My Secret Origin

On Monday, I posted about my geeky life and how awesome it is. But how did I get to that point? To answer that, I'll turn to the age-old comic book tradition of the superhero secret origin. Every hero, after all, has a great secret origin that gives meaning to their Hero's Journey. As a firm believer that we're all heroes in the midst of our own journey, it should come as no surprise that I also think we each have our own "secret origin" that gives it meaning. This is mine:

Looking back on my early life in New Orleans, it was no surprise that I turned out to be a geek. After all, my earliest memories were filled with programming my own video games, playing with my friend's Transformers, and watching Star Wars with my mom. Ghostbusters triggered my love of the supernatural, and Back to the Future led to my fascination with time travel. Sharing those interests with others was never easy for me to do as a kid, though. I was lucky in that I found a small group of kids like me in elementary school who were into Super Mario Bros. Super Show and playing "Let's Pretend" with Jedi and Sith instead of cops and robbers, but there weren't many of us. I'd wear my Ghostbusters belt to school and get made fun of for my interests. It was hard dealing with that as a kid, but at least I had my friends to geek out with after school.

Then I moved away from home to live with my mom and stepdad, leaving my geeky support group behind.

I took the loss well enough, but moving around to three different states in middle school made it hard for me to build a new circle of geek friends again. I never found friends I could geek out with in Florida, and just as I was making some good geeky friends in Indiana, we moved again to California. I understand why we moved so much, but man, it made life hard for me to start high school without knowing anyone. It's not like I was a social butterfly to begin with, and each move made it harder for me to open up to potential friends.

Fortunately, I found a good group of people to run with in high school, and I could be comfortably geeky again. I got into collectible card games and tabletop roleplaying games around this time, in addition to opening my wardrobe choices back up to geek attire. It was as though I had found myself again, and I made a vow to myself that I would never suppress who I am and what I like again. Granted, saying that's what you're going to do and actually doing it are two different things, but nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

It's been a long, long road to being comfortable in my geeky skin, but it's been a good one. I'm proud of who I am and what I like, and no one is going to convince me that my passion is wrong just because it's not mainstream.

Then again, looking at today's pop culture, it seems that geek is becoming the new mainstream more and more. I'm glad I've got a front row seat for the new geek order!

Tell the Truth Tuesday

It’s that time again! Let’s cut to the chase, shall we?

1. All of the stories for my anthology are edited! Yay! I’ve compiled them all into one document, along with an introduction, and I’m working on the formatting now.

2. My goal is to make my anthology available across the board, from Kindle to Nook and everything in-between, and I have a program to help me with the conversion process, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to accomplish this right off the bat. Anyone know Calibre well enough to give me some pointers? Also, I'm likely going to make a PDF version available for those who want to make their own dead tree edition. More on this another time.

3. Nutella ice cream is epically delicious. This needs to be mass-marketed so I can have it all summer.

4. My Star Tours review is officially my most-viewed page! If you haven’t read it yet, check it out here. And if you have, check it out again because I put up a link to some video I made of my in-line experience!

5. Colorado is a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. I like my SoCal weather way too much.

6. Thor was more fun than I was expecting. There are a lot of big summer movies coming out, and this one was a strong start to the season. I can’t wait to see The Avengers movie coming out next year! (On a side note, I really need to start making some good money so I can see all these movies coming out.)

7. Game of Thrones is seriously my favorite show on TV right now. I rarely watch TV, but I make it a habit to see this one every week, even inviting friends and family over to catch the show with me. There are only 3 episodes left to the first season as of this writing, but I’m sure HBO will run a marathon of all the episodes once the season wraps, and it should be on DVD by the end of the year. If you have the means, I highly recommend catching this series from the beginning.

8. My beloved’s dad let me borrow Anathem, which I was very excited about because I love Snow Crash and I’ve been looking forward to exploring more of Neal Stephenson’s writing. I’m ashamed to say that, since borrowing it last month, I’ve read a total of 5 pages of the book. The thing is MASSIVE, and I have a hard time getting through large books like that because the size always turns me off from picking it up. I feel like it’s a massive undertaking to read it, like I’m about to face down an army of a thousand pages. I suppose I just need to bite the bullet and just knock ‘em out, one page at a time.

