Year of an Indie Writer: Week 32 AKA "What's the Point?"

You ever have one of those weeks in which you mutter to yourself, "What the hell's the point of all this?"

The Funk

Usually, I don't get those moments, but somehow, some way, I got stuck in that rut. Been trying to analyze why.

Last weekend, I did the grunt work associated with re-publishing my westerns from my pen name "S. D. Parker" to my full name: "Scott Dennis Parker." Updated the website, too. Have to admit it was nice seeing all the stories in one place in a location other than my website. So that was a good thing.

The new book's not going as swimmingly as when it started. That's an expected thing. Beginnings are always flush with excitement. Endings are barreling to the big conclusion. It's the vast middle where you have to keep up your game. And with this new book being unlike any of the others, the self-doubt crept into my head. "Hey, buddy, you know you can write mysteries, westerns, and thrillers. Why are you even bothering with this other thing?"

For most of this week, my answer was "I don't know." "Who the hell am I fooling" swept in and out of my brain this week. There's a writing assignment with a fast approaching deadline that I kept struggling with. I almost emailed the editor to back out. Heck, I even chastised myself for not bowing out of Do Some Damage with last week's column (seeing as how we're celebrating our decade anniversary and with me being the only original left, it's soft code for everyone else figuring out something different to do). It would have been a nice, even number. Ten years to the month.  Holly's post from last week, "Writer, Know Thyself," struck home with this mentality. If I'm having second thoughts on the validity of keeping the DSD streak going, well, then...

What the hell is the point?

The Beginning of the Turnaround

Here's irony for you. A large bulk of this feeling coincided with the beginning of August. This month marks my twenty-year wedding anniversary, so that's an awesome thing. But August almost marks the beginning of the end of summer. Around mid May, I am so excited for the summer mentality that I can't wait for the end of May, Memorial Day, and the early days of June. Early summer is such a welcome thing. The boy's not in school. I don't have to get up at 4:30 am to write. The weather is wonderfully hot. The movies, books, and TV are all geared to the summer mentality.

Now, in August, the summer's at an end. CBS's Blood and Treasure finished its wonderful freshman season this week. American Ninja Warrior is nearing its season finale. Elementary airs its series finale this coming week. Man, am I going to miss that show.

And school starts. Back to 4:30 am writing times. That's not a huge deal because I've been getting up at 4:45 to 5:00 am this summer, but still.

What August also means is that the 97-day writing cycle I touted back on Memorial Day was mostly for naught (in terms of fiction).  I let time slip away from me and didn't get nearly the amount of work I wanted to complete done. It almost seems like a waste.

But not totally.

The New Project: Watching Kevin Smith Films

From the end of June all the way to this week, I've been working on watching and reviewing all twelve of Kevin Smith's films before the new movie, Jay and Silent Bob Reboot, debuts this October. My goal was to watch them all before I started publishing them so that I could have my own thoughts on all his films without anyone going "Boy, his movies really took a dive after [fill in the blank]." I wanted nothing coloring my own opinions.

But that meant I had to sit on all these reviews. No more. My Introduction and first review for Clerks is now out. The Mallrats review comes out this coming week, so I finally get to share what I've been doing. I've seen and written reviews for eight of his films now. All those reviews are already in the can, waiting to be let out in the coming weeks. Now, I can talk about what I've been doing this summer.

The Posts at DSD

It turned out to be great timing for the return of veteran DSDers to the blog. Three of them--Jay Stringer, Dave White, and Russel McLean--all wrote about the crap time they've faced and with which I've been struggling. Dave's post about the joy of blogging brought a smile to my face. But it was something Jay wrote that, yet again, struck home.

1. Find a thing you love doing
2. Put in the work to get good at it
3. Draw your self-worth from doing it, not from what you think you'll get from having done it. 

You see that third point? I've preached that for a long time. I call it "Control the Controllables." Some when this summer, I lost sight of  it. When people are shocked that I get up at 4:30 am, I tell them it's a blast because I get to tell myself stories! How awesome is that? Well, I forgot how awesome it is.

And then I remembered. I'm a storyteller.

Is it the best job in the world? Probably not, but it's a damn good one.

Am I out of the funk completely? Not yet. But the light is there.

We creatives all go through times like these where the urge to just throw in the towel is so dang strong. It would be so, so easy to just give up. And no one would notice. Well, we would. And we'd like feel like crap.

Fight through those tough times. Persevere. Keep going.

Why? Back to Jay's first item: because you love it.

That's the point.

Blood and Treasure: The Perfect Summer Show

I cannot think of a better way to spend a summer than watching the CBS series Blood and Treasure.

As I wrote back in May when I watched the first episode, this series had me from the promos. A show with two attractive leads on on globe-trotting action/adventure expedition, hunting for Egyptian artifacts, complete with secret organizations and near-death escapes? This is exactly what I want in a show.

And Blood and Treasure delivered. Every single episode, culminating in Tuesday's season finale. If you thought you knew where things were headed, chances are good you were wrong.

The Leads' Chemistry 

Anchored by the two leads--Matt Barr playing Danny McNamara, a former FBI agent with a deep knowledge of art, and Sofia Pernas, playing Lexi Vaziri, a master thief who has her own personal reasons to join the chase--the cast of Blood and Treasure add up to more than the sum of its parts. Barr and Pernas are part of the long tradition of characters who love/hate relationship depending on the circumstances, but must work together to achieve their goals. I'm thinking Castle and Beckett, Moonlighting, the Brendan Frasier Mummy series, the National Treasure movies, and so many more.

As a writer, I appreciated how the Blood and Treasure writers allowed Danny and Lexi to grow and learn from each other, taking from the other aspects the individual doesn't have. It culminated in a wonderful scene in the finale in which each of them is faced with a challenge and they do what the other would naturally do. Loved it. Brought a huge grin on my face, especially when Danny crashed through an overhead window, dropping into a room holding onto a fire hose, and taking out the bad guys. Like I wrote on Twitter, I've been waiting all summer for that.

