by john | Aug 22, 2010 | Real Life, Theatre, Writing
Well, kinda, I guess. From time to time I’ve led workshops on all sorts of things over the years, almost all of them having to do with theatre in one way or another. As all of you know, I enjoy the sound of my voice, and with an ego like mine, I can’t help but think that my pearls of wisdom will do the peasants before me some good in their lives. Unfortunately for those of you who want to tame my ridiculous self-image, other people keep feeding that delusion.
This week the company I work for hosted a Lighting for Worship workshop in Atlanta. We had 18 attendees from a dozen or so churches listen to a day-long series of lectures on experts in the worship lighting field. We’ve done this twice before, and I think this was the best attendance we’ve had. It’s also the largest city we’ve done one in, so that stands to reason. We’re doing it again in Greensboro next month, so that should break even more attendance records. We brought in in real experts (and me) from all over the country for this thing, and imparted some great information to the attendees, and did some good PR for us and the vendors that showed up. So I spent all day Wednesday and Thursday in work mode, focusing on what I was teaching and how to fine-tune the delivery.
Then yesterday I shifted gears entirely and worked with the newbies in the cast of the Renaissance Festival on character development. I spent an hour with them on physicality, paying attention to their surroundings, creating a backstory for their character, the difference between their role (the job) and their character (the person they’re trying to create). The goal was to get the newbies into mid-season form at the beginning of the season, to make for a better experience for the customers. I had a lot of fun and got some great compliments on my workshop, which is good since I’m already signed on for two other weekends of more advanced instruction.
Then this coming Thursday I shift into another mode entirely as I spend the evening at a local Mont Blanc pen store reading Mark Twain for a literary festival they have each year. They wanted somebody to read Twain for the people at the reception, and they agreed to pay me a little bit, so I’ll be reading selections from Tom Sawyer, Huck Finn and some of Twain’s short stories while people look at pens that cost more than my entire wardrobe.
Book sales are picking up, word of mouth is starting to spread a little and Otis pimped my book on his blog, which always helps. I’ve gotten a few responses from folks that will let me do a blog tour stop on their site, so I’ll be kicking that off in September. Probably after Annie opens, because that’s going to tie up a lot of my time in the coming weeks. But feel free to hustle on over to my Lulu storefront and buy your copy now, because the free shipping offer ends Monday, August 23rd.
by john | Aug 14, 2010 | Real Life
So this year, at 37, what do I think of life in general?
It sucks getting old and fat all at the same time. I can’t do anything about the one (except die, and I couldn’t bear to deprive you all of my wit), so I’m trying (again) to reduce the other. Ten pounds in a month may not seem like much, but it’s really quite a lot. I figure now that I’m continuing to try to lose weight it will slow down, but if I can drop five pounds each month, that will put me close to goal weight in a year. And since it took me two years to put this much weight on, if I can lose it in half the time, I’ll be thrilled. I’ve kinda reconciled myself to fighting with my belly for the rest of my life, because I like food and I don’t like to exercise. That combo means that I’m going to be going up and down pretty much for the duration, I need to just limit the swings. So if I can get back down to around 210-220, I’ll be happy bouncing around there. I’d love to see the first number in my weight be a 1 again, just once, but I’m not gonna sweat it.
One thing I’m trying to work on is balance. I’ve spent the last several years (and if we want to be honest about it, my whole life) bouncing between obsessions. Theatre to poker to weight loss to work to writing to poker to cycling to whatever. Well right now I’m trying to do less of a lot of things so that no one thing co-opts all my time. I’m trying to write for at least half an hour a couple times a week. I’m trying to focus on work when I’m at the office, and ignore it when I’m not. Poker has become an enjoyable social activity, rather than something I spend hours every week on. So I’m working towards balance. I’ll let you know if I get there.
I still have hopes that I can turn writing into the career eventually, and getting The Chosen out is the first step. I’m checking the mail every day for my proof copy so I can make it available for purchase, and begin the process of promoting it and trying to sell a few copies. I’m thinking of doing a promotional blog tour for the book, where I pop in on blogs of readers and friends and do a guest post about the book. If you have a blog, and would be willing to let me have a post there to promote my book, drop a comment and let me know. Who knows, I may even put up a post on Pokerstage about it, since that site still gets a little traffic each month.
