Welcome To Perseverance

Happy middle of August everyone! It's hot as all get out where I am, but that didn't stop one side of my family from coming out to our 84th Family Reunion. It was very hot, but we had around 30 people there. 84 years is a long time and we're hoping we make it to our 100th reunion.

Anything (be it an event, a business, or life expectancy, etc.) that lasts to 100 years is impressive. It requires dedication, hard work, a pinch of fun, and a lot of perseverance mixed with persistence (yep these are two different words with very similar meanings). I also think it's fun to think that so much has changed in that 100 years.

I have wanted to be a writer for a long time. I started a "family newspaper" when I was about 10 or 11 years old. There were three or so issues and I'm pretty sure one of my aunts has a copy somewhere in their house. I unfortunately didn't keep up with it (though thinking back that's probably a good thing). In high school, I took my school's journalism class and two creative writing classes. I also wrote my "first" novel around that time (it's in quotes because though there might be a paper version hiding somewhere out there, but for the most part it's lost to technology advancement).

I figure, if I keep at it long enough, I'll eventually polish up one of my other novels I'm working on, and send it out for publication (whether on an independent or traditional track is up in the air). For now, I keep working on my blogs (click here to see my second one that involves food - shameless plug, this is), my webcomic (see below - the title also shows up if you type it into Google), and experimenting with my writing style with fanfiction (sorry no links provided, but I'm working in the horror genre).

Mortimer's advice for marketing a webcomic...

I've made some progress since posting my first works. I have small followings (and a couple of fans who get annoyed when I disappear for a few months), but nothing major. I'm certainly no Anne Rice or Steven King (or that lady who wrote 50 Shades of Grey - seriously it was originally a Twilight Fanfiction). However my writing career is still more of a pass time hobby, then the driving force of my existence. It could change, but I have a lot more work to do before then.

This past week, I got to see Matthew Santoro at a book signing. He makes educational videos on YouTube, which are entertaining and great to listen to. The book is a "fun facts" type of book, with tons of weird and hilarious fact, much like his YouTube channel. Before he signed all of the books (over 100 people were at the event), he spoke to us for about an hour, allowing his fans to ask him questions. A lot of the questions he answered were about starting his YouTube Channel. He started uploading videos in 2011, but didn't start getting big until late 2013. There were many times he wanted to give up, but he kept on doing what he loved. He also said not to try to make it big with anything controversial. Not only will it fizzle and die out quickly, but you'll likely make a lot of enemies.

That is a great success story. His persistence and perseverance paid off and now he has turned his hobby into something that he loves. He's also not alone. On the website that I upload my webcomic to, there have been a few people who have made an announcement that they have been hired by one of the big comic book publishers. They now get to make comic for a living. The president of my current company is another good example.

Don't get me wrong, it does take some luck to turn a passion into a career. However, it also takes a lot of hard work, and perseverance. J. K. Rowling loves to talk about how many times the first Harry Potter book was rejected and look at how successful it has turned out (I bet all the people who rejected her initially have been kicking themselves ever since). Fred Astaire, one of Hollywood's biggest stars back in the day, was once told that he "couldn't act, couldn't sing, could dance a little." I guess he didn't take that criticism to heart.

I'm sure a lot of people want to be noticed right away (the media certainly seems to think so anyway). They want to go viral, they want to have a following, they want to matter to people. It just doesn't happen instantaneously. Most success stories talk about the first few years struggles and how many times the person or group almost quit. Then there are the failed stories that we never get to hear about (and it might have been for any number of reasons, not because they didn't work hard enough).

I write because it's what I love to do. Would I love to have 100 hits with each post or become a house hold name (well maybe not the latter - I like being in the shadows too much)? Yes, I'd love that kind of recognition. But I'm also happy when one person clicks on any of my work (sure it might be a spam bot, but it was a hit none the less and I will be excited about it).

I still need to balance my writing passion with my day job. I won't lie, I kind of like keeping the two separate right now.

But if you have a passion or a drive to do something, please keep at it! You never know what might happen. 

If you enjoyed this post (or it really pissed you off), please like, share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope you guys like hearing from me.

Until next week.

Welcome To The Reunion

We'll see you again next year...

First I would like to say Happy Shark Week! I honestly miss the years my family would go to the South Jersey shore the week after it aired.

Today was my grandfather's family reunion. This was unfortunately our first year since his passing back in October that we were all together. It was pretty small this year, not a lot of children. I think it was because so many of use have moved away. I have cousins ranging from Boston all the way to Alaska. 

Anyway, what's important is that we all meet at this park in the city of Catasaqua. We have a huge picnic   lunch, have our annual meeting, play a few games and then head out. It's a lot of fun. Even if things are changing.

There's an old creek (it's actually a crick, but not many people outside of the region are familiar with that term) that's now dried up close by the picnic area. We used to play in it, catching small fish and bugs. We used to splash around and then run back to our parents for dessert.

There's also a playground and swimming pool. It was a rare summer we went to the pool, but we were always running around the play ground. There's an old merry go round, probably one of the last since they're considered dangerous, that my cousin whose four months older than me and I would spin as hard as we could to make the younger kids sick. The adultery were never happy when we did that.

In years past my family would go to Dorney or Hershey  Park and ride roller coaster. We didn't this year, but that was mainly because I am working and my sister is off on another adventure. Some days I wish I could relive those days. It was a lot of fun getting my (then) 70 year old cousin on the rides.

If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like, share or comment. I love hearing from my readers. I hope you enjoy these posts and the crazy things I have learned. Until next week.