My Heroes Are...

This is a tough one to answer. We all have different heroes for different reason. And I’m uncomfortable with the word ‘hero’ for a person you admire. I keep conjuring up images of firefighters and police officers with that word. So, I’ll list some people I admire or whom inspire me. This list will be in no particular order.

Stephen King - One of the best writers out there and he isn’t stuck-up about it. He himself has said his writing is the literary equivalent to a Big Mac and fries. For a non-nonsense, down-to-earth approach to writing, read On Writing.

Michael Bay - he makes popcorn movies and he knows it. Bay doesn’t go for the heart; he goes for the eyes. He is a visual director. A reviewer once said Bay films a tender kiss the exact same way he films a helicopter landing. Is there anything wrong with that? Really? Not every movie needs to be Citizen Kane. Bay does one thing and he does it well and he knows movies are a visualmedium. And he has no qualms about it.

Tsunku - The man is a workaholic. The primary writer for every music group inHello! Project, as well as his own band SharanQ, a family man, and occasional TV personality, I have no idea how he does it all. He knows what he wants in his music and he works his singers hard to get it just right. Hello! Project may not be as popular as it once was, but most agree that his songs are better than most idol’s.

Rob Liefeld - As someone said on the Image Revolution documentary, Liefeld is the Michael Bay of comics. Love or hate his art style, he’s all about the visual of the page. He has more tun his share of haters but he doesn’t let them get to him. He does what he loves and loves what he does.

George Lucas - Few creators are as polarizing as Lucas. But what I like about him is his willingness to make his products match his vision. You may not agree with what he has done, but at the end of the day his name is on the product and he needs to be happy with it. Instead of hating him for ‘destroying our childhood’ (as many claim) he should be rewarded for creative control and making the best product he deems worthy.

There you have it, people. Several professionals I admire. There are many more but these were the ones who came to mind first. Comment if you want. As always, thanks for reading.

Self-pubbing Freedom

What do I love most about self-publishing? That is a loaded question for any author. It’s also somewhat vague: do you mean the process, the self-publishing market, the “self-publishing revolution”?  There is quite a lot to say on this subject and I’m sure this won’t be the last post you’ll read from me about it.

I’ll talk a little about the self-publishing boom that has been going on and changed the industry. What I love about self-publishing is the freedom it gives writers. We can now write about anything we want, and most likely there will be an audience for it. With the gatekeepers of traditional publishing, ideas had to be analyzed and vetted. This could lead to some possibly great novels not being published because it was too much of a risk for the company. Perhaps it didn’t fit with their brand image or it “just isn’t for us.” No longer. You have an epic opera about space plumbers? Write it. I’m sure you’re not the only one who has thought of it.

The main peril with such a freedom is the niche market. One reason big names authors are popular is that they have a large appeal; almost everyone can identify with the characters or story in some way. But if you write novels with a very specific topic or a very limited type of character, your book may appeal to the niche market and nobody else. You may not find that wide audience that’ll launch your career. You’ll still have to have your day job because you’re only selling one or three books every six month to a select group of people.

On the other hand, your niche market may become some of your biggest cheerleaders. The number one way to success in writing, not mater what you write, is to write a good book. If you do that, if you write well and write well consistently, your niche market may become your best buyers. They will wait for every new installment from you and snatch it up on release day. If you’re lucky, they will generate word-of-mouth to get others to read your book.

But I’m not talking about marketing. The publishing changes that have been, and continue to take place, are giving more freedom (and power) to the writer. Writers that had ideas locked in their heads but were afraid the powers-that-be would hate them now have the freedom to write it. The risk factor is no longer on the companies, it is on you.

Your great idea about time-traveling alien plumbers who look like dinosaurs may not sell right after you hit the ‘publish’ button. It may never sell. Or it might take a few years then suddenly catch on like wildfire. The point is, that idea no longer has to be locked away. Put your story out there.

A story isn’t a story if it isn’t written down for someone to read.

Always, thanks for reading.

Balance

How do you balance blogging? That’s a good question, and for every blogger out there you’re going to get a different response. I am trying a new system this year, using Tumblr instead of Blogger.

I think the most useful feature of blogs is scheduling posts. This can a great time saver if used properly. Tumblr has a queue system as well, where you can line up your posts to be posted up to 50 times a day. Once a day is enough for me, thank you very much. I wish Tumblr offered the same thing but on a weekly or monthly basis. You can also schedule the posts, but that takes more effort because you have to type in the day and time for every scheduled post. With the queue system, you just mark it as ‘queue’ and you’re done.