I also appreciated how the writing team met and overcame the obvious will-they-or-won't-they problem. From episode one, you know they will get together. It's just a matter of time. Harder still is the flip side of the equation: when the inevitable rift forms, will it be something artificial or organic from inside the show. One of my favorite recent shows was Castle, and by season eight, those writers created such a ham-fisted means to separate the two leads that I great to dislike it. I'm happy to report with Blood and Treasure, the fissures are organic. Danny and Lexi do get together, but then they separate in a way completely believable. That they end up together is, well, natural.

Barr and Pernas make a great team, but they are nothing without their co-stars.

The Rest of the Cast

In a show in which one of our leads--Danny--is a law-and-order man who occasionally steps over the line, you need another law-and-order type to remind him of the road he almost always takes. Enter Gwen Karlsson (Katia Winter). She's a straight arrow agent (most of the time) who ends up on Team Danny/Lexi by the end of the series. And she gets a wonderful, kick-ass scene toward the end of the series where she fights hand-to-hand against a masked intruder. I enjoyed her character arc because she also sees the validity of stepping over the line.

Throughout the series, Danny and Lexi always bump into old friends and enemies, but I really appreciated one of Danny's friends being a priest. Mark Gagliardi plays Father Chuck, an old friend from Boston who now lives in Italy. When he first showed up, I thought of course Danny's friends with a priest. More subtext about rules and law and order. But Gagliardi plays Chuck as a man of the world, willing to bend the rules to help a larger calling.

And then there is Shaw. Ironically, the character of Shaw is played by Michael James Shaw. I can't help but wonder if the creators had a different name for the character before and changed it because of Shaw's presence on the set. Either way, the actor Shaw brought so much fun and life to the character Shaw that he became my favorite co-star. Big, brawny, but with enough heart and humor, Shaw falls into the typical role of trusted sidekick but he brings it all with a wink and a smile. I especially enjoyed the first half of the season when he wasn't necessarily working with our heroes, but kept bumping into them. Later, when he joined the team, he became a crucial component.

These five actors and characters, and specifically their chemistry, are what elevated Blood and Treasure into a truly entertaining summer show.

The Story

I'll admit I cannot relate every single detail of the plot. The thirteen-episode, thirteen week series had a lot of twists, turns, and revelations to it that propelled the plot and sent Danny and Lexi all over the globe. So I never minded the occasional reset/exposition scenes scattered throughout the series. It helped me remember crucial details that, in real time, happened weeks ago for me.

But I loved the Egyptian archeology plot. To be honest, that's what sold me on the show from the trailers. Sure, the show looked fun, but having Antony and Cleopatra being the McGuffins was so fun to play with.

The Structure of the Episodes

And I really enjoyed how the backstories of the various plot threads were interwoven. The interludes over a map with the years zooming in and out of the present was like a literal map for the story. It gave off a Indiana Jones vibe that I know creators Matthew Federman and Stephen Scaia did on purpose. And don't get me started on all the in-jokes scattered throughout the episodes. I especially enjoyed the musical homage to Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when  Danny and Lexi visited Venice. It must have been so much fun to write this show, determine what references to include but not be ham-fisted about it. To be a writer in that writer's room must have been a blast.

The Big Twist at the End

With a sub-title like that, you know I'm going to reveal the ending. But, I'm also assuming if you've read this far, you already watched the finale. Fair warning.

The big reveal of Simon Hardwick (James Callis) Jay Reece's (John Larroquette) real son--and the real enemy--I didn't see coming. But it made perfect sense. But do you know what else it made me want to do? Rewatch the entire series. Just like when you get to the end of The Sixth Sense and you know the truth, you can watch it again and see how M. Night Shyamalan structured the film. The clues were there all along. I want to re-watch Blood and Treasure to do the same thing with an eye to Hardwick. Was it there all along? I'm hopeful there's going to be a DVD of this show so I can re-watch. Then again, it's probably already on CBS All Access. With Star Trek: Picard already the thing that'll make me subscribe to the service, might as well start early and enjoy this show again.

In Praise of the Network Schedule

In an era of binge watching our favorite TV shows mere hours after they are made available, I very much enjoyed the weekly format of Blood and Treasure. Granted, I rarely binge anything, even when a show is available to do so. I much prefer weekly episodic television. It gives me time to think about the show throughout the week, and then build excitement to air time.

Specifically for Blood and Treasure, however, watching it carried me through the entire summer. It started in May, after the main shows had aired their season finales, and took me all the way to a week before school starts. Every Tuesday, I would get my glass of wine and be treated to a wonderful show. I was able to talk about it to folks and, in one of my favorite things to do, follow the live tweets from Stephen Scaia. I loved the communal nature of watching a show at a given time where all viewers are doing it at the same time. And Scaia's tweets always gave glimpses into the production, including that musical cue I referenced above. It's the behind-the-scenes aspect of the show that I'm interested in that I'm hopeful we'll get a DVD set.

The Verdict

Blood and Treasure is one of a triumvirate of shows that carried me through the summer of 2019. The other two--Elementary and American Ninja Warrior--were known quantities. The promos for Blood and Treasure were what got me excited for the show. All the ingredients of the show--the creators, the writers, the actors, the settings, the globe-spanning and historical plot--mixed together and produced something greater than the sum of its parts. This show is all you could want in a summer show and more. It's entertaining, thrilling, funny, and romantic. I cannot wait until the summer of 2020 when Blood and Treasure will debut its second season and entertain us again.

I Finally Watched Clerks

How did I miss this in 1994?

How I Got to Clerks

For that, you'll have to read the introduction to this series. Screw it. I'll save you a click and post it here as well.

For twenty five years now, Kevin Smith has spoken about his love of geek culture. In the 1990s, it was his films and his comics. In the 2000s, he held court during live events where he could entertain an audience just by talking about the things that he--and they--loved. When podcasting became a thing, Smith effortlessly moved into that field, broadening his brand and reaching an even wider audience.

Somehow, I missed all of it.

As I look back on it now in 2019, I still can't figure out how. I’m in Smith's wheelhouse. We like the same stuff. We’re basically the same age, so the pop culture we consumed matched. Star Wars changed our way of thinking. Batman is our favorite comic book hero. And we both tear up seemingly when the wind blows a certain way.

