ScriptSuperhero.com

Getting published is always a thrill. I have to admit, my years in journalism made it seem a bit run of the mill after a while, but now that I’m out of that field for the time being, getting published is special again.

I always thought that it’d be fun to go someplace special to celebrate a big publication event like this, but the truth is, not every time that you get published are you getting paid enough to run off for a week-long stay at the Sahara Hotel or something like that.

That doesn’t mean you can’t rejoice somehow. My choice this time? I actually decided to buy my wife a “bouquet” of gourmet flavored coffee at a United Way silent auction; I wanted her to have something to be happy about, too, and an unexpected gift is often a good fit for that purpose. It worked!

Well, my wife’s been after me for some time to stop “writing for free” and start doing something that will advance my writing career. Her insistence and produced its first results this week.

For a long time, I’ve been fascinated by the story of Jack the Ripper. I mean, who doesn’t get fascinated by a real-life whodunnit? And many of the theories I’ve read - most based around the baseless “Royal Conspiracy Theory” made popular by Stephen Knight - just don’t add up.

So when I found some contacts within that area of interest, I starting making use of them, as well as making use of the years of casual research and reading I’ve put in just to satisfy my own curiosity.

The result is that I’ve had my first article accepted by one of the top two Ripper magazines in the world; a 2,600-word essay is expected to be part of the very next issue of Ripper Notes! More details as they are confirmed. I’ll even be including a link to the issue on Amazon.com, for the help of anyone interested.

Cracking a market like this is a great business opportunity for any writer; just think, that casual, weird hobby you have just might provide your first gateway toward getting published and in print, too.

Every day for the last few months, my wife and I have been down to only one car, which means on the drive to drop her off at her job, I have to listen to what she likes. I’m a talk radio buff and she prefers music; but during the stretch that we’re driving in, they’re usually talking, doing things like the “Senseless Survey.”

The gag is, they call up folks claiming to be from the US Senseless Bureau and see how many stupid questions they can ask an unsuspecting victim before they catch on to the bit and hang up. At best, it’s a bit of silliness; at worst, wire fraud.

However, the basic idea isn’t all that bad for writers who are stuck on a project. We all know writing can feel like a chore sometimes and the words just won’t flow.

A good solution to break the logjam is to get silly … not by calling up real people, but by asking yourself dumb questions about them, like what color their sock are. Or what cologne or perfume they wear. Or whether that female character who seems so wooden to you when you’re stuck, prefers granny panties, Fruit of the Looms, Victoria’s Secret or a crotchless panty style.

If nothing else, it’ll get you laughing, which is usually an effective medicine against writer’s block.

I was born and raised in Minnesota, but sometimes I love to fantasize about living somewhere else, somewhere with winters less harsh than those that I know are only a few months away again.

One place I like to dream about moving to is Florida. I’ll sometimes even hop online and visit a Web page that focuses on Tampa real estate to fuel my imagination.

Warm weather in the winter? Sure, a bit more rain but virtually no snow.

Then I remember the hurricane seasons of recent years and, well, get a bit less enthusiastic about it. But I visited Florida once when I was in college, over a spring break, and I’d love to go back as an older adult and really look at some of the non-college kid features I overlooked my first time down. Enjoy the real Florida. That’d be nice.

A little more IBM memory is never a bad thing to add to your laptop or desktop PC. But try to tell my Uncle Kenny that!

I still have a vivid memory of Ken proudly showing off to me his Commodore Amiga 128 with a “massive” 64MB hard drive.

“That’s all the memory you’ll ever need,” he told me proudly. “You could write all the novels you want and you’ll never fill it all up.”

Of course, this was ages before iPods and digital music; video downloads; system software that takes up tens of gigabytes of space all by itself. Time sure changes one’s perspective.

One thing most writers don’t have to worry too much about is their public image. Unless they become the next James Patterson or Amy Tan, most writers are not public figures.

So diet trends like South Beach and miracle chemicals like hydroxycut are not at the top of their minds. That is more the province of actors, not wordsmiths.

Is that necessarily a good thing, though? I’m not saying writers should be celebrities, but perhaps if our profession was a bit more public than it is, we might see fewer writers who are overweight. That would be a good thing, because then we’d live longer, live to write more stuff.

Just stray thoughts…

It may seem a bit silly, but I wonder if having your own room, or sharing one with a sibling using bunk beds is a more conducive environment for nurturing a young kid’s creativity and imagination.

I know that I grew up in my own bed, in a room that was all mine, and I’ve turned out to be well-suited to writing-related careers. Perhaps all those late nights staying up reading helped me, since I didn’t have an older or younger brother to consider. I could stay up reading as late as I wanted, most of the time, since I had an upstairs room and the light didn’t filter downstairs where my parents slept.

Then again, there has to be some benefits to having a sibling. It affords one an opportunity to share their stories with a somewhat captive audience and really learn the art of storytelling by receiving immediate feedback. I guess Ill never be sure, but it is an intriguing thought.

I wonder what it must be like to be a highly successful writer like Stephen King or J.K. Rowling. To not only be well-paid as a writer, but to enjoy the fruits of your labor by seeing your stories translated into multiple mediums.

What would be more fulfilling, I wonder. To attend a glitzy Hollywood premiere of one of your books made into a major motion picture? Or to see it at home, in your living room, which by then would be fully decked out with an HDTV, home theater seating and plenty of speakers to get that 6.1 Dolby Surround Sound effect going on?

Or would the simple experience of seeing your book turned into a stage play be more fun? The possibilities of success seem endless. But ultimately, if they distract you from writing for very long, they won’t last.