I’m 37 and not sure of where I’m going with my life. So far it’s been one long string of happy accidents and fortunate outcomes. So since I’ve made it this far without a plan, I see no reason to make one now. Thanks for coming on the ride with me, I’m glad you’re here.
by john | Jun 17, 2010 | Real Life
MONDAY MAY 17 2010
To Our Friends and Colleagues,
I am writing today to for your donation to Team Barbizon in support of the millions of people whose lives are affected by cancer. Team Barbizon is participating in an extraordinary event this July by joining 1700 other cyclists to ride for 24 consecutive hours to raise cancer awareness and support for noteworthy charities, including The Lance Armstrong Foundation and the Brain Tumor Fund for the Carolinas. Such an extraordinary event needs an extraordinary name: The “24 Hours of Booty!” This is the fifth year we have taken part in this worthwhile cause.
WHAT IS THE 24 HOURS OF BOOTY?
24 Hours of Booty is the official 24-hour ride of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, which brings cyclists of all abilities together to raise vital funds for cancer research and survivorship. The event unites people who are passionate about fighting cancer. By benefiting both The Lance Armstrong Foundation and local, life-changing beneficiaries, the 24 Hours of Booty experience represents hope, challenge, remembrance and celebration.
ABOUT THE CHARITIES
The 24 Hours of Booty is a non-profit organization that directs fundraising to national and local cancer initiatives. Recipients include:
The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF)
The Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) provides the practical information and tools people with cancer need to live life on their own terms. The LAF serves its mission through advocacy, public health and research.
The Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults (UCF)
The Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults (UCF) was established in 1997 by Doug Ulman, a three-time cancer survivor who now serves as President and CEO of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The UCF’s mission is to support, educate and connect young adults affected by cancer.
The Brain Tumor Fund for the Carolinas
An organization dedicated to increasing public awareness of the impact of brain tumors along with providing support for the development of comprehensive treatment strategies and cooperative biomedical research efforts.
The Keep Pounding Fund
Honoring the late Carolina Panthers player and coach Sam Mills and former player Mark Fields, this fund benefits the Blumenthal Center for Cancer Research at Carolinas Medical Center.
Johns Hopkins Medicine
At Johns Hopkins, The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center has active programs in clinical research, laboratory research, education, community outreach, prevention and control. It has been dedicated to better understanding human cancers and finding more effective treatments.
On behalf of all those whose lives are affected by cancer, we thank you for supporting the 24 Hours of Booty, the event’s participants, and ultimately the cancer community. With your donation, we can make a positive impact on our local cancer community and the cancer community abroad. Your generosity and support make a tremendous difference.
To make a donation to Team Barbizon please follow this link. Donations made to this link (Esthere’s page) will be distributed amongst all the teammates.
by john | Jun 4, 2010 | Comics, Real Life, Writing
Had a great time today at the Heroes Convention walking around, talking to different creators about their books, buying way more stuff than I had budgeted (at some point I’ll admit that my “budget” for a con is really what I have in my pocket, as I may refuse to stop before I spend that much), and attended a great panel by some Marvel editors, writers and artists about how to break into the comic business.
I also passed out a bunch of business cards and talked to a bunch of folks about Choices, my novel. If you’re one of them and came here trying to remember what exactly you were supposed to do when you got here, click here to read my novel.
So here’s what I think I’ve decided over the past few days – despite the money issues that we’ve run into over the past couple of weeks (i.e. me putting my foot through the roof and hastening the $4,000 new roof we have to put on the house), I’m going to push a lot harder over the next year to make this writing thing work. I wrote my novel last year and then decided to take a year and try to get some publishing credits before I moved forward with it. Well, I’ve had 13 poems and one short story published since January, and I haven’t submitted anything since the beginning of April, so I’m going to consider that mission accomplished.