But he didn’t land on my radar until 2012. Even then, it was only a side mention on a separate podcast and only because Mark Hamill was a guest on a then unknown-to-me podcast Smith hosted called Fat Man on Batman. I listened to the Hamill episodes and I was hooked on the Fat Man podcast. So hooked that for these last seven years, I’ve known Smith as a podcaster and occasional director of DC's television shows on The CW. In fact it was his directorial debut on “The Flash” that serves as the first visual medium thing by Smith I saw. I've written about him often here on the blog. Heck, I've even seen him live and had a wonderful time.

But I've never seen any of the movies.

Why Not Start?

One of the main things Smith has been talking about this year is his new movie Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. It's coming out in the fall, according to his most recent interview with the Empire Film podcast. The hosts--and just about any audience member in his live podcasts--cheer with glee at the prospect. So, like I did with Harry Potter in 2007 (I had not read the books and decided to read the first six leading up to the publication of last novel), I decided to watch all of Kevin Smith's movies so I'll be able to watch Reboot when it lands in theaters.

How I Prepped

I didn’t. I did no research. I didn’t read up on any Wikipedia entry ahead of time. There are a few mentions in these reviews about stopping the process of reading Wikipedia while watching the movies, but I stopped cold with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Heck, I didn’t even watch any of the trailers until after I watched the film. I wanted the movie-watching experience to be as pure as possible.

And I never went back into an older review and revised anything I'd written in the moment on an aspect of a character or situation that a later film touched on. These are all reviews I wrote after viewing one movie and completed before I started watching the next.

But even I knew about Jersey Girl bombing. I knew Tusk tanked. Smith talks about Tusk and Yoga Hosers so much in all of his podcasts that I’ve got a general idea about them. But I’ll wait to weigh in when I get there.

With my days filled with the day job, the other job (I’m a writer and publisher of my own books), being a husband, being a dad, and everything else, I found myself watching these films here and there. On lunch hours for fifty minutes, then at night for the next fifty or so. A few I couldn’t wait to get back to. Others were different.

But I had to start where it all began: in a convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey.

Clerks' Premise

Clerks is a day-in-the-life movie about two young twentysomethings who are working dead-end jobs. Dante works at the Quick-Stop convenience store, Randal at the video store next door. On his day off, Dante is called in to run the store despite closing the previous evening. When he gets there, he discovers someone shoved chewing gun in the locks keeping the garage-door security gates in place. Thus he has to craft a makeshift sign on a sheet assuring the customers the store is really open.

In real life, Smith worked at that very store, but was only allowed to film at night. Thus the gum conceit explains why there's never any outside light on in the store. Brilliant.

What follows is ninety minutes of Dante encountering all sorts of customers and friends. The film comes across as little vignettes with some clever and witty dialogue delivered by Dante and Randal. I can understand why the world (except me?) ate this up like it did in the mid 1990s. This was the same year, same month, that Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction was released, also a verbal plethora of witty dialogue. I still can't understand why I never saw Clerks at the time, but these two films certainly come from the same cloth.

The Love is On the Screen

Everything Smith loved is on the screen or in the mouths of his characters. Dante misses his afternoon hockey game so Randal convinces him to close up the shop for a bit and play street hockey on the roof of the building. And, of course, Star Wars. In the years since I discovered Smith, the only scene I'd ever watched was Dante and Randal talking about the independent contractors building the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi. Namely, their deaths. It is just like discussions I used to have with my friends in those pre-internet days. I can remember three of us talking about time travel in Back to the Future while browsing in a bookstore, and a random stranger joined the conversation. Such were the happenstance things that occurred in those days before we all had our ears stuffed with earbuds, our minds a million miles away and not in the here and now of human contact.

Smith writes Dante's love life into the script. He still pins for his ex, something he realizes when he reads in the newspaper she's getting engaged. His current girlfriend and he have a fight about each other's past sex lives, something that every twentysomething male always does--no matter his own history. Dante talks about it with Randal and others, but it's the surprising source of truth that knifes through the banter and hits home.

Silent Bob Speaks?

After I discovered who Smith was, I also learned his character name, Silent Bob. All throughout the movie, Silent Bob and his friend, Jay, hang out and smoke. They're drug dealers, slackers, like most of the other characters in the film. Jay does all the talking and Bob is true to his name. Imagine my surprise when, toward the end of the movie when Dante's at a mental crossroads, Bob actually speaks. He utters one line, but boy does it ring true: "You know, there's a million fine looking women in the world, dude. But they don't all bring you lasagna at work. Most of 'em just cheat on you.”

Knowing the adult, happily married and happy dad Smith is in the 2010s via podcasts and interviews, it's funny that one of the slackers in Clerks has the presence of mind to clear the cobwebs from Dante's head. And probably half the viewing audience as well. It was almost as if 2019 Smith traveled back in time to 1993 Smith and wrote the line for him, letting him and all Gen Xers know it'll be fine. Just give it time.

But we know that's not true. What is true is that a twenty-three year old first time screenwriter and director looked at the world around him--his present life in a convenience store, his parents' marriage, his father's own unsatisfying job, his friends around him--and knew there was something better in life. He saw a void in contemporary film making--few movies focused squarely on Gen Xers, their lives and they way they talked--and shot for the moon to fill it. He did, and a couple generations of geeks, writers, and filmmakers have Smith to thank.

Experiencing the Movie at Fifty for the First Time

Can you be too old to discover something you should have consumed in your twenties? Maybe.

As I watched Clerks, I chuckled and laughed at the jokes and the way the characters interacted. I've listened to Smith talk this way on podcasts with Ralph Garman, Marc Bernardin, and others so the dialogue wasn't a surprise. But I distinctly remember my reaction to the dialogue in Pulp Fiction so I can understand how and why the folks in Clerks made such an impact. It was one thing to have gangsters (read: adults) John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson discuss the merits of bacon or what a Royale with Cheese actually was, but it was something completely different when Gen Xers do something similar.

I've pondered what I might've thought about Clerks had I watched it in 1994. At the time, I was in grad school, ready to learn how to be a history professor and regale future students about how cool history was. I had gone straight from high school to college to grad school with no break. My membership in the University of Texas Longhorn Band gave me the close-knit group many kids lack when they leave home, so I was spared meaningless jobs and an uncertain future. I had my trajectory in my sights.

