnight walks. Dirt roads that glowed in the moonlight. The professor wanted to talk. Said that despite having hundreds of students from Dixie I was the first to write about the place. That was when I realized I had a story to tell.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I am a sixth-generation Floridian that grew up on the banks of the Suwannee in rural Dixie County, FL. Despite these deep Southern roots as I read Southern Gothic works like Harry Crews’ “A Feast of Snakes” I don’t see myself in the story. The people and the settings are familiar but I’m not there. This has lead me to write himself into the genre. The result is a series of short “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead”-like pieces that describe how the bookish might pass time in a Southern Gothic setting. I have released 30 Spoken Word albums and 9 books of North Florida Flash Memoir.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

There are entire books of family advice. The wisdom of generations in print. My dad only told me that you’ve got to pay attention. There was no elaboration. No explanation. Just that you’ve got to pay attention. And I have. This is all the advice a storyteller really needs.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

In high school I found the Enchiridion of Epictetus at a flea market. I’ve since read it countless times.

“Some things are in our con­trol and oth­ers not.”

“Men are dis­turbed, not by things, but by the prin­ci­ples and no­tions which they form con­cern­ing things. ”

“Don’t be pride­ful with any ex­cel­lence that is not your own. If a horse should be pride­ful and say, “I am hand­some,” it would be sup­port­able. But when you are pride­ful, and say, “I have a hand­some horse,” know that you are proud of what is, in fact, only the good of the horse. What, then, is your own?”

“If any­one tells you that such a per­son speaks ill of you, don’t make ex­cuses about what is said of you, but an­swer:
“He does not know my other faults, else he would not have men­tioned only these.””

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ruralgloom.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/ruralgloom
• Other: mastodon: https://c.im/@ruralgloom
  bandcamp: https://damonthomas.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits

Liz Murphy Thomas