So now on to Step 2 – publish Choices. I’m thinking it needs a new title – maybe something like I Made the Devil Do It, or just The Choosing, but it needs a better title. But regardless, I’m actively soliciting an editor from my friends who have done that type of work, and I’m actively soliciting a cover design. I plan to have it published in ebook format hopefully by Labor Day, but certainly by the end of the year. I’ve found a guy who will do the conversion to epub and kindle format for a reasonable price, so I hope that I can get it all ready to go for about $500. I also hope that my editor will work on commission, but I think that won’t be a problem. So I’ll have it out in ebook format this year. I’ll also do some print on demand stuff, so that I can have copies to sign, and people that don’t own a Kindle, Nook or iPad will still be able to buy the book (although you can read ebooks on computers, too). If I set the price at $3, I’ll get a little more than $2 of each ebook sold, and it should be fairly simple to get some folks to take a flyer on a $3 ebook. Especially if I can get some good reviews going. So some of you may be solicited for reviews in the coming months.
I’ve already started my next novel, as well as a pair of short stories that may form the basis of a collection. I also have a script for a comic in the can, which just needs an artist, but that may need to wait until the beginning of ’11 to get much traction, as the rest of this year will be spent focusing on the novel(s) and getting the first one ready for public consumption.
So that’s the plan. For now at least, but as you know these things are subject to change without much notice. I’ve picked up more freelance design gigs to help pay for the roof and replace income from poker writing that has gone away (mostly due to my choice, as it was interfering with the day job). I know it seems counterintuitive that I would add freelance theatrical work to replace freelance writing, especially when my ultimate goal is to be a writer, but the poker writing was more of a scheduling conflict with the day job, and I found that writing for that medium for so long really started to step on my creative writing. I really envy folks like Pauly or Otis, who can still turn out really top-notch material after so many years in the poker biz.
This will also result in more regular posting here, as I focus on keeping the muscles flexed, as it were. So I’m back, for now at least.
by john | Apr 17, 2010 | Real Life
Sitting in the car waiting for Suzy as she goes into the bowels of Hell (Wal-Mart on a Saturday). We’ve been out running errands for an hour or so now, and that’s only resulted in one brief fight, which is pretty good for us. I’m checking out the WordPress app for iPhone and it’s not bad. Of course the auto correct on the spelling has been my saving grace so far…
Did a short reading last night at Just Do It at Theatre Charlotte, and that was well-received. Sold a book, which is always good, and when I got home I realized that now I REALLY have to order more, because I’m down to less than ten copies. So I’ll make that happen sometime this week, as well as publishing the free shipping coupon that LULU sent me this week. So if you’ve been holding out to see me in person to buy the book, now you can get it shipped to you free (and probably more promptly than I would).
So there’s a minipost from the phone and I don’t think I backspaced much more than in a normal post, so maybe it’ll be an option. Especially if I break down and buy an iPad tomorrow.
by john | Apr 14, 2010 | Music, Real Life
So after attending the 20th anniversary tour of the brand new record for 1990, They Might Be Giants’ brand new album, Flood, I shoulda known that it was getting to be that time in my life. The time that I am once again reminded that I’m getting old.
There were a few seminal albums for the beginning of my college life, and depending on who was around, that determined what was in the CD player (or tape deck, or whatever). Here are a few, with some associations –
Tori Amos – Little Earthquakes: There were so many resonances on this album it’s just silly. My whole passel of friends owned this record and I think most of us played the grooves off the CD at least once.
They Might Be Giants – Flood – Knew. Every. Word. Churchill and Indy were even worse, and so was Steve. When we all piled into the Impala and went to see them at the 1313 club I think we had 8 people in that stupid car.
Concrete Blonde – Bloodletting – I was never really that goth, but I played one on TV. Nah, I didn’t even play too goth, but this album was in the rotation. Saw them in 1993 with my friend Liz. Saw the tour announcement today – they’re doing the 20th anniversary tour, and playing Bloodletting track by track. Closest stop is Atlanta. Good for me I work in Atlanta some weeks. June 16th is one of those weeks :). See you there?
Indigo Girls – self-titled – I blame this on Shana, who turned me onto the Indigo Girls.
Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine – smoked weed and ate leftover spaghetti right out of the fridge in Jason Mann’s house in Alabama on a ridiculous road trip over Fall Break my freshman year. Not sure how we didn’t end up in jail.
The KLF – The White Room – although later theatrical experience with a certain self-styled “Goddess” (really long story involving a lot of baby oil and a rolling suitcase that’s more innocent and still more annoying than it sounds) ruined this album for me, we played it over and over again during marathon D&D/booze sessions in Jason and Fuller’s room.
What were your seminal college albums?