Was I too old even then? Surely not. Smith is less than two years younger than me, so our lives more or less experienced the same things. I read comics and science fiction books regularly. I watched just about every genre movie or TV show released. My friends and I talked geek stuff in much the same way Smith's characters did in Clerks. Mostly.

So how did I miss this movie? I have no good answer, but I finally got there. Seeing Clerks as a fifty year old in 2019 did not have nearly the impact it would've had on my twenty-five year old self in 1994. But as a writer, historian, and lover of most things geek, I can watch and appreciate the particular moment in time Clerks showcased, the way it was written and filmed, and look forward to the next installment, Mallrats.

I Finally Watched Kevin Smith's Films

How did I miss all of this in 1994?

How I Got to Kevin Smith's Films

For twenty five years now, Kevin Smith has spoken about his love of geek culture. In the 1990s, it was his films and his comics. In the 2000s, he held court during live events where he could entertain an audience just by talking about the things that he--and they--loved. When podcasting became a thing, Smith effortlessly moved into that field, broadening his brand and reaching an even wider audience.

Somehow, I missed all of it.

As I look back on it now in 2019, I still can't figure out how. I’m in Smith's wheelhouse. We like the same stuff. We’re basically the same age, so the pop culture we consumed matched. Star Wars changed our way of thinking. Batman is our favorite comic book hero. And we both tear up seemingly when the wind blows a certain way.

But he didn’t land on my radar until 2012. Even then, it was only a side mention on a separate podcast and only because Mark Hamill was a guest on a then unknown-to-me podcast Smith hosted called Fat Man on Batman. I listened to the Hamill episodes and I was hooked on the Fat Man podcast. So hooked that for these last seven years, I’ve known Smith as a podcaster and occasional director of DC's television shows on The CW. In fact it was his directorial debut on “The Flash” that serves as the first visual medium thing by Smith I saw. I've written about him rather frequently here on the blog. Heck, I've even seen him live and had a wonderful time.

But I've never seen any of the movies.

Why Not Start?

One of the main things Smith has been talking about this year is his new movie Jay and Silent Bob Reboot. It's coming out in the fall, according to his most recent interview with the Empire Film podcast. The hosts--and just about any audience member in his live podcasts--cheer with glee at the prospect. So, like I did with Harry Potter in 2007 (I had not read the books and decided to read the first six leading up to the publication of last novel), I decided to watch all of Kevin Smith's movies so I'll be able to watch Reboot when it lands in theaters.

How I Prepped

I didn’t. I did no research. I didn’t read up on any Wikipedia entry ahead of time. There are a few mentions in these reviews about stopping the process of reading Wikipedia while watching the movies, but I stopped cold with Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Heck, I didn’t even watch any of the trailers until after I watched the film. I wanted the movie-watching experience to be as pure as possible.

And I never went back into an older review and revised anything I'd written in the moment on an aspect of a character or situation that a later film touched on. These are all reviews I wrote after viewing one movie and completed before I started watching the next.

But even I knew about Jersey Girl bombing. I knew Tusk tanked. Smith talks about Tusk and Yoga Hosers so much in all of his podcasts that I’ve got a general idea about them. But I’ll wait to weigh in when I get there.

With my days filled with the day job, the other job (I’m a writer and publisher of my own books), being a husband, being a dad, and everything else, I found myself watching these films here and there. On lunch hours for fifty minutes, then at night for the next fifty or so. A few I couldn’t wait to get back to. Others were different.

The Schedule

One of the things I would have loved to have done was watch all the movies before I started posting—to avoid outside influences—but the time table didn’t work out. I always envisioned this series to have weekly installments. Sure, I could have dropped all of them twelve days ahead of Reboot, but I wanted to start a conversation with these posts. I want to be able to watch the DVD extras during these next couple of months to get a better insight on the films, the characters, and the actors. I'd love folks who have seen these movies over and over to anticipate what I might say about their favorite film.

I started in the middle of June 2019, but then on 18 July 2019, Smith dropped the trailer for the new film. More importantly, he and Jason Mewes are going on the road to show the movie and talk about it. They land in Houston on 30 October (and I’ve already purchased my ticket). That’s twelve weeks from now. The new movie is Smith’s thirteenth. I think you see where I’m going.

Starting on 7 August, and going for the next twelve Wednesdays, I’ll post my review of each Smith film to date. The last review will be for Yoga Hosers on 23 October. A week later, Smith and Mewes will be in H-Town and I’ll see the new flick. Naturally, I’ll review it, too, on 6 November.

Here is the order and date of review:

1. Clerks (1994) – 7 August
2. Mallrats (1995) – 14 August
3. Chasing Amy (1997) – 21 August
4. Dogma (1999) – 28 August
5. Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back (2001) – 4 September
6. Jersey Girl (2004) – 11 September
7. Clerks II (2006) – 18 September
8. Zack and Miri Make a Porno (2008) – 25 September
9. Cop Out (2010) – 2 October
10. Red State (2011) – 9 October
11. Tusk (2014) – 16 October
12. Yoga Hosers (2016) – 23 October

Interlude 1: Ranking of all films except Reboot

Interlude 2: Favorite Performances except Reboot
13. Jay and Silent Bob Reboot (2019) – 6 November

14. Clerks III (2022) - 16 September

As of today, I have watched and written reviews for eight movies, so that means I've already seen Zack and Miri Make a Porno. I have only four more to go until Reboot comes out.

And that bit about being able to watch the extras on DVD? Already started. Actually ordered one on Amazon, but picked up others at Half Price Books. I'll probably either do a separate review for the behind-the-scenes material or do bonus episodes.

There might also be a video component.

I want to reiterate what I hope will happen. I'd love to have a conversation about these movies. A back and forth. I mean, I have twenty-five years of chit-chat to catch up on.

But we have to begin where it all started, twenty five years ago, at a convenience store in Leonardo, New Jersey.

Come back Wednesday for Clerks.

Year of an Indie Writer: Week 31 AKA Ten Years and 1,000 Posts

Today marks two anniversaries: this is the 1,000th post on my original and ongoing blog and this weekend is the 10th anniversary of the founding of Do Some Damage.

For a time, I didn't cross-post my entries, but I started to. Why not? There might be folks who only read what I have to say on one site and not the other. When I noticed the two anniversaries approaching, I made sure the two streams crossed today.

