Meet Jimmy Doom | Writer and Actor

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jimmy Doom and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jimmy, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
The pandemic hit. I’m an actor, film work was shut down. Writing for Substack was the closest piece of driftwood to the sinking ship. Substack suggested that regular publishing would grow the endeavor the fastest, and I’m reckless by nature so I thought “Daily is about as regular as it gets.” There was nothing better to do. I had published 100 word stories daily on Medium. But with more time to fill and less distractions I started writing longer pieces of short fiction. The fact that it’s really a business didn’t hit me (hard) until later.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I publish new fiction daily on Jimmy Doom’s Roulette Weal jimmydoom.substack.com I generally write the day before I publish, sometimes that very day. No formula, no gimmicks. Real, meaningful short stories about human beings interacting with their world, whether that person is a prom queen from a loving family or a destitute addict conversing with rats behind a dumpster. Really I’m just taking things I see in everyday life and grabbing elements that interest me and turning them into a story. The real world provides plenty of yarn. I knit. As I write this I am on a 820 day streak of writing. I missed five days with COVID, those are the only days my readers haven’t received a short story since Aug 21, 2020. 1300 total stories published, more by the time you’re reading this.
Was it easy? Some days it’s easy, but maintaining any streak of this length has roadblocks, quicksand, the occasional Molotov cocktail.
One night after shooting a particularly intense scene in a movie, naked and muddy I wrote at 3am in a hotel room before getting up to be back on set at 9am. My readers didn’t miss a story the day or day after my mom died. Subscribers can count on a story.
Doing this project has taught me that there are stories in the cracks, the margins, the shadows. Not every compelling story is “Man lands on Moon.” There are stories in people tying their shoes, buying ice cream from a truck, hearing a song from a street musician.
I’ve lived life. I don’t have a writing MFA, I don’t even have a college degree. The stories that come out of me come out of a guy who never met his father, waited tables, sang for a band, worked on an assembly line, did time in jail, got sober. The stories aren’t autobiographical (though I do include some of that in a separate section of my Substack) but they come from eyes that have witnessed a lot of mayhem and turmoil in person. And love and triumph too.
Thinking of it as a “brand” doesn’t work for me. That sounds sterile or constructed. The people who read me (over 2400 subscribers) can immediately comment on the stories. We interact. They tell me what they love a lot and love a little less. They worry about me. After a streak this long, if they read a story that sounds like my mental health is tattering, they say “take a break, we love you, we’ll be here when you’re ready to come back.” And when they say shit like that, I cannot NOT give them a new story. It’s not a brand. It’s a community.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I’m a Detroiter. We’d never run out of interesting people to hang out with. Artists, musicians, people with blue collar backgrounds who create. First stop would probably be The Old Miami. Originally a Vietnam Veterans hangout, it’s like a community center with stiff drinks now, in the Cass Corridor. The Corridor is where the forgotten of the world used to go. The Old Miami and Jumbos still have the old Corridor mystique lurking, The rebranders call it Midtown. The area has a lot to offer now, it’s not as dangerous as it used to be. My first apartment was there. The Garden Bowl/Majestic Theatre complex. Bowl, shoot pool, see a band either on a real stage or just set up on the floor across from the bar.
Smalls in Hamtramck for a touring punk band with local openers. Seriously, we could see ten bands in one night in Detroit. I know people who do it regularly.
Boostan for carryout Baladi Dakah sandwiches, just down the street from Smalls. Amazing Middle Eastern food. The Detroit area is home to more people of Middle Eastern descent than anywhere but the Middle East.
Wake up and go to the DIA, recently named the best art museum in America. Grab Lafayette Coney and go to Belle Isle in the river between the US and Canada. Gotta be the most relaxing place in a big city anywhere. I think it’s biggger than Central Park. It’s definitely nicer. There are people who would prefer American Coney Island. It’s the Hatfields and McCoys of chili covered hot dogs. Detroiters have to pick a favorite. Mine is Lafayette, no contest. We take it seriously here. People take their kids down to Michigan Avenue, get ’em a coney at each place. Whichever is their favorite is their favorite for life, though I have seen some rare conversions.
For a little personal flavor I’d probably take them to the four places I’ve been shot at. Four times, never wounded. The Chamber of Commerce would cringe at that, but Detroit has a gritty history. It can’t be shoved aside. I’d take them to some landmarks from the ’67 Uprising. They say the ’68 Detroit Tigers winning the World Series helped to heal the city after the unrest and violence. So of course we’d go to a Tiger game and if the Red Wings make the playoffs, double dip and see a day game and a night hockey game.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I worked as a bartender at the legendary music venue St. Andrew’s Hall. One of my bartending partners was a guy named Jim Patalan. We would work sold out shows together. Beers were 2.50. People would smile and dump the extra quarters in the tip jar. Jim would say to them “I don’t want to hear it jingle, I wanna see it float,” meaning “throw a paper bill in that jar.” That one line probably increased our money by 50 percent. He was the first person to suggest that I was a good enough writer to sell subscriptions to my work. If he hadn’t convinced me I’m pretty sure I’d be making making rubber umlauts in a boiler room for 13.50 an hour between acting gigs.

Website: jimmydoom.substack.com

Instagram: @doominyouafavor

Twitter: @JamesDoom

Facebook: Jimmy Doom

Image Credits
Headshot with tie and leather: Jessica Dietz Book Signing: Joelle Hart Logo: Brad Jendza Backstage: Brett J Lawrence