Having topics in advance is wonderful. There isn’t anything much worse for a blogger to say “I have to post something today, but what am I going to write about?” There are many websites and ebooks that offer blog prompts. I copied many, more than a year’s worth, into Evernote, and just pick one at random. Any time I have an idea for a topic, I write it in Evernote.

Writing ahead is one of the best ways to balance blogging, in my opinion. Depending on the topic, some posts don’t take long. If you can afford an hour or two to write a novel every day, take an hour to blog. The nice thing about this is that you can write several posts then schedule/queue them for the week. Once you give yourself a little leeway, you don’t have to hurry yourself with a topic idea and a post to get up by the end of the day.

Also, all those scheduled posts can be edited. If you want to add more to a topic, or you found the perfect picture to go with the post, you can still add it before it hits the Net.

My advice: plan ahead and write as often as you can. If you can write more than one post at a time, do it.

As always, thanks for reading.

Cosplay

I recently shared a link on my fan Page to Anovos’s Captain Spock uniform replica. The costume, first introduced in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan, has been once of the most requested reproductions for Anovos. Their site saw heavy traffic after the initial announcement. The introductory price for the uniform is $950, with a MSRP of $1,200. 

Way out of my price range.

But I want it so bad.

That got me thinking about cosplaying and wearable fan gear in general. I have cosplayed before, at DragonCon, in a homemade version of Captain Kirk’s uniform from Star Trek VI: The Undicovered Country (that’s how I prefer to think of Anovos’s costume, instead of a Spock costume). I was the only Trek fan in that style, the rest were The Original Series or The Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager era. I got some nice compliments for it.

But I’ve never owned a high quality screen accurate uniform replica. There are lots to choose from; not just from Star Trek but also Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Doctor Who, and more. My two choices would come down to either a TWOK or Star Trek: First Contact uniform. The reason I don’t have one, of course, is they are very, very expensive. That’s more than a whole month’s salary, for me. And after seeing the costumes at DragonCon and photos from the San Diego Comic Con, I have seen costumes that I can tell people have dropped some real money into. You can tell these were high quality, even if they were handmade. People took the time and care to make them.

I love SF replicas but I prefer ones that are usable. I have a Battlestar Galactica notebook and a Doctor Who sonic screwdriver toy that is also a pen. Prop replicas are great, but they don’t usually do anything. Some make for very expensive paperweights. Which begs the question: if I’m going to lay down a lot of dough for a uniform, how often will I really use it? There’s Halloween, but it isn’t celebrated in Japan, so I would mostly likely wear it at home on that day; or possibly for the Halloween parties for the elementary school kids where I work at Eiko school. I’m sure there are other times I could wear it, like whenever I watch a Star Trek movie. And there is nothing really wrong with just putting it on during one of my days off while I write.

I wouldn’t go outside in it, unless it was for a Halloween party or a convention. Not to mention, such a purchase would drive my wife nuts. She can’t see the appeal of wearing something like that. And what is the appeal, anyway? It’s fandom and escapism. Is there any difference between wearing a Starfleet uniform and a San Francisco 49ers fan being decked out in their team’s jerseys while watching football? No, there isn’t. That armchair quarterback will never officially be a part of the team. But wearing the jersey makes you feel a part of the team. You’re showing your support and admiration to something you love. That’s what SF people do too. Walk into a convention and you know immediately what someone is a fan of: there’s a Doctor Who fan, a Wonder Woman fan, and a Deadpool fan. These people don’t think they ARE Iron Man or Captain Picard. They are getting closer to the fandom they love.

I hope you enjoyed this piece. Any donations towards a costume will be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.

The Smells Of My Childhood

I grew up in Wyoming. My dad always had various jobs, he never held one for very long, but almost all of them dealt with the outdoors. While I may be a geek and SF fan and an indoors person, the smells I associate most with growing up is hay, horse manure, and sage brush.

As I stated in a previous post, my family as always had animals of some sort. Often they involved horses. I remember helping my dad toss bales of hay off the back of a truck to feed the cows and horses at Standing Star Ranch. I use to climb stacks of hay. I always hated how it got absolutely everywhere: in your hair, down your shirt, stuck in your boots and socks. Only a change of clothes and a shower got rid of it.