9. I need a new day job. Badly.

10. I need a new apartment, too. Fortunately, I have a room lined up so I can get out of my current place, but I need a new apartment, STAT. A new job would help here, too.

And that about covers it for this Tell the Truth Tuesday. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to help my gorgeous girlfriend make a half-elf ranger for tonight’s D&D game….

He's Still Alive!

Though the past couple days certainly haven't made me feel like I'm alive. Whatever flu/cold/T-virus epidemic has been making people sick this week, it finally nailed me, and hard. So as long as I'm stuck on bed rest with my laptop, I may as well make an update on my blog. Apologies if it's not coherent, I'm still coughing up a lung.

And while I'm apologizing, I'll add another to the list: I'm sorry this month has been so barren of my usual wit and wisdom. The last time I made so few posts in a month was back in March, which happened to be the month that I made some great breakthroughs in my writing and got some quality work done. Three guesses, then, why this month has been so empty on my blog, and the first two don't count.

I've been working my tail off this month to finish the rewrite of my manuscript before the year's end, and I've got some AMAZING work to show for it. Unfortunately, it also means that I've been working on that every time I sit down to write, which meant I was neglecting my poor, lonely blog. In addition to all that, I bought a car, celebrated my birthday, and ventured out into the world more than I might have otherwise. Time is a scarce commodity in my life right now, especially considering that I work a full-time job, but it looks like this week has been one of "Slow the frak down!"

Maybe that's why I got sick. I pride myself on never really succumbing to the usual illnesses that float around and take everyone else out of the game. I've been eating healthier, exercising more (especially now that I have a car and don't need to walk everywhere), and staying true to my obligations. Maybe it's the weather. Maybe it's because the friend I visited over the weekend wasn't fully over whatever he caught the week before, despite his assurances to the contrary. Maybe this is just nature's way of saying "Slow the frak down!"

Whatever the case may be, it's time to rest and recover so I can meet my self-imposed deadline before the year's end. And speaking of obligations, I haven't forgotten about all of you, my loyal followers. I'll have the last few legs of the Writer's Journey up on this blog, count on that, though it may not come as timely as I'd like. The Journey will reach its end, though.

Mine, however, has barely begun.

The Hero's Journey

I’ve made mention a few times of the Hero’s Journey and its impact on the format of my story, but I haven’t really elaborated on what it is and how it shapes my narrative. I think it’s time to change that.

At its core, nearly every story ever told follows some variation of the Hero’s Journey, dating all the way back to ancient cultures and their mythology. From the original epics all the way up to modern movies, the Hero’s Journey is exactly that – the path a protagonist takes through the narrative and the events that happen along that road. The Hero’s Journey was originally mapped out by the esteemed Joseph Campbell, and The Writer’s Journey updates those concepts for the entertainment industry. If you want a comprehensive look at the Hero’s Journey, you can pick up the aforementioned book or Mr. Campbell’s Hero with a Thousand Faces. In this and future posts, I’ll be hitting the highlights, particularly as they apply to my writing.

First of all, the Hero’s Journey is a catch-all title that encompasses both genders. While the concept of the boy going out on an adventure to become a man is a time-honored staple of this model, the “Hero” part of the Hero’s Journey refers just as easily to women as it does men. In point of fact, one of the three individual Hero’s Journeys that stretch through my trilogy focuses on a female protagonist. One could even say her journey is the catalyst that sets the other two journeys into motion…

Secondly, the Hero’s Journey doesn’t always refer to an actual physical journey. While it often takes the form of a road trip or some other method of travelling to experience the danger and excitement that awaits us outside our front door, this isn’t always the case. A spiritual or emotional journey, one that takes place within as opposed to without, can also fall under this category. This version of the Hero’s Journey may not take the audience to exotic locales, but it may take them through a path of self-discovery as they follow the protagonist through a crisis of faith or a new relationship.