Ten years ago this summer, Steve Weddle invited me to join his venture. Since I was the only guy without a published book, I got the Saturday slot. I believe I had landed on the radars of both Steve and Jay Stringer via my own blog posts starting in 2007. I was putting myself through what I called the Self Education of Crime and Mystery Fiction. In checking the number of posts I made in 2008 (248), you can see how much I had written.

I enjoyed the idea of a weekly column. Still do. For a decade now, my family knows that if I haven't penned anything by Friday night, I'll excuse myself to bang out a post. If I'm traveling, I write the blog post ahead of time and schedule it to drop on Saturday. I cannot remember a time when I've missed a post, so that's ten years of consecutively writing a Saturday column, minus the end-of-year breaks.

It's been fun. Really, really fun. I've gone from a guy who thought he knew what he wanted to write about to someone tangentially different. I've gone from a guy who looked to traditional publishing as the only road to an independent author/entrepreneur running my own business. Never would have saw that coming. Hat tip to James Reasoner for putting that idea in my head.

Some weeks I don't know what to write. Others, I write a lot. This thing I've been doing all 2019--Year of an Indie Writer--is one way always to have something about which to write. I've enjoyed it, and I suspect I'll collect all these posts into a book one day. It would be an interesting exercise to add up all the words I've written just to have the number. I'm proud of both anniversaries today.

A decade is a long time, and 1,000 posts is a lot of words. I'm glad folks still read what I have to say and join in the conversation along the way. It's been a blast. There are exciting things in store I have planned, and I'll be writing about it all the way.

Now, onto the future...

Blog Post of the Week

BTW, did you read returning columnist Kristi Belcamino's column yesterday about her adventures in indie publishing? Why not? Do it now. Follow what she does because she's laid out a path for any indie writer to follow.

Discovery of the Week: Halestorm

On Thursday night here in Houston, I went to see Alice Cooper. I knew his show would be good. Had no clue about the opening band, Halestorm.

Holy cow! Blew me away!

Here's just the Halestorm part of my larger post.

Last night, I went from "Who the heck is Halestorm?" to "Holy cow, you've got to listen to Halestorm!"

Sure, I could have looked up their music ahead of time, but I wanted their show to be new on the spot. So glad I did. This four-piece band is led by a charismatic lead singer/rhythm guitarist named Lzzy Hale. It's not everyday you see a female-fronted rock band that is this damn good. She, however, is incredible. Her singing voice is a unique mixture of gravel and clear, depending on what she wants to do with it. Her guitar playing keeps the band's music humming, but she can cut a solo pretty darn good. More importantly, she was having an absolute blast. Sure, she's snarl on some songs, but more often than not, when she'd leave the mic, she was grinning, like "Can you believe this is my job?"

The opening tunes were good, but by the end, I was sold. Heck, that last song, with its extended guitar solos, all but morphed into the chord pattern and rhythm of Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4." My ears may have been hearing what I wanted to hear, but I could have sworn part of the lead guitarists notes were homages to Terry Kath.

Check out Halestorm live if you can. You'll be standing and cheering by the end of their set.

Alice Cooper with Halestorm in Houston

The year 2019 began with discovering a unknown-to-me Alice Cooper record, so it was altogether fitting that the original shock rocker himself toured during the summer of 2019. Back in January, my son played Welcome 2 My Nightmare, the 2011 follow-up to Alice's 1975 Welcome to My Nightmare. Love this record, especially the opening track, "I Was Made of You," a powerful slow burn rock song that would be great as an opener. The album surprised me as I had barely heard any Alice Cooper music for nearly my entire life.

My son, who has continually expanded his collection of Alice Cooper album, and I caught the show in Houston last night, and it was incredible. It was no surprise Cooper put on a great show, but what really surprised me last night was the opening act.

The Discovery of Halestorm

Last night, I went from "Who the heck is Halestorm?" to "Holy cow, you've got to listen to Halestorm!"

Sure, I could have looked up their music ahead of time, but I wanted their show to be new on the spot. So glad I did. This four-piece band is led by a charasmatic lead singer/rhythm guitarist named Lzzy Hale. It's not everyday you see a female-fronted rock band that is this damn good. She, however, is incredible. Her singing voice is a unique mixture of gravel and clear, depending on what she wants to do with it. Her guitar playing keeps the band's music humming, but she can cut a solo pretty darn good. More importantly, she was having an absolute blast. Sure, she's snarl on some songs, but more often than not, when she'd leave the mic, she was grinning, like "Can you believe this is my job?"

The opening tunes were good, but by the end, I was sold. Heck, that last song, with its extended guitar solos, all but morphed into the chord pattern and rhythm of Chicago's "25 or 6 to 4." My ears may have been hearing what I wanted to hear, but I could have sworn part of the lead guitarists notes were homages to Terry Kath.

Check out Halestorm live if you can. You'll be standing and cheering by the end of their set.

The Shock Rocker Himself

Alice Cooper is touring behind his Ol' Black Eyes is Back show which features what seems like not only a greatest hits show, but a greatest hits of stagecraft. His stage setup resembled some Gothic castle with an upper part and the main stage below. The drum kit was off to the left side which enabled the giant central door to to center stage.

Much like David Bowie's arrival on this very same stage in 2004, Alice knows his silhouette is unique. So after the extended introduction, the curtain fell, the band turned it up, and there he was, on the top, waltzing down with a top hat and cane.

Cher's got nothing on Alice. With almost every song, Alice would alter part of his wardrobe. A few songs later, Alice brought out maracas with lights on them. Maracas in a rock band? Yup. He brought out a bloody crutch for Eighteen, a sword (foil) for Billion Dollar Babies, and a riding crop for Poison.

Aside from his wardrobe changes, every now and then, he'd have various stage hands, all dressed in costume, come out and be part of the show. Sometimes they'd appear as knights, other times, as mental asylum attendants complete with baby-faced masks. The entire show, Alice never broke character. He knew where the cameras were and played to them, snarling with aplomb and giving the audience all it wanted.

The Guitarists

In any given rock back, you have a lead guitar. The Alice Cooper band has three, each of whom could front their own band. Here, they're just part of his band, but each gets to shine.

