The other day I put my friend, James, on blast for not following through on his NaNoWriMo commitment BUT he got the humor and point of it all.
In case you didn’t get the chance yet, I think you should check his blog out.
All posts in june
the novel idea
So I recently completed my first novel and I’m excited about the home that it will find as I actively seek out an agent to represent it to prospective publishers. It’s safe at this point to say that the book is a thriller suspense novel that is thematically about forgiveness.
Plot wise, the book is about a duplicitous man who is confronted with all that he hates about himself when a neighbor from his past moves into the neighborhood.
The characters include the main character (a 45-year old man), his ex-wife who is a recovering addict with a blackmail tendencies, his supportive girlfriend who has no clue who her boyfriend really is, a registered sex offender, and a neighborhood full of children. What could possibly go wrong?
I’ll share more details later.
soulbrother to the Max
June is celebration of ME month so I’m blogging everyday to share something of importance to me or about me. I hope you’re enjoying the journey.
One of my favorite blogs belongs to Max Reddick of soulbrother. He blogs like nobody’s business and I’m not sure where he finds the time between work and family and that whole life thing. I learn and am entertained every time I visit with him.
In his own words, he is “an African American male with a deep & abiding love & respect for the literature, music, and culture of a people growing out of a historical & on-going struggle for change, but who at this time is not quite sure which direction that change is going and what it even means.”
something about spencer
Spencer is the coolest 10-year old I know and I have the honor of also being his Dad. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you… Spencer…
the truth about James
This is the tale of a man named James
A man of good report but then also kind of lame
Not lame as a three-legged dog that would hop
But lame is in – he was to write a novel with me but then he just… stopped
Yeah, that’s right. He stopped cold in the middle of starting like this tale no longer rhymes. He asked me to join him during National Novel Writer’s Month and he even took a week off – a whole week to get a nice head start – to get his head right to craft this great tale that he had been building for 10 years. Yeah, that’s what I said. 10 years. Most beautiful outline of a novel that a man would ever want to see this side of glory. And how many chapters were born of this most perfect outline?
James? Can you tell the people how many chapters you’ve written since November? What’s that? One hundred and huh? One? As in one chapter or…? No way. 10 years and the beautiful outline of a novel that a man would ever want to see this side of glory and all you have written is ONE chapter? James? Really?
My most talented and dear friend, James – the developer who is smarter than a Roomba and can do more tricks than a gang of monkeys on a grapevine. The ever gentle James – the man after God’s own heart who seeks to simplify while growing. The multifaceted and multicultured James – the man who can, in appearance, be mistaken as an Italian, a Mexican, and a Isreali unibomber all on the same driver’s license. Dear James – the procrastinator of all procrastinators. I started a novel with you and because of you and you have but one chapter to show for all of my blood, sweat, and ink tears. James, I salute thee.
This was the tale of a man named James
One of my best friends but then still very lame.
insomnia
Insomnia has become my mistress tonight
Am I the only one she has left alive?
Darkness as sheets covering millions who lie
Me, I can no longer fathom the day from the night
Thoughts of my past and my now and to come
It’s the past that has shaped me of what I now sum
I’m heavy and burdened and she won’t let me sleep
I don’t recall asking her over for a nightcap or tea
My sons and my friends and those who barely missed the mark
They haunt me as ghosts as shadows in the dark
My phone is not speaking but I query anyway
It never suffers silence like this during the day
Insomnia wont leave me as if she’s some hesitant cur
The lines twixt imagination and reality are in post stages of blur
Thoughts rage past me and circle seven times
Leaving me crumpled in corners and opposite the sublime
And kings and queens don’t regard how my story will end
I wonder who will read it and will it sell more than ten
The screams of traffic are muted and all colors are grayed
The tether that once held me is now thinning and frayed
Alcohol or pills or distraction numbs her touch
But I resist the lure to trade a mistress for a dime store slut
So eventually she will tire of me and leave me be
And let me sleep and tire of me be and soon I’ll dream and…
kenn two point O
One of the coolest things I found out a while ago was that my 15-year old son, Kenn (lovingly known as Kenn 2.0) visits my blog regularly and shares with his friends. How cool is THAT?
I dedicate this post to him in all of his glory and awesomeness. Dad loves you, Kenn.
(Don’t worry, Spencer. You have a post coming up too)
incomplete
Last week, I completed writing and editing my first novel. It think it’s important to mention the editing part because most novels are not really done until they’ve been edited several times over.
The moment I edited that last sentence and put a period on the end of the book, I felt… nothing. No sigh of relief or fanfare or any sort. I was just … done. Shortly after talking to a colleague of mine who has worked in the publishing industry for years in different capacities, I came to the stark realization that I needed an agent. Suddenly, I felt… relief and fanfare. It wasn’t over yet. I could spend a little bit more time with my creation.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I love the victory of completing a colossal task or crossing that marathon finish line BUT there is something beautiful about being incomplete sometimes.
No, really. Think about it. When you were a kid and you were building something, it was exciting and adventurous. Then you shared your creation with your parent, teacher, and friends and then… that was it. It was complete. Over. Kaput. Sure, you could put your creation on display for all to behold but the adventure was done.
I also think about how I’m a work in progress. It’s easier to accept my flaws and inconsistencies knowing that I’m incomplete and that God is still working on me.
So my novel is incomplete. I have to find an agent that likes it enough to represent it to a publisher who’ll print it and then has to convince the reading public that they want to buy and read it. It’s not all about getting to the destination. It’s about enjoying the journey.
cinco de junio
Happy Cinco de Junio (pronouced hoo-nio)!!
No, my friends… you haven’t been missing out on another Hallmark follyday or a call for intoxicated merriment. There isn’t really much significance to the fifth of June… unless you’re an Elvis Presley fan.
This day in 1956, he introduced his breakthrough hit, “Hound Dog,” on The Milton Berle Show, shocking and titillating the audience with his suggestive hip movements. Presley’s gyrations led to a wave of controversy that overshadowed even the news of the day of an impending communist threat. In response to the outcry, Presley explained, “Rock and roll music, if you like it, and you feel it, you can’t help but move to it. That’s what happens to me. I have to move around. I can’t stand still. I’ve tried it, and I can’t do it.”
Hmmm… maybe there’s something to Mr. Presley’s propaganda. Eureka Vacuums! That’s it! Cinco de Junio shall be here forth declared a day where you shall not stand still. I dare you to move. I double-dare you. Move from a place of complacency and comfort to do something that you’ve been putting off as if today is your last day alive.
Do something significant today. Happy Cinco de Junio, Friends.
back to the drawing board
Sadly, most of you have no idea that most of my career I’ve been an illustrator. The last couple of years have found me focusing on my writing while earning my chops as a flash developer. Meanwhile, I’ve been forsaking the very thing that made me. When I determined to write a novel, I decided to put all other projects on hold until it was complete. Well, the novel is complete (more on that later this month) and I am starting my next book – a children’s book.
I have started and stopped this book so many times in the past, it’s not funny. I wrote the story and originally got the interest of a reputable publisher to buy it but then I wanted to draw it myself so I screwed that deal up by sitting on it too long.
Well, I’m back to it. Just as I could write a novel, I can write and finally draw (and complete) a children’s book. I started storyboarding (planning the visual layout) and redesigning the characters yesterday. I’m excited to be back. More soon.
