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Do you have a tattoo to care for? If not, shouldn’t you ask yourself, why not? Butterflies on calves, angel wings on shoulders, Celtic crosses across chests of law-abiding citizens have superseded anchors and arrow-pierced hearts on biceps of the demimonde. The size of your body surface area is the limit, because, “YAS, this gives you life!”

The post The nail that sticks out gets hammered down, or does it? appeared first on OUPblog.

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 Super fun pirate themed temporary tattoos created for Gumtoo.

Purchase them here-
Gumtoo
Amazon

 


Also apologies for the neglected blog! It's been over a year posting here. All of my news now goes on all my social media links-

Facebook
Twitter 
Instagram

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C2E2 has hosted Ink Fusion before, and this year, things get rather interesting!

As the site says:

Join the legendary Stan Lee, as he teams up with Ink-Fusion creator Marc Draven and his Empire of artists to offer a once in a life time chance for a tattoo drawn by Stan Lee himself!

Raffle tickets will be 2 tickets for $20

Tickets will be available Friday at the show in the Ink-Fusion Tattoo Pavilion. The winner will receive a free tattoo of one of Stan Lee’s famous characters (Image/Character TBA at show). This one of a kind sketch will be created by Stan Lee just for this contest! The tattoo will be performed by one of the internationally known Ink-Fusion Empire artists on hand.

Think that’s awesome? There is more! The winner will also get to show off their new tattoo when they get their PICTURE TAKEN WITH STAN LEE! (Only the tattoo winner will be photographed with Stan Lee)

*The tattoo will not exceed 3×5 inches. 18 OR OLDER ONLY.

So, you may ask… how good an artist is Stan the Man?  Well, he has authored numerous books on how to draw comics!  He occasionally does a sketch cover.  I’m sure he’s been practicing…and it’s not like he’s wielding the tattoo machine!  (Or even signing his work! The actual procedure will be completed by one of  the Ink Fusion artists in attendance.  Although, he has autographed body parts which were later tatted.)

Here’s the fine print!  (I hope they include a copyright and trademark notice…those Disney lawyers can be vicious!  Although it might fall under “appropriation”.)

The following rules apply:

• Must be 18 or older to enter.

• Must have a legal form of photo I.D. to get tattooed, NO EXCEPTIONS.
  • Winner will be announced on the day Stan Lee is available to join us (times will be listed on Friday of the show) when the ticket is pulled at the Ink-Fusion Pavilion .
  • MAKE SURE TO KEEP A CLOSE EYE FOR TIME LISTING FOR THIS RAFFLE AS THIS WILL BE BASED ON MR. LEE’S AVAILABILITY!!!!
  • YOU MUST BE PRESENT TO WIN.
• Winner will get the tattoo immediately following the ticket drawing.
• The original sketch is not included in the prize package.
• No substitutions or additions will be made with the tattoo.
• No personal autographs by Mr. Lee will be allowed, however feel free to take photos of the event.
• All entries must have paid attendance into the show to qualify.
• Any artist working under Ink-Fusion has the right to refuse service per Board of Health regulations and permitting.
• Anyone getting tattooed claims all responsibility as well as proof of age and medical conditions, and cannot hold any member of Reed Expo, Ink-Fusion, or Stan Lee inc responsible .

---

 

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Last Saturday we, at Dr Sketchy Sheffield, held an event celebrating the art of tattoos. I'd been wanting to do a tattoo themed event ever since I took over the running of the branch with my co-co-ordinator Lara Gothique. The idea of drawing people who are covered in drawings really does it for me.

Plus, it was a great opportunity to get some male models on board. We haven't had anywhere enough guys modelling for us - although they were pretty hard to convince. Who'd have thought these inked up guys would be so shy?

We had a great mix of guys and girls. I did these black and white drawings at the event. I added colour at home, later.

The other great thing about being the artist, in our partnership, is that I get to set some drawing exercises. My exercise for this event was to draw the (model's) body through the tattoos alone. It was more difficult to do than I'd imagined, and I still ended up adding some body lines to my attempt (above).

Despite my car braking down en-route, and being totally stressed out by that by time I got there, I still managed to get a whole load of sketches done. Many more than this in fact, but the rest were on a larger A3 sketchbook - and I'll have to get them scanned by somebody with an A3 scanner.

Plus, if that's not impressive enough, where else do you get to draw a tattooed Reverend? I'm guessing nowhere. I may be wrong, but if I were a betting woman I'd put money on it.

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A couple more of my posters for our Dr Sketchy Sheffield events. I just love doing this poster artwork. I've been wondering why I enjoy it so much. It's obvious really, that mix of illustration and text really floats my boat. Maybe I should hire myself out as a poster artist. Have an event that you need a poster for? I'm your lady.
You can read a post about one of my poster artist heroes, the legendary Toulouse Lautrec, and see more of my own creations HERE.

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Yesterday I accomplished one final goal for the summer. And it didn't have anything to do with writing.

I got a tattoo. I never thought I'd be one of those people who wanted one, but the desire hit me a few months ago, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. I wanted it to be meaningful, not just a random, generic picture, so I put a lot of thought into what I wanted. I had a general idea, but then one night a vision popped into my head. I sketched it out, and then went on the net and did some cut and paste to put together an example. I sized it and cut it out and wore it on my ankle to make sure it was what I really wanted.

Finally, the big day came. Yesterday, I went and did it. The hubby got a new tattoo as well. He got one right after we got married, so this was his second. Mine took about fifteen minutes...his took two hours.

