Yeah, so this turned out to be way harder than I anticipated.
And I don’t just mean it was hard to read so many submissions on so little sleep. That part was my fault for being dumb and not scheduling this part of the process earlier. You know, like way before when there was a for real chance of the baby arriving.
Live and learn.
What I mean is this thing was crazy hard because there were so many good posts. Seriously. Look, I know it’s cliche to hear that, but it’s true. When you do this sort of open call thing you’re opening the door to lots of crazies and people who have no business writing ’cause whoa, it just ain’t their spiritual gift.
But I didn’t get any of that.
There wasn’t one post that I read where I like “Yeah, thanks for trying, but maybe don’t ever open up Microsoft Word again.” Obviously I liked some more than others, but they were all good. None of them were bad.
But alas, I can only choose 4.
Actually, about that….
I’m terrible at choosing. I thought I wasn’t, but dude, seriously, I felt soooo terrible not being able to share everybody’s posts. (On that note, if you submitted a post, but it wasn’t selected, please tweet it to me with the hashtag #openmicweek and I would be more than happy to retweet it and hopefully send some much deserved traffic your way.)
But yeah, I’m a sap. Maybe it’s because I’m a new dad or maybe I just don’t have it in me to be the callous jerk I thought I could be.
So, I decided to share 5 posts instead of 4.
Sure, that means one will go up on Thanksgiving, but on my end I can schedule that ahead of time (ain’t technology grand?) and on your end, everybody’s on vacation that day and you know at some point they’re gonna get tired of listening to Uncle Ed’s rant about Obamacare for the millionth time and pick up their smartphone to zone out and find a happy place or just any other place. So, I thought I would offer them the welcomed distraction they’re looking for. In other words, just because it’s a holiday doesn’t mean people aren’t on the internet. They are. And probably more so if their family is really annoying.
Again, I can’t stress how difficult it really was to choose just 5 posts and if your post didn’t make the lineup this year, don’t take it personally and please don’t be discouraged. I’m just a random guy with a blog and that’s about all my opinion is worth. Just because I didn’t add your post to the lineup doesn’t mean it’s not awesome. In fact, there’s a really could chance it’s fantastic, everyone will love it when you share it, and I just missed the boat. Seriously.
That being said, per the established guidelines I do reserve the right to share any crazy “you’re an idiot for not choosing my post!!” hate mail with the rest of the internet should you choose to go that direction. 
Ok, I’ll stop rambling.
But not without one more sincere word of thanks to everyone who submitted a post for Open Mic Week Vol. 2. I am genuinely honored that you would share your words with me and it was a privilege getting to read all of them.
Ok I’m done rambling for real now.
So without further ado and with no rhyme or reason for order (other than Kate’s post is about family so I figured it fit best on Thanksgiving) here it is….
Open Mic Week Vol. 2 – The Lineup
Monday, Nov. 25th – We Should Listen To Louis C.K. by Cindy Brandt
Tuesday, Nov. 26th – The Blacksmith’s Garden by Preetamdas Kirtana
Wednesday, Nov. 27th – Confessions of An Evolving Baptist by Nathan Hale
Thursday, Nov. 28th – Jim Dugger Just Ain’t My Thang by Kate Hall
Friday, Nov. 29th – Love That Swerves by Shannan Martin