Dave Mercel's Blog, page 2
October 19, 2016
Yak
Look at the big man; blogging like some fancy pants billionaire, self-publishing like a rock star. One day they gave us crayons in the asylum, and I started writing stuff down. Made up stuff. And here we are.
You read, or hear tell of a young Stephen King selling his stories to gentleman's magazines, heaven shining light acceptance after a phone book sized stack of rejection letters. Those sales were justification that he was doing good work, work that people wanted, that he was shaping his craft and getting good. Real good as it turned out. Those stories, that persistence, his drive and the belief in himself paid off. Well and truly earned. I first read those stories in Night Shift, when I was thirteen. Brain already twisted – I would say expanded - by Sesame Street, Dr. Suess, Looney Tunes, Taxi, Barney Miller, The Wizard Of Id, Marvel Comics, and Mad Magazine, Night Shift sent me right over the edge. I was a glutton for these well crafted worlds that lay just around the corner of sanity. To this day, still a glutton; American Horror Story, Joe Abecrombie, Saga, Neil Gaiman, Bloom County (Yeah, it's back, baby!), and of course, the man himself, still a master of the short story.
And now I am god of my own little circle of universes. A very small god, a little man. But I am having fun. I've earned exactly squat. Actually, not true; I have sold exactly four books, two of them were to myself. It's a start.
A few years ago I started scratching out a short story about a woman on a subway. The flash of inspiration came to me...on the subway. I sat down, damn the torpedoes, and started softly pecking away. Slow at first, then in stuttering staccato rhythm, then smooth groove, mad fury, and silence. Round and around I go, thrilled and queasy with the ride. I am finding the words, and the ideas keep on coming, and I am learning with every one. I am learning in public, with the doors wide open. I believe in these little universes, and have the sales to prove it.
When I was younger I wrote lyrics for a metal band. We got signed and figured that was it, we'd made it. Haha. All it was was a foot in the door. Thanks to Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, et al, we can all slide a foot in the door. First comes the work, then you work it. Then, maybe, you earn it.
Follow if you will. I suspect I will keep writing no matter what comes, because the ideas are there, and I want to see all of them fully realized. As would the man himself.
--
Dave Mercel
You read, or hear tell of a young Stephen King selling his stories to gentleman's magazines, heaven shining light acceptance after a phone book sized stack of rejection letters. Those sales were justification that he was doing good work, work that people wanted, that he was shaping his craft and getting good. Real good as it turned out. Those stories, that persistence, his drive and the belief in himself paid off. Well and truly earned. I first read those stories in Night Shift, when I was thirteen. Brain already twisted – I would say expanded - by Sesame Street, Dr. Suess, Looney Tunes, Taxi, Barney Miller, The Wizard Of Id, Marvel Comics, and Mad Magazine, Night Shift sent me right over the edge. I was a glutton for these well crafted worlds that lay just around the corner of sanity. To this day, still a glutton; American Horror Story, Joe Abecrombie, Saga, Neil Gaiman, Bloom County (Yeah, it's back, baby!), and of course, the man himself, still a master of the short story.
And now I am god of my own little circle of universes. A very small god, a little man. But I am having fun. I've earned exactly squat. Actually, not true; I have sold exactly four books, two of them were to myself. It's a start.
A few years ago I started scratching out a short story about a woman on a subway. The flash of inspiration came to me...on the subway. I sat down, damn the torpedoes, and started softly pecking away. Slow at first, then in stuttering staccato rhythm, then smooth groove, mad fury, and silence. Round and around I go, thrilled and queasy with the ride. I am finding the words, and the ideas keep on coming, and I am learning with every one. I am learning in public, with the doors wide open. I believe in these little universes, and have the sales to prove it.
When I was younger I wrote lyrics for a metal band. We got signed and figured that was it, we'd made it. Haha. All it was was a foot in the door. Thanks to Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, et al, we can all slide a foot in the door. First comes the work, then you work it. Then, maybe, you earn it.
Follow if you will. I suspect I will keep writing no matter what comes, because the ideas are there, and I want to see all of them fully realized. As would the man himself.
--
Dave Mercel
