Also Known As....

About a week ago, I put out a call to my G+ pals for blog topic ideas. In about five minutes, the great Shen Hart came up with almost twenty five for me to choose from.

One of the topics on Shen's list that caught my eye was "How do you feel about pen names?". Something I've never thought about before. How did I feel about pen names?

When I was younger I remember always questioning my mom as to why she named me "Mark". She never could come up with a reason as to why I was stuck with the plain, drab, name of "Mark", though she once told me what my name would have been if I had come out a girl. Of course, now I can't remember just what that name would have been. I'm guessing it would have been something equally as drab as "Mary" or "Marcia". 

No offense to any "Marys" or "Marcias" out there.

One thing I do remember in my conversations with my mom, about my name, was always telling her I would have liked to have been named "Jim".  Not "James"...but "Jim". This can probably be attributed to some popular action figures of the day that I really enjoyed.... Big Jim and the P.A.C.K. I remember spending a lot of time playing with my action figures (no, they were not dolls!) when I was younger and....hey, sue me, it was before the Internet....what else was I supposed to do??

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. For me, I don't think I would ever use a pen name and mainly because if I ever hit it big...and I'm talking Stephen King, J.K. Rowling big I'd want everyone to know that it was me, Mark Means,....that kid who used to play with the Big Jim action figures....who had soared to super stardom in the literary world and not some cookie cutter, manufactured author named Simon James.

Oh, did I mention that if I ever had to use a pen name that it would probably be "Simon James"?

Well, it would be something like Simon James, I think. Something that had a sort of European flair to it. Of course, I could still sneak in a slight homage to Big Jim with the 'James" part....that would  be our little secret. 

So, how about you? Pen name or your real name? Why?

Another special thanks to Shen Hart for the topic idea. Shen's writing blog can be found here, so check it out!

Secret (Geeky) Origins!

My wife and I were talking, as we do often, about what things were like when we were young. Mainly about things like television, movies, and music. It was definitely a different time back then and, of course, reminiscing about bygone days usually makes them seem better then they were. This is especially true when thinking about old t.v. shows that I used to watch as a kid. Two of my favorites were Ultra-Man and Speed Racer. Looking back on them now, I always get a chuckle and wonder just how I thought they were so great. Of course, in my defense, I was just a kid.

All that said, though, it did get me to thinking about just when, exactly, I realized that I was different from other kids. The term different referring to my love of science fiction and fantasy or, 'geeky', as they say these days.

Now, as the legend goes....told by an old bard  (my mother)....I learned to read before I was in kindergarten. She's always told the tale of how, at a parent/teacher conference, my teacher asked her what they were doing at home that had taught me how to read so well. My mother's answer was....absolutely nothing. Not that she said that proudly, it's just how it was. They never read to me or encouraged me to read in any other manner besides giving me Golden Books and comic books. Mom later observed that I had taught myself to read by watching Mister Roger's Neighborhood and Sesame Street. Again, this is her tale, so I can't really validate it 100%. I do remember, though, being able to recognize words in kindergarten and knowing what they meant when I saw them on paper.

Anyway, the gist of the legend is that I started reading comic books at a very early age. Everything from Archie, Sad Sack, Richie Rich, and Batman. As I got older the list grew and branched out into actual novels...The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, etc. Whether it was because I liked to spend my time reading and drawing, things that made me use my imagination, I ever got into such things as watching sports (though I always played them, oddly enough) or more (at the time) 'socially acceptable' things. Back then, if you told someone you read comic books it would garner, at the very least, odd looks....especially if you were older.

So, it was back in 1978 when I realized that I wasn't, exactly, like everyone else. I remember seeing a preview for a t.v. show called The Return of Captain Nemo and counting down the days until it was on. While I don't remember how great of a show it really was, I remember my ten year old self thought it was pretty darn cool. The next day at school we were going somewhere for a field trip and I was asking people on the bus how they liked that Captain Nemo show. Not a kid on that bus had watched it.

I was stunned. So stunned, as a matter of fact, that I still remember it, to this day, just how stunned I was. I mean, really?? I had thought everyone would be as excited about watching it as I had been and they'd all be chomping at the bit to talk about it. Nope. Nothing. I remember going home and telling my mom just how flabbergasted I was that no one had even watched Captain Nemo. She just smiled and told me that it was o.k., and that we all liked different things.

It was on that bus, during a school field trip, that I realized that I was a little (arguably) different from the rest. While I was watching things like The Return of Captain Nemo, they were watching baseball and football. While I was reading and drawing, they were collecting baseball cards and jumping their bikes over makeshift ramps. It wasn't that I ever 'felt' different, but I knew I wasn't considered 'the norm'.

It's funny how things turn and enjoying comic books, science fiction, and fantasy doesn't carry quite the social stigma it did back when I was young.

