Reframing My Bartending Era
Plus, two new writing classes
I’m Tawny, author of Dry Humping and co-author of The Sobriety Deck, co-host of the Recovery Rocks podcast, and co-founder of the vinegar-based botanical spirit, (parentheses)
I’m rediscovering my passion for mixology—in a healthy way.
I hung up my bartender hat in 2014 after nearly 10 years of working behind (and dancing on!) bars in my hometown of Waco, Texas. Now, I’m dusting off that hat to rediscover my passion for mixology as I promote my new botanical spirit,(parentheses) while living in New York City.
If you read my book, you know I was the epitome of a binge-drinking party girl. I bartended my way through college, dropping out of college, returning to college, dropping out again, and finally graduating. I struggled with school back then because I struggled with *everything else.* Nobody taught me how to be a good student or how to pay attention to subjects that bored me. I had no idea how to sit still in a classroom, let alone figure out “what I wanted to be when I grew up.” These feelings of inadequacy, stupidity, insecurity, and undiagnosed mental health issues dissolved when I drank. It makes sense that I chose a placeholder job centered around such a magical elixir.
I served drinks at fancy steakhouses, college bars, country bars, draft houses, and dive bars. Bartending provided great money, and I worked in an environment where binge drinking was encouraged. Mixing drinks also taught me about alcohol and mixers in a more sophisticated way that I didn’t quite appreciate until I launched my own drink. I’m finally able to separate my mixology skills from my past predilection for binge drinking.
I wrote this piece about the importance of changing our minds when we learn new information. I’m taking my own advice as I revisit my bartending memories. Until recently, I looked back at my time as a bartender as traumatic and depressing… because it was. But therapy (hello, DBT!) teaches me that two things can be true at once. Bartending was a dark time for me, but it also provided a way out of the darkness. I learned how to mix drinks while talking to multiple people sitting at the bar, reading the next drink ticket, singing along to Dierks Bentley and Miranda Lambert on the jukebox, and counting fat stacks of cash at the end of the night while smoking a cig. Multitasking, networking, and mixology are skills that I use every single day today.
I learned just as much about the world while standing behind a bar as I did while sitting behind a desk and getting a business degree. And now, with the rising non-alcoholic drink scene, I’m finally able to combine all of those skills while developing recipes for my bold botanical spirit (parentheses). Recipes I can’t wait to share with you all in upcoming issues of this newsletter.
Until then…
Upcoming Writing Classes:
I have two virtual book proposal classes coming up! Book Proposal 101 is a one-night event covering the basic elements of a book proposal, while my Book Proposal Boot Camp is a six-week intensive for folks ready to write their proposal this fall.
Book Proposal 101 VIRTUAL August 1, 7-9EST
Want to write a nonfiction book but have no idea where to start? Take my new virtual class! This course will help you understand what a book proposal is and how to actually enjoy writing one.
Whether you're pitching a nonfiction book or a nonfiction card deck, Book Proposal 101: Stop Dreading It and Start Writing It will help you feel empowered by the proposal process rather than overwhelmed.
OK, you might still feel overwhelmed, but you can totally do this!
Book Proposal Boot Camp VIRTUAL September 5th - October 10th, 7-9 EST
This 6-week intensive course picks up where the first one left off. In a virtual group setting, students meet with me for two hours a week to finally dust off that old Google Doc and get to work. Each week is structured so students can focus on one aspect of a book proposal at a time rather than feeling overwhelmed by the whole thing at once.
Each session ends with a 20-minute Q&A where students can ask about publishing, proposals, finding an agent, preorder campaigns, and book marketing.
XO,
Tawny
Love this, did similar - took a breather from the professional beverage scene after closing my wine bar. Little did I know that having a spirit free section on the menu back in 2015 would lead to finding my way back to wine, of a different dealcoholized sort - both personally and professionally, almost ten years later. Thanks for sharing - we all need to see and read these stories.
I love how you highlighted leveraging your old bar-tending skills. Most skills are transferable in some way. Nice essay.