In an evening of discovery, one of the three was Nita Strauss. Given everyone's long hair, it took me a song before I figured out she was a she. Cool, I thought, Alice has a lady guitarist. She was no mere guitarist. She is a phenom. She shredded as good as I've ever seen. She was incredible, as was the other two guys in the band.

I may have waited nearly fifty years to catch my first Alice Cooper concert, but it was well worth it. Absolutely loved the show last night and the discovery of Halestorm. If you have a chance to catch this show, buy a ticket.

Hoover by Kenneth Whyte

Even to a historian, Herbert Hoover was a mystery.

Before reading Kenneth Whyte’s new biography of our 31st president, Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times, I knew three general things about Hoover. After World War I, he was instrumental in helping Europe feed itself and get back on its collective feet. As Secretary of Commerce from 1921 to 1929, he helped steer the American economy to high levels before the Stock Market Crash of 1929. And, as president, he was unable to stem the tide of Depression. On that last point, I had the general impression Hoover did little other than to say the Depression was just the way of business. It was only when Franklin Roosevelt came into office that the American government possessed a man willing to try anything to help.

But as I listened to the book and read about his energetic performance in just about everything he put himself into, a question began to form: what went wrong during his presidential administration? That is, didn’t Herbert Hoover try to help people?
When one reads a biography of a famous figure, generally you find things you like and can admire. Funny thing with Hoover: he was a peculiar man and, at least until his later life, an almost shy person who didn’t always enjoy the company of some people. In fact, during the early years of this biography, I got to thinking Hoover wouldn’t always be a guy with whom you’d want to just hang out. He was just peculiar. Even his marriage seemed rather perfunctory. The more the biography went on, the more it seemed, as the author noted, Hoover was a mere spectator of his own family.

Yet his engineering mind was fantastic. He worked all over the world which gave him a global perspective on things. In one of the more remarkable events I admired, it took Hoover, then living in London, barely a day to start setting up a group to help stranded American caught unawares at the outbreak of World War I. Many folks were stranded with no means to obtain money to buy a ticket back to America. Hoover started up a committee and did the thing he almost always insisted on: make him the one decision maker and leader. In this capacity, he was able to direct resources where needed and helped get over 100,000 Americans back home.

He repeated the feat during the war as he headed another committee to aid in relief of hungry Belgians. What I found fascinating was Hoover’s group, The American Relief Administration, was the only group recognized by both sides of the war. Each side allowed Hoover’s ships—flying its own flag—through enemy lines.

He was a data-driven man in an era just beginning to understand what data was and how it could be used. As Secretary of Commerce (and “under-secretary of everything else” as his detractors said), Hoover took an activist role in government. President Harding encouraged this and, when Coolidge assumed the office, kept Hoover on. He was in prime position to bring his expertise to American when the Mississippi River flooded in 1927. There Hoover was, on the ground, doing what he was most able to do: harness the goodwill of people and direct it to those in need.

He was a logical choice as the Republican nominee in 1928, and he won easily. His help to the poor in 1927 brought a large majority of Americans to his side in addition to the typical GOP voter. In an era of the Roaring Twenties, everyone seemed to like Hoover. Yet the man himself saw the warning signs looming on the horizon. He tried to thwart a potential downturn as Commerce Secretary, but others didn’t share his views. When the crash arrived, Herbert Hoover did what he had always done: gather a team with mounds of data and attack the problem.

It was here where I had my eyes opened. Rather than be the man who seemed to sit idly by waiting for the market to correct itself, Hoover actively pursued solutions. Sure, his personality wasn’t suited to leading the country in its most dire time before World War II, but he wasn’t a bystander. True, he preferred the government not to actively intervene if at all possible. He extolled the virtues of volunteerism, by individuals as well as businesses, seeing it as the best way for Americans to get back on their feet. But when businesses didn’t respond, he led the way. Not all his policies worked—the notorious Smoot-Hawley Tariff being the most famous example—but it is easy to see how Hoover paved the way for the direct government intervention of the Roosevelt years.

It is a rare figure where both sides of the political spectrum can claim a man as their own. The Progressives saw in Hoover a man willing to try things and have, as his ultimate aim, the betterment of his fellow Americans (and humans, as per his work prior to his government service). At the same time, the modern conservative movement can also claim Hoover as their own. After his defeat in 1932, he became a critic of what he saw as the overreach of FDR, and laid down a philosophy picked up by other conservatives in the 1950s and 1960s.

Herbert Hoover was a complicated man, yet there was more to him than meets the eye (or is contained in a Wikipedia article). He was certainly far from perfect and Americans needed a leader more personable than him during the Depression, but Hoover was a more-than-capable man who stands as a unique member of the American presidency. Whyte’s new biography is a fascinating exploration into a man hard to pin down, but is well worth the time.

Chuck E Con 2019: Bigger, Better, More Emotional

Like any good sequel, Chuck E Con 2019, a convention focused on Chuck E. Cheese, the pizza-loving mouse, and his pals was bigger, better, and more emotional.

In 2018, Matt Rivera, a longtime Chuck E. Cheese (CEC) fan since he was a boy, saw a gap in the CEC fandom. There hadn't been a convention since 2013. Seeking to fill that void, Rivera created Chuck E Con, an event where memorabilia could be on display, live shows performed in costume, and fans of the franchise could mingle, meet, and just talk all things CEC. My boy and I attended last year's convention, so when this year's gathering was announced, it was inked on our calendar for months.

If you read my review from the 2018 edition, you'll see how much everyone involved enjoyed the experience. But this year's con was much better. And it starts with the venue.

Old Town Keller and the Keller Roundhouse

I'm not sure how Matt and his friends decided to move across the Dallas/Ft. Worth metroplex to the suburb town of Keller, but it was a fantastic idea. Old Town Keller is an updated area running along the railroad tracks. Likely it was the original downtown of Keller itself, and, like many small towns, it had fallen on hard times. Now, as its website mentions, it has rejuvenated the small town feel and updated it to a pedestrian-friendly shopping area with small shops and wonderful restaurants. In the mix was the Keller Roundhouse, a rentable venue for any sort of activity.