Along with all the animals comes all the stuff animals leave behind. I remember being in the Fourth of July parade in my hometown. The group I was with walked down Main Street, waving to the crowd and feeling pretty special. We were in the parade! The group before us were riding horses. And when they had to go, they had to go. Not the best position to be in for a parade.

Wyoming isn’t exactly known for its rolling green hills. Mountains? Yes. Snow-covered ski slopes? Those too. Grass? Not really. But it does have a lot of sagebrush. Beautiful in its own way, sagebrush has a distance smell. It’s one I’ve always enjoyed. I like the smell of sage-scented candles. It’s nostalgic for me. But I know it isn’t for everyone. To me, I get images of wide plains, blue skies, wild animals, and a sense of peace whenever I smell sagebrush. I may be an indoor person, but I understand the lure of the outdoors.

Are there any smells that take you back to your childhood? As always, thanks for reading.

The Image Revolution

This week I watched a documentary -something I rarely do- about the impact, ups, and downs of Image Comics. All I can say is…wow.

I got into comics shortly before Image started. I read mostly Superman and Batman, and I wasn’t a big Marvel fan at the time. I had read about the seven founders leaving Marvel en masse, but I didn’t realize what a historical event was happening.

After Image formed, most of my comic were from them, especially the stuff coming from Wildstorm. WildC.A.T.S, Gen 13, Battlechasers were some of my favorites. It was the first time I really sat up and took notice of art styles. I eagerly waited issues drawn by Jim Lee and Brett Booth. I wanted to be a comic artist.

The documentary highlights the lightning-fast rise and then decline of Image, focusing on the seven founders. It isn’t quite a detailed or informative as I thought it would be, there are quite a few issues and behind-thescenes- information I think the makers assume viewers already know.

But as an independent author, watching a documentary about seven guys saying goodbye to the traditional way of doing things and striking out on their own, really resonated with me. Image had seven different studios under its banner and you saw seven different approaches to being your own boss. Rob Liefeld is a cautionary tale, but the guy has an unbridled passion for the industry. It’s infectious. I now understand and appreciate the risk these guys took 20 years ago to change the way comics were made and the lasting impact they have had today.

Here is the official page for the documentary. I highly recommend it. Thanks for reading.

Memories Of Home

When you think of the home you grew up in, what is one memory that really stands out? I grew up in Wyoming and we moved. A lot. I bet I moved about six times in a fifteen year period. Most of it was within the same 50-mile area, around the town of Cody. No, I wasn’t named after the town. It’s just a coincidence. My parents really like the name.

Anyway, I lived in a lot of different houses, and sometimes, mobile homes. Some were large, some were small. I remember one of our houses had a small church attached to it and we had Sunday Service at our house every week. A very nice lady would bring me the latest issue of the Thundercats magazine when it came out.

I have warm memories of every house I grew up in, but if there was one constant (besides my parents) it was pets. As long as I can remember I have always had animals, usually cats and dogs. We rarely had more than three; most often it was two. When we lived on larger acreage, we also had rabbits, pigs, geese, and horses. I specifically remember coming home from school when I was in the first grade, changing clothes, and going out into the pen to chase the pigs. It was so much fun.

When we lived on the North Fork, we had horses. Dad’s was named Sparky and mine was Trigger. We had them for quite a while. When they weren’t at home, they were being used as guide horses when my dad took tourists out for overnight camping as part of his job at various campgrounds. After dad left, it was too much for just mom and I to take care of them so we had to sell them.

We never bought our cats and dogs from pet stores or shelters. Almost all of ours were strays or ones friends gave us. We occasionally kept the kittens and puppies our animals gave birth to, but we never tried to have more than three pets at a time.

When I moved to Japan, it was the first time I could remember not having a pet. It has been difficult the past six years and I am so happy to have Coco now. She is a purebred Norwegian forest cat. She’s the first purebred cat I remember having.

How about you, readers? What do remember most about your home? Comment below and thanks for reading.

The Moment It All Changed...

Life is full of pivotal moments. You can trace the course of your life and say “If I hadn’t done this, then this wouldn’t have happened” and “If I had done this…” and so on. It’s a little difficult to pick out the big pivots. After all, if you hadn’t done the little changes, would your life still have led you to the big changes.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say one of the most pivotal moments in my life was leaving America for Japan when I joined the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Programme.

It hadn’t been the first time I had been in Japan (this was in 2007), I had been there as an exchange student in Osaka in 2005. It wasn’t even the first time I had spent time away from home: I did that in 2005 and also earlier when I spent the summer semester at the Savannah College Of Art And Design. But I was leaving for at least a year. Overseas. If I was homesick, I couldn’t hop on the nearest Greyhound and make a surprise visit. I was pretty much SOL on that point. 