And finally, the Hero’s Journey isn’t just a structure for popular fiction. As Chris Vogler mentions in his book, writers – indeed, all people – go through their own personal Hero’s Journey in their lives. There’s a reason these types of stories resonate so well with audiences, and that’s because we can see a reflection of that adventure playing out day by day. Most of us can recognize the everyday version of those classic story figures – the mentor who taught us everything we know, the gatekeeper keeping us from progressing to the next stage of our journey, the allies who have aided us along the way – and can relate to the dramatized scenarios that much more because of it. Because of this, I’ll be illustrating each stage of the Hero’s Journey through the next few posts by drawing upon (highly fictionalized*) examples in my own life.

Put on your boots and strap yourselves in, we’re about to go on a Hero’s Journey!

* All names and some details will be changed to protect the innocent… and not so innocent.

Location, Location, Location

Whew, survived another holiday season! This time of year, to me, typically means more travel than usual, at least out of town if not out of state. I’m fortunate that my mother doesn’t live too far from my Los Angeles sanctum, but it’s still a sizable drive. The rest of my family is scattered to the four corners, which means braving airport security just so I can enjoy a nice plane ride filled with writing.

Earlier in my blog, I discussed being able to write anywhere to take advantage of odd writing moments throughout the day. In this entry, I thought I’d expand on that a little bit to discuss the traveling writer and some of the excellent opportunities to write that present themselves away from home.

Airlines are always encouraging their passengers to arrive in advance to check in, and in this day and age, it’s a good idea to show up well in advance of your flight just to make your way through the increasingly heightened airport security. As such, your writing opportunities begin before you even board the plane. Instead of counting the minutes until your flight starts boarding, try a word count to see how much you can get down before they start pre-boarding. This is actually a pretty good incentive to get to the airport on time for those who typically have “no time for writing.” What else are you going to do, browse the overpriced souvenir store?

The flight itself is the perfect opportunity to delve deep into your writing. You’re stuck in a cabin with nowhere else to go except the lavatory, there’s really no scenery to look at once you hit 30,000 feet (unless you really like cloud formations), and for the price of those airline headphones you could rent whatever in-flight movie they’re showing. They even provide you with your own mini-desk, and the flight attendants will fuel your creative juices with nearly any kind of drink you want. This is the perfect situation for a writer to be in – no one calling you on the phone, no chores that you remember you need to do, none of the usual distractions and excuses. It’s just you, your writing, and at least a good half-hour of writing time. And unlike the writer’s usual coffeehouse haunt, they’ll bring your drink to you on the plane.

Now, writing away from home can be tricky depending on where you’re staying and who you’re staying with. Family has a habit of taking priority if you’re visiting them for the holidays, and it’s considered rude to ignore your hosts if they’re letting you stay at their place. Fortunately, the same rules apply here that apply at home – you can write first thing in the morning or right before you go to bed. Time changes can help you out here, because everyone expects you to be jet-lagged after the flight, so it’s not unusual for you to wake up before everyone else if you’re going from East Coast to West Coast, or to stay up after everyone else has bedded down if you’re going from west to east. When I would visit family in Texas for the holidays, I’d still be wide awake after everyone else had succumbed to sleep, so I was able to get some nice, uninterrupted writing done without being disruptive or reclusive.

Of course, you might also get lucky and have a wonderful, understanding family like mine who supports your writing and wants to give you the opportunities you need to get in a little alone time for that story you’re working on. If this is the case, make sure to tell them at every opportunity how much you love them, because this is the greatest gift a writer could ever ask for around the holidays.

Jet lag can help you out here as well. People expect you to be tired after a long flight, so they don’t mind if you excuse yourself early to catch some “shut eye,” AKA writing time. Hey, if you can come up with excuses NOT TO write, surely you can come up with an excuse TO write. Right? Right. And if you’re visiting family that you’re not exactly keen on spending too much time with, this is a good way to get out of hearing Uncle Ned’s retelling of how he got kicked out of the Vatican for the millionth time.

As for the flight home, repeat the above section on airports and airplanes. Seriously, it’s some prime writing time, and you’d be a poor writer to pass up such an excellent opportunity dropped in your lap like that.

The traveling writer has a great deal of time to work on his craft while out and about, he just needs to seize it. (And I mean “his” in an all-encompassing sense, not to leave our lady writers out.) The trick is not to let a good opportunity pass you by, and to create those opportunities yourself if given half a chance. Trust me, your inner muse will be glad you did.

Happy Holidays!

Yes, the title is horribly PC of me. I'll try to do better next time.

