The Year In My Rear View
This year, for me, was less of a struggle in some ways than most of what came before. In other ways it was crazy.
Most the good stuff came in the professional realm. Lots of things that I'd worked hard to see happen did. A few fell apart. The BIG CARTOON NETWORK PROJECT got sent down which was a blow. You guys would have LOVED this thing. Ah, well.
Two big things were negative.
A friend of mine was diagnosed with cancer and is, currently, kicking back at that monster with everything she's got.
Another friend of mine, Dwayne McDuffie, left us. It was awful and sudden and I've said a bit about it elsewhere so there's no need to say much more.
Dwayne was one of the best people I ever met. Gifted. Gracious. Funny. Everything a mentor should be except not old enough to actually be mine.
I feel cheated that I wasted so much time being polite, not pushing the friendship for fear of making him think I was one more Hollywood social climber. I envy those who were his friends for longer. NOTE TO SELF: Do Not Waste Time.
I will miss him and, whether you know it or not, so will you.
I wrote a LOT last year, much of it won't even be seen until later THIS year. Short stories, the blog, comics, a novel, the TV show, the OTHER TV show, even some poetry (thanks to my wife insisting I flex those old muscles again).
Oh. We got a couch.
Normally I use this opportunity to remind people who are struggling that things can work out. It's easy, when things start turning your way, to forget the bleak times when you're sitting alone at three a.m. wondering where the hell your life is going or where you're getting that last 60 bucks to cover your rent.
Readers of this blog will know that, despite my economic circumstances, I've always been a big believer in the turning wheel. No matter what's going on in life, good or bad, the wheel will turn. When things are crappy it's the knowledge of the wheel that you use to get you through.
When they're good that same knowledge is good reminder not to get a swelled head or stop working hard.
People in my business forget that. They forget it a lot which is why you see so much bad behavior coming from the backstage of this industry.
But I won't. My life has been Interesting in the proverbial Chinese way for a long time now but it hasn't always been fun. Fun, it seems, is not the point.
Living is.
2011 was awesome. I very much hope 2012 will at least be the same. I'm going to work hard to make it better. This time next year, I hope to have a lot more to say. That's the plan anyway. We'll see what the wheel says.
The Year in My Rear View
So it's the second day of the reshuffled deck and I need to do this or I won't get to it. The last eighteen months have been crazy. Awesome but crazy.
Much of my conversation here has been about the roller coaster and what it takes to survive it. I came up with equations, some zippy one-liners and some, I hope, fun anecdotes about all that, all in aid of saying, "This is doable. It's wicked hard work but it's doable."
That paparazzi-chasing gadabout Marcus Aurelius popped this one off a little while back and I took it to heart. "Because a thing seems difficult for you, do not think it impossible for anyone to accomplish."
He's a quippy little bugger, old Marcus is, but that one is true.
So. The last eighteen months.
To compress a really long story into something bite-sized, I made it a policy over the last few years to say, "yes" to any paying gig that involved me writing, polishing or consulting on the writing of fiction of any sort. I met, worked with and for a lot of people in that time and wrote a stack of stuff I'd never have written otherwise.
So one of those former employers came to me with a proposal - "Co-write something with me and I guarantee the right people will see it." So I did. So she did and we ended up staff writers on this:
It was an interesting experience in the Proverbial Chinese way. I wrote a lot. I learned a lot. I met some great people. My partner (yes, we were partners for the duration) and I were not asked to return. They say this means nothing in the big scheme of professional TV writing but to me it felt like being fired (because that's what it was) and it was the first time in over 20 years of professional employment that I'd been fired.
Well. Wait. No. Right out of college I worked in a sort of cold-calling sweatshop managed by a former classmate who fired me for being ten minutes late. Once. He was a prick but ten minutes is ten minutes, I guess. Live and learn.
Anyway. I was rescued from professional oblivion (the sort of oblivion that exists only after you've been fired from something you've worked years to attain. can you say "bleak?") by the good folks at this place:
I loved this show and had tried for two seasons to get a seat at that table. They always liked me, they said, but the money was never there. This year, in the proverbial nick of time, not only was the money there but there was an empty chair.
I packed up my kit at Law and Order on a Friday. That Monday I was at Leverage.