I remember saying goodbye to mom at the Atlanta hotel. We were both so choked up. The enormity of what I was doing was starting to hit me. As an only child, I’m attached to my parents. But here I was, leaving them behind across an ocean to start a new adventure. Most kids leave town or the state. I left thecountry.

The next few days are a blur. The flight, going through customs, the orientations and meetings in Tokyo, flying to my assigned city. But after several months, I felt free and like an adult. I’ve never been very adult-like, in my opinion. But here all the responsibilities were on me. If I didn’t cook, I didn’t get fed. I was living alone in my own apartment. It was fun and felt great. 

That first year I felt I really grew as a person. It may have happened later in life, but it changed me. So much happened that first year that would affect my decision to stay (which I did), I met Yoko whom I would later date then marry, and so much more. My friends always said I would go to Japan and never come back. I expected to stay for only a year, three at most.

Looks like they were right.

The nicest thing about being here is that I knew no one. It was a clean slate. I could be me, with all the geekiness and idiosyncrasies that came with it. I could buy what I wanted, eat where I wanted, go where and when I wanted.

Of course I had responsibilities. It wasn’t all play and no work. But that helped me grow too. I learned how much of a hypocrite I am (more than I expected) and how lazy I can be about certain things, like learning Japanese. But life is always about growing. And I feel I’ve grown the most in these last six years.

As always, thanks for reading.

Comfort Foods

I admit I am a picky eater. But I wouldn’t say I have comfort foods in the traditional sense; there isn’t anything I NEED to eat when I’m sad or depressed.

But I guess I do have comfort food, in the sense that I have a lot that I miss from America. And when I can get it here in Japan, I pounce on it.

Import stores charge a fortune for their goods, nearly twice as much, and sometimes more. And they can’t get everything. I don’t order much food from the internet. Truthfully because I have never really looked into it, plus I’m afraid of what the shipping costs will be, especially for frozen/refrigerated items.

So I content myself with Jupiter, the import store in Hiroshima. If I had pick my comfort foods based on what I have bought the most of from there, it would be: A&W Root Beer, Van Camp’s Pork and Beans, Hormel Chili, and Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. These might seem like everyday staples of a grocery store, but believe it or not they are almost nonexistent in Japan.

Almost every Japanese person I know hates root beer. It’s because the same flavoring it uses is also used to flavor medicine here in Japan. Hence their nickname for it, “medicine cola.” Chili is almost impossible to make due to a lack of dried beans (or almost any bean) in stores. You see where I’m going with this? I can deal with big social and cultural differences, but little things like the this, every day foods you’d expect in almost every country, is really fascinating. And sometimes frustrating.

I’m not a big fan of Japanese food. While I believe I fit in rather well culturally, and I think I’ve adapted nicely to Japan, food is the one thing I really cling to. I’m very “American” in my choice of food. My wife Westernizes quite a bit of our cooking and she likes Western food, but can’t eat it every day. But I’ll pick Western over Japanese any day. Give me tacos instead of okonomiyaki.

What about you, reader? Any comfort foods. Comment, like, or reblog. As always, thanks for reading.

Writing Prompt

One of the prompts on my list is a creative writing starter. It gives the first sentence and I must finish it as a little story. I’ve never done flash fiction before, so here goes.

***

He saw her just as she stepped from the train platform into the car and without a second thought, he abandoned his plans and followed her steps. The mass of exiting people threatened to separate him from his quarry, but he made it into the car half a second before the doors slid close.

She lowered herself into an empty chair, her back still to him. He paused, wondering if she would turn around and see him. But she didn’t. He heard the whine of the mag-lev train engine starting, then the slight rock of the carriage as the high speed transport began its journey. He ignored the sign above his head advertising the 2312 Olympics, his focus was solely on her. He had ninety minutes until they reached Paris.

The seat bench across from her was empty. He slid into it and settled in next to the window. She looked at him, her eyes an almost electric blue. She blinked three times in succession; he knew that she was clearing the data from her smart contacts that had just ran a facial recognition search. She now knew his name and Internet address. He tried to smile but failed. She turned her attention away from him. She didn’t know him; of course not, they had never met.

Eighty-five minutes to Paris.

He had eighty-five minutes to tell her he was her son.

***

I hope you enjoyed this. As always, comments are welcome and thanks for reading.