ScriptSuperhero.com

Any former kid my age who was a writer or otherwise interested in the past before he or she was personally alive will tell you what the real joy of full mailboxes can be like. So can any war veterans, but I digress.

Some of my fondest memories are things I had waiting for me in the mailbox when I came home from school. For example, I had a couple global pen pals back when I was young, including Lee Kim Koh of Malaysia and Lynda Desjerdin (I think) of Algeria. Both were dear friends for a time. Kim and I corresponded for a couple years, when I was a preteen/teen. Lynda and I kept in touch, though with increasingly less frequency, well into my college years.

The mailbox also brought be tapes of old radio programs my parents grew up listening to, or new music, or fascinating novels. And magazines were the best because most of them came monthly, except for TV Guide, which was a highlight of each week.

A mailbox can be a source of great joy when you’re a kid; despite all the junkmail, at least it’s not a source of joyless bills until later in life.

Very soon, I should be getting my contributor’s copy. It was thrilling a few months ago to find out a magazine had accepted my piece on Ripper victim Mary Jane Kelly. It was fun to research and write, and I’ve been anxious to see the results in print.

That should happen, if all goes well, before Christmas.

While it’s not as overwhelming as sitting in from of an HDTV and a Bose home theater system, and get blown away by the sights and sounds of your own work on the silver screen, there is still a vital, visceral thrill to be had to open a freshly-shipped magazine and get a whiff of that fresh ink on paper smell.

Only writers will know what I mean; but perhaps others could relate to it this way: imagine that first whiff of air to escape out of a tin of Folgers Coffee, the kind that appeals even to non-coffee drinkers, and you’ll get the idea.

This is the fun part of being a writers; the anticipation of seeing your words in print for the whole world to see.

I thoroughly enjoy the show House, M.D.

Hugh Laurie is completely entertaining, and quite a revelation as a dramatic actor for anyone who remembers him from his early-years BBC silliness on, oh, Blackadder II with Rowan Atkinson. And he brings some of that trademark humor to bear in the House M.D. role.

But whether you need a routine physical or a plasma lift, in real life no one remotely cares for grumpy Dr. House types. Take a recent episode from my own life as an example.

I recently had an allergic reaction to a high blood pressure medicine I was on. It took two days, four faxes, and so many phone calls I blew my 300 monthly cell minutes in about three days. And why? Because clinics these days love nothing better than to put you on hold for an eternity, even if all you want to do is leave a quick message for the doctor.

And hey, if you get flustered by such disrespect, be prepared to get hung up on once you finally get to a nurse.

I switched clinics, to make a long story short, and I think one bout with Dr. House would be all most patients could stand before following my example and finding a new doctor.

Unlike image-conscious actors and actresses, one career stress most writers never have to worry about is their appearance; most always remain behind the camera and never have to be a weight-conscious, image-conscious person who is constantly popping diet pills into their mouth instead of a Big Mac at lunchtime.

Still, it is important even for writers to take time out for things like, y’kniow, staying in shape and being healthy enough to enjoy a long writing career. That’s advice I now wish I’d taken.

Although the situation seems to be settling out now, I was recently diagnosed with high blood pressure. At first, it felt like a death sentence had been handed down to me. I felt that much despair. But I’ve been cutting back on the salt and caffeine, trying to find time to work out, and generally making a better effort at not being out of shape.

I don’t think shortcuts are the best idea; nothing beats exercise and reasonable eating habits. Fortunately, my wife is committed to helping me stay alive and is making us more home-cooked meals, as well as making sure my diet is balanced.

The exercise is up to me; I want to live, write, and be a husband and (eventually) father for a long time, not a short time. I may be 41, but I’m just getting started.

Currently, I’m not making enough from my writing career to browse ads for condos for sale with any realistic expectation that I could ever afford one. So if anyone wants to see the 2007 WGA strike end successfully for writers, it’s me.

However, like so many strikes these days, it seems the unions that kick up the most dust are also those whose employees enjoy some of the better-paying careers in America. Pro athletes, actors, writers and the like all have unions decrying the plight of millionaires who want to be billionaires. It’s hardly the “blue-collar” scam that unions started out being.

Sure, you have to land on your feet amidst a sea of aspiring talent to really call yourself a working writer, but once you’re in that elite academy, it’s not a bad gig if you can get it. Most staff writers on the average scripted drama or sitcom brings home a salary in the low six figures. Get “producer” added to the job title and it can close in on at least a cool $250,000, even for a neophyte with writes tripe, but at least it’s five-act-structure tripe.

Find some success and land your own show where you’re executive producer and, bang, you’re in for a lot more than that thanks to lucrative network/producer agreements.

That’s why it’s heartening to see producers with writer roots, like 30 Rock’s Tina Fey, joining the picket lines. Sure, if the strike resolution favors better terms for writers, she’ll be among the first to benefit, but at least she hasn’t forgotten her writer beginnings.

With my various reviews, blogging and other writing projects, I probably make a tenth of one percent of what an executive producer makes for plotting out a 22-episode season, writing a couple scripts and letting other writers do the rest of the real writing work. It’s good money for now, but it’s too bad the WGA overlooks the real money-poor writing careers in favor of Hollywood screenwriters, TV writers and news writers. There are some blue collar bloggers out here who wouldn’t mind a big, huge raise… but we can’t afford the luxury of a strike, nor is WGA remotely interested in us.

Oh well.