So, if you're of the 'geeky' persuasion, when did YOU realize that you weren't quite like everyone else?

What's your "Geeky Origin"?

He shoots! He scores??

   

   


     Because all the cool kids are doing it (and I am cool....right??), I've decided to post a few writing goals for 2012. It'll be short, I promise....

1. First and foremost, I want to finish my NaNoWriMo novel. While I may have officially "won" National Novel Writing Month ( I have the certificate on my wall to prove it!), I'd still like to be able to stick a 'The End' on the caboose of my work.
2. I want to write. Everyday. For, at least, an hour a day....maybe more. Even if it's just a paragraph, or two.  This will coincide, nicely, with number one.
3. Read more. Yes, I know I said I was posting 'writing' goals but, I feel reading and writing go hand in hand. For me, it helps to see what I think works and doesn't work when writing. 
4. Learn to self-edit. Not that I won't seek out others as beta readers or editors, but I think learning to edit for myself will help me (hopefully) avoid some of the more common errors I see in other's writings. Besides, I already got a great book on how to self-edit, so I might as well make use of it. :)
5. Stop comparing myself to others. Period. The end. In my view, this is the biggest of the self destructive behaviors that a writer can have. I need to stop it. Pronto like Tonto.

   
     See? I told you it would be short.

     How about you? Any goals you're trying to accomplish?

     This time next year, I'll revisit this post with an update for these goals. Hopefully, I'll have a check mark for each....

 

NaNoWriMo....Finale'

Well, I did it. I wrote a novel in 28 days.

O.k., so it's not War and Peace, but it's a 50,000 word (and still counting) novel.

And I wrote it!

A brief recap for those just tuning in: At the start of November I decided to take part in National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), an exercise in (what they call) 'literary abandon' where you write 1,666 words a day and, in 30 days, you have a small novel. Some days, I wrote more, some days I wrote less, some days I didn't write anything. Mainly,though, I wanted to see if I could do it and found out that, yes, yes I could.

Now, keep in mind that it's not complete and is still in the rough, first draft, form. It's gonna need a lot more editing, revisions, and beta readers....but, at least for me, it's something to be proud of. It shows that I can take on a project and see it through. It also proves to me something that I wasn't real sure of...that I can sit down, almost every day, and write.

And just what is my book about, you may ask? Oh, you didn't ask? O.k., well I'll tell ya, anyway...

The T.E.M.P. Agency:

An old, almost obsolete Temporal Enforcement Mobile Patrol unit is sent back to the 1930s for reasons even it doesn't know. It seems it's programming has been tampered with so it's, basically, on it's own. Relying on nothing but older programming, it learns about the time period by studying the movies. Deciding to take the name 'Templeton Bohlts', he becomes a private eye, specializing in 'strange and unusual' cases.


When a strange relic is delivered to his door, it kicks off an odd series of events that lead Templeton and his allies Madame Vadoma...a gypsy 'seer' (never call her a fortune teller)....Frank (Colly) Flouers...a hard of hearing, ex boxer with a gentle soul...and Terry Logan.....Hollywood stuntman by day, dark vigilante by night... on a search for the truth....if they can make it in time.


Yeah, I know, it sounds crazy...but it was fun to write and, I hope someday, fun for others to read.

NaNoWriMo.....Day Twenty

So, instead of the usual 'I typed this many words today and my total is this many words' NaNoWriMo  post, I've decided to add a visual dynamic. Below are a couple of shots of my 'writing space' (which also, amazingly, transforms into a spare bedroom when we have company). A place I can go (usually accompanied by our cat, Jasmine) pop in my ear buds and 'get away from it all', as they say. As you can tell, there's a definite theme to my little area....I've been a comic book fan for over thirty years. It's a good thing I have a very understanding wife  :)

Where do you go to write? Where has NaNoWriMo forced you to hole up for the month of November? Got a pic? Post a link in the comments section. I'd like to see what inspires you all.

NaNoWriMo....Day Twelve

After a -very- unproductive yesterday, I had to play catch-up today. Luckily, I didn't have much going on anything going on today so I could spend it writing.

I only managed about 200 words yesterday, so I knew I had to hustle today if I wanted to make my word count and keep up with the program. It took me all day, but I finally got 3082 words down, all while trying something different.(at least for me)

I switched the point of view from the main character to a minor character....then another one. All still in the third person, just different character perspectives.   I'm hoping it doesn't come off as confusing, but I figure I can always go back and rework it during the editing/re-writing phase if it does.

My grand total, thus far, is 20,115. Slightly over what I need, which gives me a little jump on tomorrow. I'm seeing some of my writing buddies pulling out some huge word counts and I think that's awesome. For me, though, I'll stick with the slow and steady...unless I have a burst of inspiration or the story starts taking off on it's own.

Keep at it, NaNos, we're almost to the half-way point!