2012 is just the beginning

It's 2012. I've got a new job, a new home and two huge creative projects in the works. Off to a good start I'd say. Still getting settled into the new place with my family, but so far so good. The kids like it. My wife likes it. Feels good to be back in the Philly area.

I'm going to be making an effort to get this blog firing on all cylinders this year so stay tuned for more in depth posts about my creative endeavors.

Resonating

It's strange how things suddenly can start coming together. Over the course of the last month, I landed a part-time job at the area Apple Store and had a deluge of freelance copywriting work come in. I now find myself earning a somewhat decent living again, which is a huge relief. Here's the updates on the other stuff:

Reading:
Bram Stoker's Dracula. From time to time I like to read a genre "classic." Thus far, I've been disappointed with most. Dracula however lives up to it's reputation. The clever storytelling method and moments of genuine creepiness have me turning the pages. It does leave something to be desired in terms of character development, but I can see why this tale has stood the test of time.

Watching on TV:
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It's a sad commentary on our news media when the best television journalist we currently have is a comedian. Stewart and his crew do a fantastic job at entertaining while using sarcasm and wit to delver deeper into today's crucial issues than most other so called news programs.

Alphas...I'm way behind on this one, but the three episodes I've watched have been engaging and highly entertaining. I heard it's been renewed for another season.

Parenthood...Great writing and very real characters. As a married father of two kids this show frequently hits home for me about life's very real ups and downs.

Watching at the Movies:
Rise of the Planet of the Apes. Everything I could've hoped for in an Apes reboot. This more than made up for Tim Burton's attempt at this franchise. Hail Caesar! I can't wait for the next one.

Watching on DVD:
Source Code. I would highly recommend this to anyone that enjoys suspense with a sci-fi twist. It's a time loop movie where a character keeps reliving the same scenario...like Groundhog Day gone terribly awry. Good stuff.

Listening:
Checking out Stevie Stevens Flamenco-a-Go-Go right now as I type. Pretty decent. Haven't picked up much new music lately. I've got a long list of stuff I have to get though including: Sixx A.M.'s new one and George Lynch's Kill All Control.

Writing:
About to kick off writing the screenplay to The Forgotten with my writing partner Evan Young and some invaluable guidance from an industry veteran. Also just started plotting out a new comic book project called The Bad Guy. It seems to be coming together nicely so far.

I feel I'm resonating on some good frequencies these days. I'm in the zone, so to speak.

What's going on?

Reading - Just finished The Profession by Steven Pressfield. Great book. Frightening that it might prove to be somewhat prophetic about the state of our nation and the various other superpowers and their militaries in this world. Also reading Driven to Distraction by Edward Hallowell, a book about ADD. Pretty enlightening.

Watching - ON TV -  ALPHAS. Very impressed by the first episode. Loved the quirkiness of the characters and  intriguing plot. Will keep watching.

Watching - ON DVD/BLU-RAY - Inside Job. Buried. Inside Job was an insightful documentary about the rampant culture of greed on Wall Street and how it has infected both our government and higher education system. Eyeopening stuff. Have decided to look into third parties in terms of my political choices after seeing it. Buried was very well done and intense, featuring the best performance from Ryan Reynolds that I've seen. Not for the faint of heart.

Watching - IN THEATERS - Thor. X-men: First Class. Green Lantern. Not necessarily in that order.
My favorite of these was X-men: FC. Possibly the best in the franchise. Great performances by Michael Fassbender as Magneto and James McAvoy as Prof. X. I wish all the X-men flicks could've been this good. I'll rank Green Lantern as number 2 here. Sure it's been panned by critics and isn't making as much money as the studio had hoped, but this was a really fun, sci-fi superhero movie. Very impressive visually and well put together. I think Martin Campbell did a pretty good job of taking a character that isn't known nearly as well as the big 3 at DC (Supes, Bats and WW) and getting viewers acquainted with Green Lantern and his universe. Could it have used a little more drama and some better character moments. Yes. But, my only real gripes were the under use of Peter Sarsgaard as a villain and the lack of a real mentor/apprentice relationship between Sinestro and Hal Jordan. Onto the Thunder God. Thor was good, but should have been great. Chris Hemsworth did a fine job with what he was given, but he was not given enough to sink his teeth into. Tom Hiddleston, however, was and really shined in the film. Loki was the best character in the fllm. Natalie Portman was ridiculous...or rather...her character was. Not sure what they were thinking with her character, a supposedly brilliant physicist that acted more like a smitten college student heart throbbing over the ripped up blond Norse god she repeatedly hits with automobiles.

Writing - NOT MUCH - Just coming off a six week stint at an ad agency wherein I was commuting 4 hours each day and working for eight. I came home absolutely exhausted and barely had enough time to eat, tuck my kids in for the night and speak with my wife for twenty minutes before we passed out and started the routine all over again. My plan is to get back to a screenplay I had started right before getting that ad agency gig.

Still Alive

Ok...it's been ages since I've posted. Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you look at it) I don't have all that many followers of this blog yet so I don't have to feel like I've let anyone down.

As the title states, I am still alive. In fact, things have been coming into focus a bit better lately. I recently had my trusty iBook move on to Mac heaven. This forced me to finally get a new Mac, which I have to admit I am loving. I feel like I've got a powerful new weapon to use in my War of Art.

Today, I began work on a screenplay. My first real, genuine attempt at writing a screenplay as opposed to a comic book script. It feels pretty damn good to kick this thing off. I've been plotting the story and characters out for several weeks now.

I'm also in the home stretch of a new graphic novel that my good buddy John will be illustrating very soon. Very psyched about that as well.

I'm still unemployed, but have decided to take matters into my own hands and begin building a  career as a freelance copywriter. I've got lots of connections in the advertising and marketing industries so it's time I start hitting them up for some gigs.