The next twenty weeks were, by far, the most fun and the most rewarding of my professional life due ENTIRELY to the awesome crew of people I was lucky enough to work with there. They bust their asses to make that show and they manage to do it with a smile (usually) and without becoming [expletive-deleted]'s. To say I loved this time is to understate the feeling by parsecs.
I helped with all the episodes (everyone does; that's how it works) and I got to write this:
Fun, baby. I mean If-You-Seek-ing FUN.
And scary. Flying solo is always scary, no matter how many times you do it.
I have to stress, too, that this was, none of it, due to lottery wins or luck. I don't believe in luck. I don't believe in thanking the spirit world or providence or any of that for the wins I get in life or blaming my many losses on the bad will of evil ghosts.
I believe in hard work. I believe in taking the punch and getting off the mat as fast as you can. This blog has, when it has talked about anything serious, stressed that one view over and over.
Another thing that happened this year– and, by "happened," I mean "something else I worked hard to make real."– was this:
The Year in My Rear View
Well. It's a bit late this year. Busy, busy, busy in casa Thorne. Overall this was another banner year. I'd tell if it wasn't, believe me.
I'm not going to talk about the election.
We all know what we did on that score and we all know what we have to do.
There was bad news this year. Some deaths. Some people lost their jobs. A lot of them, actually. You probably know a few. You may be one yourself.
The one closest to me so far is described in the NEWS page so click and look. The good news, as always, is the writing. Better this year than last but, sadly, much of the Good is still in-process and Time has taught me to fear the Jinx so let's just say, things are moving in positive direction earlier than the pundits predicted.
Deals made for several anthologies last year will hit the bricks this year and I'm having a lovely time jobbing around Lost Angles in various guises. I have two original novels out to different publishers and there may be a collection in the works as well. Who knew?
Well. My wife did.
She's largely responsible for this turn of events. But that's part of the job description.
Note to readers:
ANYONE WHO TELLS YOU THERE ARE NO SECOND CHAPTERS IN AMERICAN LIVES IS A BIG FAT LIAR.
Write as many chapters as you effin' like, I say.
There were a couple of really tasty false starts too but they were fun, despite the unhappy outcomes, and new people were met which is always a good thing.
The nephews thrive like the happy, rambunctious weeds they are.
The sibling seems poised to take up the pen (or, I guess, keyboard. Who uses pens anymore?).
Life is good. One of the better things that happened didn't even happen last year but in the very early days of this one so I'm going to allude to it but not actually mention here. Next post will be wholly devoted.
Be well. Stick around. Buckle up.
The ride is bumpy, yeah, but the effects are out of this world.
The year in my rear view
Well. Here we are at the end of the year. If you're reading this, like me, you made it through essentially intact. Congrats, survivor. Kudos to you. Lots of our fellow humans didn't cross the finish line this year and, those who deserve it, will be missed. This is that official wrap up you've been dreading and, as I don't want to go out angry or to make you go out that way, I can promise, for now at least, there will be no discussion of my nation's idiot foreign policy or the encroaching heat death of our ecosystem or any discussion of the supernatural. This was, for us, the survivors, a good year simply for not having hit the dirt. Here are some of the very fine things and people that made this year, for me, better than the last. MY NOVEL, monkeys! It actually happened. Go and buy it. it's awesome. I got to develop two projects, SWORD OF BLOOD and BITTER SOULS, from comics to TV and very nearly placed on a fairly Stellar cable network. My short story, ESHU & THE ANTHROPIC PRINCIPLE was published in the TRIANGULATION: END OF TIME anthology. The first season of my web series, THE DARK, ran for most of the year to actual critical acclaim. My web comic, the Dreamnsaium just cracked ten thousand hits after only two months in the world. I don't know if that's as kick ass as it sounds but it feels good to me. Jimmie "BOMB KING" Robinson included one of my posters in his BOMB QUEEN trade paperback and, not