So… Started work on an erotic story for an anthology that is pretty much a rehash of my typical concerns (straight guys), but is nonetheless coming along well and has been enjoyable for me to write. Me and a friend are gearing up to start a queer underground newspaper in Pittsburgh and I worked on a couple articles for that. We are having a meeting this Saturday with potential contributors. The fact that this is happening alternately fills me with excitement and fear.
0 CommentsNo real recap this week because I didn’t really get any work done. Well, not really anyway. I was relaxing after putting so much work into my wall, but I did manage to get some work done on a project I’m doing with a friend, which will be a comic book about a really fascinating Pittsburgh story, the story of Tanya Kach (Google it, it’s worth it). I did some brainstorming with another friend on a project that I hope will be most fruitful. And a journaled a lot. That’s it!
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Spent every available hour finishing up this painting project (here are more pictures). Finished it this morning (last night) at 3am. I’m tired. I used the fact that it kept my apartment in disarray as motivation to finish. Particularly, I’ve recently had to transition my two cats into indoor cats, which means they piss and shit a lot more inside and I have to clean the litter box more frequently. The litter box was in an inaccessible place, which was a good thing when I didn’t have to clean it as much, but now I wanted to move it and couldn’t until I finished the fucking wall. I would psych myself up for working on it by thinking “It won’t be such a chore to clean that disgusting litter box anymore…” There are design flaws I’d fix if I had the interest, but I’m ready to move on to pastures new. Like what? Search me. My journal entries have become wordy lately – so that might mean it’s time to write something. I’m going to take a few days off to enjoy Halloween and think about it.
I don’t know, I feel like there are lessons I can take away from this painting project and maybe apply to writing. Not to overthink it, but the fact is that sometimes getting it done is a lot more important than getting it perfect. In fact, getting it perfect can mean not getting it done at all – because what’s perfect?
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So I’m maybe going to start posting every Friday about the work I’ve gotten done each week.
This week, I barely did any writing because I was deeply involved in this wall painting project. I did my first painting project last year in my bedroom. It was so much fun but so much work, and maybe that’s why it took me so long to do another. For the past few weeks I’ve been slowly designing it in crayon, and then on Friday I finally started painting it. On Monday I literally worked for eight hours straight (and killed my back in the process). I have to say, I never get so involved in writing something that I do it for eight hours straight, and that bothers me a little. For some reason, when it comes to creative pursuits that are visual, I can get and maintain this laser-like focus that is just beyond wonderful, it’s meditative and nourishing.
So every free evening I’ve had this week has been dedicated to finishing my wall. So far this is what I’ve got (above), I plan to spend my night tonight getting done what I can. I’m mixing all the colors myself. I thought that this would be straightforward because I’m doing a value scale – so I’d mix each color with white for the lighter values, black for the darker. Well, the white worked out fine, but the black made every color look like baby shit. So I had to rejigger and now I’m doing a brown blend with the orange, a blue blend with the yellow (which is going to create some really great/ugly avocado tones), and the black mixed with the blue should work out quite nicely.
On Tuesday I took a break from painting and went to this really bizarre event, which was an Elton John charity tennis match. It was so fucking weird. I had tickets to the VIP reception, where I ate food and watched people drop $100,000 at an auction like it was nothing. Then we had courtside seats, except they were BEHIND the players. The first thing I said when I sat down was “Aren’t we going to be dodging tennis balls all night?” Well, we were dodging them, specifically we were dodging Andy Roddick’s 140mph serve. A bunch of old ladies got bopped right in the face, but I was luckier. Anyway here’s a shot of Andy Roddick’s ass – I wasn’t even trying to be a perv, this was just the best shot I could get from where I was sitting.
Also, the Tribune Review took my picture at the event with my friend Bart. This photo is copyrighted by them. The guy in the loud clothes always gets his picture taken…
Would you ever consider writing a customized story for some extra cash?
– Ron
Why yes, I would. In fact, I have, and I’d love to do it again. I’m not exactly cheap but I’m reasonable. Email me for details: bacteriaburger@gmail.com
0 CommentsI’m kind of curious about something. You mentioned feeling like your product is somewhat “watered down” with your ebooks. Do you feel that you’re putting out ebooks that have older material just to get them out the door so to speak or to pad their length?