The entire area was awesome! When we all arrived and found a place to park, there was zero need to drive anywhere else. Right outside the Roundhouse was an open-air seating area where folks who were attending the convention could sit and talk. Everyone seemed to walk to the various restaurants and have a meal or two. We had great BBQ in Roscoe's Smokehouse on Friday night and a good chicken sandwich at The Station Patio Icehouse right next door to the Roundhouse. Starbucks was a mere three-blocks away. Heck, there was even Empire Toys, a new and vintage toy store that actually sold original trading cards from the 1989 Batman movie. Yeah, I bought a pack. No, I didn't chew the gum.

All this is to say that Chuck E Con 2019 was made even better by its location.

The Convention Itself

The events of the convention lasted two days, Friday and Saturday. After a meet-up at a CEC location in White Settlement, Texas, the convention kicked off in the Roundhouse. The same group of friends ran the 2019 version, including Matt, Emily Sullivan, Brandon McMillan, and Jacob Goldberg, and they upped their game this year. The interior was laid out very nicely, with all the memorabilia along the two side walls with the stage up front. Rows of chairs lined the main area, enabling fans and parents to while away the time chatting when there wasn't a live show up front.

Being Recognized

Attending the second con was like old-home week. It was great seeing again the parents and kids whom my boy and I saw last year. And for my son, who served at a cameraman, recording all the events, being recognized was a thrill. Almost as soon as we came in the door, fellow fans came up to him and said hello. I got to say hi to the parents and other folks I recognized from last year. It was a warm and welcoming environment.

The Fraternity/Sorority of Parents

Speaking of the parents, it's a special parent willing to attend Chuck E Con with their kids. Some fans live in the Metroplex, but we drove up from Houston. That wasn't the farthest trek by far. A trio drove over from Birmingham, Alabama, while an entire family flew in from New York. I met a young man who flew from Florida and another from Georgia. Another family drove two days south from Colorado. Safe to say that fans of CEC came from everywhere, and there were still some my son knew who could not make it.

I got to meet and chat with a dad who was also fan. He and his family are from Colorado and he's actually purchased a complete vintage animatronic show that he plans to install in his basement. Speaking of the animatronics, I met a young man who enjoys buying old robots that do not work and restoring them. He brought one to the con to show. According to his mom, she thought it might have been a scam, but when the giant box arrived at their house, she knew it was real. It was this young man's birthday on Saturday, so he got feted by Chuck and his pals with the birthday song. Pretty darn special.

The Guests Were Amazing

Speaking of special, Matt secured some VIPs to the con this year. Matt Daniel works in CEC Entertainment. He focuses on the videos you see in the stores as well as some voice-over work. He arrived on Friday and sat for an interview session and meet-and-greet.

Saturday brought out the big names. Jeremy Blaido is the voice of Jasper T. Jowls, Chuck's canine pal. Jeremy caused a stir among the folks in the room when he arrived, but it was nothing like that of Duncan Brannan. You see Duncan was the long-time voice of Chuck E. himself. If you were a fan or went to the stores during the 1990s and into the 2000s, Duncan's voice was the one you heard. Heck, my boy does an imitation of him. When he arrived, it was fun to hear the ripple of recognition associated with "Duncan's here" filter around the room. His Q & A with Jeremy was the highlight of the entire con for me because every question I had as a casual CEC fan--mostly about the voice-over work in particular--they addressed. I nearly--and should have--walked up and got a picture with them. Missed opportunity.

Emotional Moments

There were a few emotional moments at the con I wasn't expecting. One of Duncan's answers revolved around favorite moments while being the voice of Chuck (and a certain purple dinosaur). He talked about visiting hospitals with sick kids as being one of the more humbling experiences he's done. If he and his work can bring joy to folks in their darkest of times, he said, then his work is well done. As a parent, just imagining my own kid sick and having someone like Duncan lighting up their day, well, it got to me.

But nothing like later on Saturday evening. During one song, the dedication went out to the members of the fandom who are no longer with us. There was a couple who showed up in the evening and even my boy didn't know who they were. Turns out they were the parents of a special fan who lost his battle to cancer. After the special song, each of the characters walked up to these parents and gave them a hug. It got to me, big time. I cannot imagine the loss of a child, but I hope they know that their son will live on in the CEC fandom for years to come.

A Wonderful Experience

I'm far from a die-hard CEC fan although I do pick up bits of detail along the way. I'm just a parent accompanying his kid, but I enjoyed the convention quite a bit. I loved seeing these fans and parents again. I enjoyed walking around Old Town Keller, just killing time between shows with my boy. I liked the familial vibe of the entire weekend.

Every property has its fandom. I'm a comic book, Star Wars, super-hero movie geek, so I certainly get the CEC fandom. I'm just so glad that the fandom, and especially Matt and the rest of the folks who run Chuck E Con are working so hard to create such a great convention.

Looking forward to 2020.

Year of an Indie Writer: Week 30

Prolific writer Dean Wesley Smith calls summer the Time of the Great Forgetting. It’s that part of the year in which all those New Year’s Resolutions authors made to write more content slowly fades away. Come Labor Day, they’ll wake up, realize they blew a 97-day time to progress on their work, and likely feel depressed. Smith has a cure for that here.

For me, it’s not so much a great forgetting as a dividing of focus. There’s a project I’m working on—the same one I mentioned last week, the one about a filmmaker’s work—that’ll go live the first full week of August. It’s grown more than a bit, but it’s a blast to do. Looking forward, the bulk of the work on this project will be done by mid August, and from then on, it’ll just be rolling out on a weekly basis.

And there might be a video component. Stay tuned.

But said filmmaker’s body of work has also inspired to write a novel that is completely different than anything I’ve ever written. I’m making slow but steady progress on it, with an aim for publication this fall. I’m not forgetting.  Are you?

One Name to Rule Them All

Back in 2015 when I started publishing my mystery novels, I used my full name. When I came around and started publishing Westerns, I kept full name. Over time, as I listened and learned how other writers conducted their businesses, I decided to segment my books with a separate pen name for the Westerns, S. D. Parker. The idea was Also-Boughts and the algorithms churning underneath the facades of all the various online bookstores. Made sense at the time.

But over time, my thinking has evolved. When I ask veteran writers the question about pen names, almost all of them suggest using a single name, no matter then genre. As long as the covers are genre-specific with genre-specific SEO and blurbs, it’ll ultimately be better to have a single name and put everything under it.