coincidentally, Big Jim Valentino and Kris "Editor Girl" Simon included another in the sadly truncated THE EMISSARY series from SHADOWLINE/IMAGE. I got to meet two of my favorite authors, Mr. Tad Williams and Mr. Mike Carey and, contrary to expectation, both turned out to be really decent guys and in no way full of either themselves or bovine excrement. Awesome. I met the AWESOME Damian Kindler who already lives in a future I hope to see. Go check out his web series, SANCTUARY, and be humbled and amazed. I got gut-wrenchingly close to selling a TV series I created to a Wonderful, world class network (and may yet, after the strike is done) My short story, THE THIRD OPTION, was included in the debut issue of the neo-pulp webzine ASTONISHING ADVENTURES STORIES. My original novel, WINTER OF THE WILD HUNT, may, in fact, be published sometime next year. More on that as it develops obviously. Several of my other shorts have been purchased by several upcoming anthologies but I'm not allowed to give details yet. I scripted a story for my good friend TODD HARRIS that appeared in CAFFEINE DREAMS #2 I wrote my very first forward for a really great graphic novel, DESCENDANTS I was asked to participate in the upcoming HONOR BRIGADE trade paperback from SPINNER RACK COMICS and, dammit, I did! I got to have an editorial session with one of the greatest comic book writers in history, Dwayne McDuffie, and to see him FINALLY beginning to get his legitimate due. I got to meet John Romita Sr. and tell him the greatest comic book story anyone will ever hear and which I'm not telling here (nyah nyah). I got exposed to A great neo pulp web comic called WAR OF THE SHADOW CLANS by J. A. Ortiz. It combines a Hal Foster approach with modern machinima techniques and I can't recommend it highly enough. go. go look. Boom Studios' ROSS RITCHIE and the whole insane crew. Pay attention to these books, man. They are top shelf. The Antidote Trust, a cooperative of independent comic book producers, each of whom is a bitchin' boss mofo in his own right. A book called War of the Flowers by Tad Williams (he signed it TOO! WOW!) that totally made me enjoy fantasy novels again. The great web novel DINGO by Mike Nelson. Both it and he are just amazing and I can't say enough about them. Go read it. The AMAZING, TRULY FREAKING AMAZING Decoder Ring Theatre. This is an ongoing series of original old school "radio" shows created by some equally supernaturally appealing Canadians. Curse you, Canada! Why must you be so fun and Northy!? Anyway, if you like THE SHADOW or SAM SPADE or FLASH GORDON you need to run, not walk, to their site and dig in. I can't speak highly enough of them and their work. Mandy Moore's cover of Rhianna's UMBRELLA. Shut up. It's fantastic. Nickelodeon's AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER. if you haven't yet, get off your but and check it. YOU ARE OFFICIALLY MISSING OUT UNTIL YOU DO. The aforementioned SANCTUARY, by the aforementioned Damian. This is your future, kids. Get on the hover bus now. Quarterlife. Dig it. Check it. Learn from it. 'nuff said. Second Life. Sure there's the whole crazy sex aspect but, nobody's forcing you to play that way. It's the beginning of the actual Matrix, kids. No joke. Check or be checked. And, no, I'm not telling you my AKA. What fun would that be? Dayton Ward. Wendy Pini (AWESOME!!!!!) Steven Barnes Jae Yu Neal and Jana Hallford Keith R.A. DeCandido John Rogers (GO, Monkey King!) Kesi McKie Reggie Hudlin Marco Palmieri Clint Bohn Adam Belanoff (though not nearly enough this year) Vinx Dean Devlin. (That's all I'm saying for now.) Wowio.com. also, more as it develops. the bad news My comics mini series, THE RED LINE, through ABSOLUTELY no fault of my own, is almost certainly never going to see the light of day which is depressing as hell but out of my hands. If you want to see it (and you do, believe me, it's freaking amazing) feel free to contact the publishers and give them an ear or eyeful. they DESERVE it.HERE'S THE LINK. Be brutal. I probably missed something or someone and I am heartily sorry for that. I can come back and edit them in as i think of them. Thass all, folks Have a happy and safe new Year's Eve and come back in 08 for even more kick ass good fun. link urls for the fun stuff http://decoderringtheatre.com/ http://shadow.julioangelortiz.net/ http://dingonovel.blogspot.com/ http://honorbrigadecomic.com/ http://theantidotetrust.com/ http://www.boom-studios.com/ http://www.sanctuaryforall.com/
