So where would I be without writing? That's a weird question. Answer is: Who cares?
It's in my personal belief that everyone is handed ONE thing by the great Mystery (no, not the Pick Up Artist douche) and it's up to you to either run with it or flush it.
I've kinda done both.
Basically, writing got me in both trouble and amenity in school. I remember writing a short one page story in the 4th grade, for St Patrick's Day, an assignment, that had my teacher, Mrs. Walker, call up my dad with concern. See, all the other kids wrote about happy leprechauns and four leaf clovers granting wishes and blah blah blah. Mine was about vengeful leprechauns that were sick of everyone stealing their gold so they formed the L.A.F. (Leprechaun Attack Force) and bombed major metropolitan areas with their planes called the Green Snakes. My dad has it in a scrapbook somewhere. When I find it I'll scan it and you can see for yourself.
In high school a place where I was severely suffering academically, my AP English teacher, Mrs. Favalora, liked my work so much she helped me graduate a year early by suggesting I take this placement test, get out of ye olde North Salinas High and start a fresh at the city college. It was the best decision yet. I would have been held back a year. Skateboarding, thrash metal and D&D were my focus; I skipped class a lot. Luckily for me, I had some viable skill.
Writing also landed me in the presence of some of my musical heroes. When my buddy Max Sidman took over a small periodical in Chico, CA, 'The Synthesis', and turned it into a glossy scene mag, he hired me to cover shows and interview bands. Since I was living in San Francisco, I guess I had more opportunity to catch more fringe acts. Before you knew it, I was drinking beer with High On Fire, watching porn with Lemmy of Motorhead, talking about bad 70s movies with Fu Manchu, about our favorite books with Henry Rollins, the Spice Girls with Doyle of the Misfits and exchanging recipes with Oderus Urungus from GWAR. I even bought the boys from Electric Wizard a suitcase of beer in Austin, TX because they were so broke. We then went back to their hotel room, threw on some Skinemax and discussed Italian horror films. It was amazing. Good times.
That skill also landed me random jobs during the dot com era in SF. Before you knew it I had a desk in the Listen.com floor writing about crap techno and receiving $1000 a week. Then that would fall out from under me and I'd be in some law firm filing claims. Then back to some desk in a marketing firm writing about “bullet proof web hosting” for Cisco. So on and so on. Man, the launch parties back then? Holy crap! I should write a novella just about those...
Now it's a different race. Almost finished with my second novel, my first kids book, I am now prepared to make this my full time job and my lifelong career. Only thing is, its fairly unsteady and I have to really fight for it. Well...good. Things have been a bit easy for me for the most part. Not that I haven't had hard time, far from it, I'm lucky to be alive!, but I have had loads of opportunities fall in my lap...only for me to piss it away somehow.
What? I was young and arrogant. Didn't fully appreciate what I had. Well, now I do. Cheers for that.
On the flip flop, I can write better than I can speak (although my typing skills are shite). Essentially my brain works in tangents, so when I end up talking, I usually stammer or don't make much sense. Plus I tend to trail off into the ether leaving the listener going “I'm sorry...what are you saying?”
“I don't know,” is my usual response. “But...you know what I'm saying?”
Anyway, whether you're into politics, video games, farming, carpentry, house flipping, movie production or making the best latte ever...I say go for it! Writing isn't a hobby for me. Not anymore anyway. My job is a hobby. I show up, I have some fun, make some food, clock out, go home and receive a paycheck now and then. When it's quiet, the writing continues in my head.
I just can't switch it off. Don't want to in fact...
Time to recap!
Food: Breakfast – banana and a bagel Lunch – leftover talapia soft tacos with home made salsa. Dinner – Thai curry chicken over jasmine rice.
Booze: Some IPAs and a cocktail here and there.
Movies: Now that the Olympics are over, just some NBC Thursday stuff and TruTV crap.
Mood: Working, even on my day off.
# of pages written: Loads. It's getting good...
No comments:
Post a Comment