I'm undecided as to whether or not I'll be continuing this particular blog in the future. I want to focus my blogging efforts a bit so that posts are a bit more specific instead of just these random posts about what I've been up to and what's going on in this writer's little world. If I change things up, I'll let you all know about it.

Reading: The Other Wind by Ursala K. LeGuin

Listening: Whitesnake - Forevermore (yes they are still around and creating great bluesy, hard rock full of clichéd lyrics about love, loss and rocking out)

Watching: Due Date - one seriously funny movie. Robert Downey is amazing.

In the arena

I find that I have to remind myself that I have already set foot in the arena. I'm already in the Colosseum, sword in hand slashing my way through the obstacles in my way. As tough as times have been, I would rather be where I am right now than back at the beginning of my quest to become a professional writer of visual fiction. I might still be getting my ass kicked, but I've made it this far.

I've already created and published a critically acclaimed comic book series that got picked up by a great team of producers and is inching it's way toward the silver screen.

I've already made some amazing contacts in the comics and film industries, some of whom have become very close friends.

Despite all the setbacks, I'm still writing, still creating. I've got my foot in the door. I just need to keep making every effort to push it open more. So, with that in mind, today I send out another submission packet in search of a publisher for "the forgotten." I want to get "the forgotten" back on the shelves and Ev and I have begun brainstorming on a proper sequel.

Today I will also put in some hours on the new graphic novel project I'm working on with John Forcucci (www.johnforcucci.com). I've been feeling really good about the work I'm doing on that.

So, I'm in the arena. Perhaps a bit bloodied and bruised, but I'm in there rising to my feet and coming at you like Maximus.

Restructuring

I love that word. It's such a Corporate America term. It's one of those words you learn to fear when you work for a large company because it usually means LAY-OFFS. I have decided, however, to commandeer the term for creative individuals.

For the creative individual a restructuring is the action or series of actions taken in order to align more closely with who you truly are and what you really want your life to be. It's coming to the realization that stuff doesn't make you happy but experiences, love, friendship and the pursuit of your true calling do.

I have begun a restructuring of sorts lately. I took a look at where my life was at and realized that pursuing a high paying job at all costs did not align properly with my real goals of having a creative career, more time with my wife and children and appreciating and experiencing the important things in life. I recently pulled myself out of the running for a job that might have been a darn good job opportunity. However, it involved over 2.5 hours of commuting a day and would undoubtedly have led to long hours at the office leaving me little time with my family and practically no time to pursue my creative endeavors. It was a very scary thing pulling out of the running for the position, but I did it. And, I can honestly say that, despite the lean financial situation I find myself in, I feel that I made the right decision. What feels good about it also is that my wife and kids supported me 100% on it.

So, today I started working at a local coffee house part time. In addition to that, I plan to keep teaching guitar lessons two nights a week. I've also begun writing content for a website for a few extra bucks. I'll juggle these things while I work hard at building a career as a visual writer. My current graphic novel project is progressing slowly, but surely and I do think a sequel to the forgotten is truly in the works with my writing partner Evan Young.

Corporate restructuring be damned. This is the kind of restructuring that truly brings about positive changes and success.

Three more things:

1. Recommended reading:  Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield. One of the best books I've read in a long time and a far more intimate and accurate portrayal of the Battle of Thermopylae.
2. Spread the word - if you know someone involved in the visual arts that might dig reading this blog and commenting here, please send them the URL. I really want to build this thing.
3. If you are interested in posting on the blog instead of just commenting, e-mail me. I'd be happy to have some other contributors.

Trudging On

This is my first attempt in months to kickstart this blog. Later today after posting this, I plan to notify a few of my friends and associates in the creative fields of this blog's existence so I can get more posts and commentary going here.

I am finally working pretty diligently on a script for a new graphic novel. It will be illustrated by my good friend and incredibly talented artist John Forcucci. Dare I say it but it's coming together nicely. I've been enjoying the time I'm putting in and feel like it's starting to click. There's a long way to go on it, but I'm putting hours into it every week now and that feels pretty damn good.

In addition to that, I've begun brainstorming up story ideas with my writing partner on "the forgotten" for a potential sequel to that graphic novel. The creative spark is alive and well.

Today, I'm going to start a new ritual that I read about in Steven Pressfield's fantastic book The War of Art. I'm going to "invoke the muse" before I begin my creative work for the day. Don't want to get too into this topic right now, but I strongly recommend you check out Pressfield's aforementioned book, which goes into detail about the Muse and how important it is to us creatives.

A little life update here as to what I've been dealing with while trying to write:

• My father is in the hospital undergoing treatment for pneumonia, low hemoglobin count and an arachnoid cyst on the brain. My thoughts are with him every moment. He's dealing with a slew of difficult news/information about his health and as his son, I'm trying to cope with it as well. He's a tough hombre in many ways and I believe he'll make it through all this, but it's pretty damn scary.
• I have been advised by an attorney to consider filing Chapter 13 bankruptcy, which is not something I'm inclined to do. However, I'm running out of options as my search for gainful employment continues to drag on and on and on. I have now been interviewed by something like 18 different people at 5 different companies and have yet to get an offer.
  
• My grandmother has fallen victim to dementia and has been entered into a nursing home for care. Incredibly sad to see this happen to her. Physically, she's still strong and fiesty at 89 years old, but mentally...things are not firing properly. I miss her tremendously, which seems strange to say since she's still with us. If you've ever witnessed dementia, you'll understand though. The person you knew your whole life just slips away before your eyes.

I put all this stuff here only because I want to share the daily life stuff we all have to endure as we continue to work at the creative careers we want. Life can kick your ass sometimes, but you have to find a way to trudge on...thus the title of this post.