June Check-In: Exercising my God-like Powers of Creation

Things have been busy for me lately.  And not merely because of my foray into journalism school or my new job at the gaming pub.

No, I've also been busy making stuff.

For me, it's always been tricky to consider writing as an art form.  Part of it is, I suppose, a lack of elitism.  Everyone has access to words.  When someone says they're a musician and they play an instrument, there's an immediate understanding that they have access to the instrument, and special training to use it.  But words can be used by anyone and in this modern age of social media, everyone has a blog, or at least a Facebook page, and they can write long excerpts on whatever they like, grammar and spelling be damned.  It's led to a case of imposter syndrome for me.  Who am I to say my writing is any better or worse than anyone else's?  Go to a house party and see how long before someone tells you about the book they're working on.

It took me a while to appreciate that words are my medium.  Like a sculptor's clay, they are only as good as the hands they find themselves in.  And I might not be a Michelangelo (who famously did not work with clay), but I'm getting there.  I think.

The secret to good writing is to put words on a page.  A lot of "writers" fail to do this.  Most people who are "writing books" actually only have an idea and never get past the first page.  One of my greatest accomplishments was actually finishing a book.  It was a silly little sci-fi Iron Man adventure but hell if I didn't complete the damn thing.  (For those who haven't already seen plugs for it on my blog, you can read it here.)

Since I've gone back to school for writing, a lot of my creative projects have suffered.  I'm just too busy with school work.  Happily, though, there's one new project where I'm all-in.  It's a prequel to the Umbrella Academy, and it combines my love of campy superhero action with existentialism and childhood trauma.

It's not done yet, but if you follow this blog and wonder why all the entries are being posted late, well, there's your answer.

Here's a link to the AO3 version and the WattPad version (now with a spiffy little book cover!).

 Andrew drew this.

Speaking of playing God and wild power trips, I went and created life.

Meet Lil' Gumwad, who is a shapeless entity that causes ridiculous fatigue and doesn't, as far as I can tell, do much else.  My overwhelming feeling is one of mild concern as opposed to, say, jubilation.  And by "mild concern" I mean "indescribable terror."  I mean, it's very cool that I have the black magic needed to create a whole 'nother human being.  (Even though it takes nine months to work.)  It's sort of a power trip.  But it's also a huge responsibility that involves a lot of discomfort and also, unfortunately, sobriety.

This certainly puts an interesting spin on my budding career as a bartender.

 The hardest choices require the strongest wills.

I want to reassure my readers that this decision was in no way, shape, or form influenced by the character arc of Iron Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  I am still against Tony as a "family man" and have no intention of naming Gumwad "Morgan."

 

Above: From the Facebook announcement.

Below: The latest image of Gumwad, who has a face now.