I was leaning that direction, but over the summer, I have decided to bring the Westerns under the Scott Dennis Parker name. It’s not a big deal, really. All it means is that I’ll have to de-list the S. D. Parker books, slightly change the covers and internal front matter, and then republish.

If someone finds my work via Westerns and they like mysteries, they’ll have an easy transition. The reverse is also true.

More importantly, however, is the idea that a business can change as trends and new ideas emerge. Nothing wrong with that.

Having everything under one name will make all grunt work of file management much more streamlined.  I’m even contemplating bringing all my stories under the Draft2Digital universe. I’ve got most of them there now and they truly make it a no-brainer. just this week, I’ve been sending them questions about the procedures for changing my author name. They get back to me with personalized answers within a day. Customer service goes a long way.

Anyone else use Draft2Digital? If not, I certainly recommend them.

Interview of the Week: Paul Levitz

Dan Greenfield, over at the wonderful 13th Dimension website, re-posted his 2015 interviews with Levitz in honor of the longtime editor/writer’s induction into the Eisner Hall of Fame at Comicon this year.

They talk about his tenure as the sole Batman editor starting in 1978. Great behind-the-scenes stuff.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

American Ninja Warrior: Your Weekly Dose of Exciting Positivity

If you want to kick off your week with some fist-pumping joy complete with inspirational backstories, there is no better place than American Ninja Warrior on NBC.

My Path to ANW

I'll admit something here that'll give a bit of insight into why I enjoy this show so much: back in the day, I dug American Gladiator. In that old show, amateur athletes would compete against professional ones on the obstacle course.

But ANW is actually a better show, for one reason: each individual amateur ninja who competes is competing against himself or herself. Yes, it's a competition show in which the top finishers move on and a winner is crowned, but fundamentally, it's about one person against a series of obstacles. Will he or won't he? Can she do it or can't she? And that's what separates this show apart from most every reality/competition show I know. It's now appointment television for me. Heck, I've even got my wife watching it with me.

Camaraderie Among the Contestants

We are now in season 11. Over the years, certain competitors have returned year after year, gaining a following and their own fan base. But here's the irony: I only know the names of a few of them. The rest I can recognize, but I'm always searching for their names.

Drew Dreschel is one I know by name and sight. Dude makes it look so easy. On Monday's city finals in Atlanta, he finished the course in a little over three minutes. Some folks don't get halfway in three minutes. There's Jesse Graff, a stunt woman who has worked on the Wonder Woman movie and who used to wear super-hero themed outfits during her runs. A few weeks ago, a forty-two year old mom, Sandy Zimmerman, became the first mother to complete an ANW course. And Daniel Gil, a local guy, who always does well.

The major contestants travel to the various cities and cheer on their friends and newcomers.

And therein lies the magic of this show.

The Cheering Makes You Smile

You'll never hear a 'boo' in this show. You'll never see one competitor who has finished with a certain time root against another contestant to lose. Even the hosts--Matt Iseman and the every excitable Akbar Gbaja-Biamila*--cheer on the contestants. There are chants of "Beat that wall!" as the athletes face either a 15-foot or an 18-foot wall. Often a competitor's family and friends will don special t-shirts featuring the competitor's tagline or nickname.

And yes, there are the feel-good backstory vignettes that talk about a sick parent or ill wife or a child who needs a kidney. That's what I love about this show. It makes you feel good. It gets your blood pumping when they overcome an obstacle or wince if they face-plant into a pad.

Because for most of these athletes, just getting to the starting line is the victory. Whatever they do on the course is gravy. You get to see triumph on their faces no matter the outcome.

There's a spirit about this show that I look forward to every week and every summer. It is the perfect way to spend a couple hours ever week of the summer filling your bucket with rays of hope and excitement.

And boy do I want to give it a try!

*Gbaja-Biamila has written a inspirational book and I've already started reading. Here's the Amazon link.

Apollo 11 (2019 documentary)

It really is just like you were there.

On Saturday, CNN broadcast the 2019 documentary "Apollo 11" by Todd Douglas Miller. This was the film I had heard about earlier this year, but never got around to seeing in the theater or on IMAX.

Big mistake.

Miller uses recently discovered archival footage, much of which is in color and 70 mm, and creates an immersive experience. With no modern voice over, the only dialogue comes from Walter Cronkite, but only when the astronauts on readying for their flight. Other than that, all the voices are contemporary to 1969.

One of the best things was the footage of all the folks who lined the roads and parking lots in Florida that July day to watch the Saturn V rocket blast off. Families eating and playing together, couples lying on the beach, folks crowding the balconies of a motel, all angling to get a good look. You really get the vibe of a day-in-the-life of the summer of 1969. The clothes, the cars. One of my favorite things during my graduate research via microfilm--and the thing that always sidetracked me--was the newspaper ads. You get a good glimpse into what people bought and sold. Same thing here. I especially loved all the folks watching the launch through their own individual camera lenses. Just like modern concerts and smart phones.

The space flight itself was also cool. There's the moment after Apollo 11 has left Earth orbit where the crew have to maneuver the command module around, dock with the lunar lander, then rotate again, and fire the rockets. The camera follows in real time as Michael Collins pilots the command module in the docking. Look, it happened fifty years ago. I know it was successful. But I still found myself breathless, hoping nothing would go wrong.

Yeah, it's that kind of film.

The actual walking on the moon footage is something special, too. It's not the typical black-and-white image from the side of the Eagle lander. It's from Buzz Aldrin's point of view. You get a top-down view of Neil Armstrong as he descends the ladder and steps foot on the moon.

Also exciting is the liftoff of the lander from the moon to re-dock with the command module. The filmmaker does a repeat of the docking sequence. What surprised me was NASA talking to Collins who orbited the moon while Armstrong and Aldrin walked the moon. Collins didn't see it live. He was on the far side when it happened.

The film started at 8 pm on Saturday. I watched it in a different room while my wife watched another program for an hour. She would then pick up Apollo 11 at 9 pm, watch to the end, then catch the first hour on the re-broadcast. I ended up watching the whole thing all the way through again.

Loved it.

If you haven't seen Apollo 11, the 2019 documentary, I highly recommend it. Now, I'm going on the hunt for Miller's other documentary about Apollo 17 called The Last Steps.