In any case, my best holiday wishes go out to you all this season... which is somewhat silly, because I'll likely say the same thing next year. Are these my best wishes, or am I saving them up for the next holiday? Or am I going to trump this year's wishes with next year's? Only Santa knows, and he's too busy to dish right now.

Just like Thanksgiving, you may need to wait a little longer for the next post, but it's coming. Just because I'm out of town doesn't mean I'm not writing, and the next entry will be inspired greatly by my travel plans. All the same, my baby sister gets priority for the rest of the week, so don't hold it against me if you have to wait a few more days for the goods.

Enjoy the holidays, and drink some eggnog for me!

Tools of the Trade

I’ve mentioned earlier in my blog a few items that are in my writing arsenal. Since it’s the holidays and sales are par for the course over the next couple weeks, I thought I’d discuss my writer’s assistants along with a few other things that aid in my wordcraft.

As a writer on the go, I’ll start with my portable writing companions first. Back when I was toiling through NaNoWriMo, I wanted something lightweight, compact but still capable of storing a novel-length work (and accompanying short stories), with the appropriate programs to allow me to store a large text document and transfer it to my desktop computer at the click of a button. I looked into laptops, but since I was still toiling away as a mere file clerk at that time, I wasn’t exactly rolling in the spending money. The answer was simple – a PDA would serve all the functions of a laptop that I needed in an affordable and easier to carry package. Enter the HP iPAQ rx1950 Pocket PC. This little beauty operates on Windows Mobile 5.0 and includes a basic version of MS Word for your writing needs, a memory card slot to expand its storage capacity, built-in WiFi for coffeeshop internet access, ActiveSynch to move your files to your desktop easily, and even has Windows Media Player if you want some video clips or music files to inspire you. You can even hit the easily accessible record button to dictate flashes of inspiration. The rx1950 is better than the Palm PDAs in that you can replace the battery if it ever craps out on you (and it will if you don’t keep it charged properly), but you have to be very gentle with tapping the stylus on the touch screen. Too much repetitive tapping in one area may damage your touchscreen. (Also, you can find the latest and greatest HP PDAs here.)

While we’re on the subject, a good accessory to this PDA is the Think Outside stowaway wireless IR keyboard. While it’s not quite a full-size laptop keyboard, the FN keys give you access to everything you need for touch typing so you don’t have to hunt and peck with the stylus to type. It corresponds well with the built-in infrared of the rx1950, folds up nicely for ease of storage, and it has an extremely long battery life to keep you typing well into the night.

My PDA carried me through much of the development on what would become my trilogy, but the actual writing of my three-book epic requires something a little more powerful, yet still affordable. For this, I turned to the HP Mini 110, a notebook laptop that has everything the techno-savvy writer needs to write away from home. It’s got Windows XP and the full Microsoft Office suite installed, which means I’ve got access to everything that I’d normally have on my desktop while I’m out and about. It’s got QuickSynch capability, so transferring your files back and forth is just as easy as with the PDA, and I’d dare say that it’s easier to use the Mini’s built-in WiFi capability for those moments when I need to fact-check something online. It’s not as versatile as your average laptop – there’s no CD/DVD drive, but there are three USB ports to plug in everything from flash drives to headphones and everything in-between, and the optional 6-cell battery puts the Mini at a nice angle to use the keyboard comfortably. I’ve only had it for a couple months so I don’t know what drawbacks might crop up after a year or two of constant use, but I’ve fallen in love with it already. (And again, you can find more HP laptop options here.)

Not every tool of the writer’s trade has to be high tech, though. Some of the best are actually very mundane. I tend to keep a stack of index cards on my desk for jotting down the odd note, or for writing out summaries of my chapters to see if they need to be rearranged to improve story flow. There’s also something to be said for carrying around a pad of paper, if you want to go that route, too. Both options require a reliable pen on hand at all times, and I’ve got them scattered everywhere. A writer without a pen, after all, defeats the classic stereotype.

And there you have it, the equipment in my writing arsenal. There are others, of course, including digital recorders, cell phones and Blackberry devices, and even Post-it notes. Not all of them will be your cup of tea, but with a little experimentation, you may find just the right tool to aid you with your own wordcraft.