The Write Stuff

Oh my gawd, he started with a pun! It’s what I do. This is the first of what I hope are many blogs to come. It won’t be a long one (that’s what she said.) First, let me state that I am unequivocally unprofessionally professional. That means I am professional when it suits me, which it normally does not. You read my work you get what you get because I write what I write. It’s not ego. Well, maybe a little. Mostly I get that attitude from a book my mom gave to me when I was a child. It was ‘He Drew as He Pleased’. A sketchbook of the works of Disney artist Albert Hurter. I loved to draw as a kid and I think my mom was telling me to not let convention hold me back from my creativity.

In my earlier incarnations as a writer I sort of took that message to heart. Unfortunately when I tried to let me ‘freak flag fly’ with my writing, no matter who the client was, I was always told to ‘reel it in’. Time and time again, reel it in. I would work with clients to tailor my work to their needs, but the write monster inside was always clawing at every word yelling “add a ‘fuck’ in there for God’s sake!!!” I’d have to reel it in and tell the monster, “Dude, this is a description of a Mercedes for carsdirect.com. They don’t want a ‘fuck’ in there.” That’s been the struggle. The message seeded deep in my mind: He Drew as He Pleased. I remember looking at the artwork in that book and that guy, Mr. Hurter, his mind was like walking a sidewalk through Wonderland high on acid. It was wonderful. If he could, then I can, too. So, I write how I write.

I have serious works out there. I put serious time into research on most of them. Others, I just sit in front of my keyboard and black-out. Hours later I’m a few chapters ahead and wondering how the hell I got down the sidewalk.

I have to close this first missive. In 36 minutes I have a phone conference with a publisher about my first and most important book; Prisoners of Forever’s War. I’ve never had one of these calls before. Nor have I had a book get off the ‘slush pile’. It may change my world. It also might just be a few minutes out of my day and not much will have changed. I’ll have to let you know.