If that’s not the case and I’m over-thinking this (which is definitely possible) then I’d be interested to hear exactly what you meant by your work being watered down and what you think a potential solution might look like.
Also, if it’s not clear, I’m not attacking you or anything, just a curious fan.
-Ben
The only reason I’m releasing my stories in ebook form is to make money. Well, maybe that’s not entirely true. I have to imagine that ebooks are exposing my work to entirely new audiences, one that’s never found my work on Nifty or on this website. So that’s another positive thing. My ebooks consist almost entirely of old material, and while I’m grateful for the money and the exposure there’s a part of me that looks at my Amazon author page and feels a little weird about the fact that this new audience is seeing all the skeletons in my closet.
But in reality, that’s what this website is, too. There are stories on this website that I’ve deliberately chosen to keep out of my ebooks because I think they suck. Yet I keep them up here because they must have meant something to me when I wrote them, and because if I start editing myself too much I might end up editing my work right out of existence.
It’s just weird because when I put out an ebook, I announce it on here and on Facebook because I want it to sell, I want to get the word out. But the fact that it’s not my newest work, that it isn’t representative of where I’m at now is what bothers me a little. Also I’m conscious of not releasing too much shit and oversaturating the market, because I want people to pay attention when I do release something that is new, that I’m truly excited about.
On the other hand, I’ve taken care to include at least one brand-new story that I’m excited about in every ebook I’ve release. So there’s that.
2 CommentsJak_Frost Says:
Do you intend to write any porn film scripts/screenplays? I know you contributed to a Joe Gage film, but I think that in today’s over saturated online porn climate of “just the sex”, a porn film with an actual plot would be refreshing. Your talent is building hot, believable fantasies with crisp realistic dialogue. A porn film like that would be amazing.
I frequently fantasize about creating my own porn films. As far as plot is concerned, the word makes me think of a story that overlays several scenes and plays out through the course of a long film, with characters who are motivated by things other than just wanting to fuck one another. I have to say that that idea bores me. My movies would be single scenes, little one-act plays, and like my stories they’d be heavy on situation, with clearly identifiable character types in archetypal situations. I think we’re on the same page as far as that’s concerned, but I just wanted to specify. These types of scenes exist, but they are really hard to find.
I would love to write another screenplay, it’s a type of writing I find really effortless and enjoyable. I suppose I haven’t pursued this type of work because I feel like it must be really difficult to get, and imagine that most of the writing is done in-house, but who knows? Any idea where I might find out? I’m game!
0 CommentsAsk me anything in the comments and I’ll answer it as long as it’s not stupid. This is for fun.
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Geez, I don’t know.
I’m basically finished with my sequel to 428 College St, which is titled 691 Suburban Dr. I have it out to a couple of friends who are going to read it and get back to me with comments. I guess I’ll talk more about the genesis of ‘691’ when I finally put it out (in whatever capacity, I haven’t quite figured out what I’m going to do with it), but I’ll say now that it was done with the intention of writing something “easy” and modest. By which I mean to say, I had low expectations for how it was going to turn out, and it managed to exceed them. It’s got some interesting characters and some good themes, I think, and overall it was just a rewarding thing to write.
As you’re well aware if you read this blog, I put out my new ebook ‘Brojobs’ earlier this week. I have to admit that I have mixed feelings about the whole ebook thing. On the one hand, the ebook revolution is making me more money than I’ve ever made in any other capacity as a writer (though the magazines paid pretty well). On the other hand, I feel like my product is diluted, or something. Most of my ebooks consist of old stories, and it’s not that I’m not proud of what I’ve written over the years, but the quality is certainly variable. I’m definitely not complaining.
Other than not complaining, I’m working on painting another wall in my apartment, similar to a job I did last year. This one is much more complicated but it’s been pretty fun designing it. I’m also working sporadically on my first “real” novel (as opposed to a short story cycle like Backwoods), the details of which I’d still rather withhold as the project is hardly even a fetus, it’s like a tiny mass of barely-congealed cells at this point.
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Hey I just had an idea. The first four people to comment on this post – I’ll send ya a PDF of Brojobs. BUT you have to promise to review it on Amazon. Doesn’t have to be a positive review, necessarily. Ok, cool.
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