Here's how mine turned out:

It's a bouquet of six tulips done in pink and blue with a purple ribbon with a cross on it. The six blooms stand for our babies. We lost three to miscarriage, donated two embryos to science when we knew we couldn't use them, and had one failed invitro attempt.

Not that we'll ever forget, but this way, others will remember too. Everyone who's seen it so far loves it. A few have cried. It means a lot that they understand what this means to me/us.

Until next time,

Happy Reading,

Debra
www.debrastjohnromance.com

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I think this was my favourite sketch from last Friday night's Dr. Sketchy. The scaling is all wrong; the hands, for one, are way too small but I don't really care. I'm a little bit obsessed with tattoos at the moment. I'm loving drawing people too. So what could be better than drawings on people? Not much.

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The animated version of EDWINA THE DINOSAUR WHO DIDN'T KNOW SHE WAS EXTINCT has been released for the School and Library market by the fine folks at Weston Woods. Excellently narrated by Cher Willems with myself as Reginald Von Hoobie Doobie, the film is one of my favorites due to the hilarious animation of Pete List and the Esquivel-esque musical stylings of Scotty Huff. The DVD also comes

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 These are the final couple of drawings from the rock n roll day last weekend. Actually, there's also a motorbike but that might take some time to finish. I must say that I'm pretty pleased that in just one day I produced so much stuff.

 I'l let you into a secret about the car below; it most definitely wasn't that shape. I started off at the front of the car, which was going okay. Not great but okay. Then I realised that there was absolutely no bloody way I was going to fit the whole thing onto the page. It was, after all, a big long Zodiac! So, I had a decision to make and, yes, I did. I squashed the whole thing into the space I had. Ah well, as long as we keep it to ourselves nobody else ever needs to know.

 Throughout this drawing I was thinking of my friend France Belleville and her 'ladies'.

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You’re a writer.  So, you’re obsessed.  You’re thinking that your passion might be an affliction.  The time you’re wasting!  The money you’re not making!  The friends you’re losing!  Perhaps you need help.  Or, maybe you just need to listen to this:

I was gazing fondly at my tattoo this morning…

It’s a motif discovered on frozen mummies of Pazyryk horsemen living on the South Siberian grasslands 2500 years ago.  It’s a bighorn ram, in case that’s not self-evident. 

It struck me how much I still feel reassured by it.  No regrets at all about taking on this tattoo.

This ancient ram with its hind legs twisted upwards suggests (anthropologists say so) a passing to the other world.  It’s between worlds.  I’m a sucker for liminal zones, for border country, for that untouchable place where transformation happens. 

Sounds familiar! right?  The major turning point in any good story is often characterized by this same kind of “death”.   

I’m talking about the moment when the determined protagonist is forced into a dead end.  She’s finished with the world of conventional wisdom.  Finished!  With no apparent future.  The moment is both a crisis and a refuge.  Like the in-breath meeting the out-breath, a limbo. 

Pursue a desire (an obsession, a passion) far enough and we are cast painfully out of our known world and into this refuge.  Surprisingly, great things happen here.  People’s crusty old self-defeating habits die for want of appreciation.  In the emptiness, something arises.

Now, here’s the thing—we write to arrive at that moment. 

WE WRITE TO GET THERE!

WE READ TO GET THERE!

My Pazyryk ram—lingering between this world and the next—also takes me into that place of possibility. 

But more importantly, that’s why we write—passionately, obsessively, and without regret—so that we can tattoo the story we’re currently working on with such a deadly and at the same time positive and reassuring scene. 

That’s my story and it’s sticking to me.

 P.S.
Read my essay about Tattoos and the Heart of Fiction.
And two previous blog posts: Literary tattoos: girls, dragons, and Shangri-la, and Bringing your inside out.

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davidhuyck:

Art is James Jean’s Crayon Eater, ink by amazingly talented Shawn Barber. I’ll post again once it has healed up.

Yowza! Our own David Huyck just got this fantastic James Jean tattoo. Like drawing much, David?

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I've let the blog do that thing where I keep promising myself that as soon as strange and wonderful things stop happening for a day I'll update it. And meanwhile so many things keep happening.

I'm blogging now, not as a report on what I've been doing but because I wanted to remember this:

I'm in Sydney right now. Tomorrow, Amanda and friends and I are taking over Australia Day at the Opera House. I was sitting in the little apartment room the Festival gave us working ont he thing I hope to finish and read tomorrow night, when my computer screen turned off. I realised the computer was unplugged, and that Amanda (who was back at the Opera House doing press) had borrowed the Australian adapter plug (we had more, but left them behind us as we travelled).

So I went out to buy a couple of new adapters, so I'd have one, and so I could leave her another spare one when I left.

I wandered past sushi shops and backpacker places and Thai takeways and tobacconists in the hot Sydney summer evening sun. Last night Amanda (who is vastly amused by my complete lack of hooker recognition skills) had pointed out the hookers to me, and I saw a couple of the ladies she had pointed out to me coming on duty, looking wary in the daylight.

There were a couple - a man and a woman, both in their twenties at a guess, both short and dark-haired, looking into a shop window, with their backs to me. The woman had a tattoo on her shoulderblade - writing - and because I cannot pass writing without reading it, I glanced at it. Part of the writing was covered by a strap.

But I could still read it. And I knew what the words covered by the strap were.

The tattoo (thank you Google Image Search) was a lot like this (which is to say, the same content, and similar typeface, but probably not the same person. I'm already trying to remember if it was the left or the right shoulderblade):



(I took that photo from here.)

I read the tattoo, read words I had written to try and exorcise my own small demons eighteen years ago, and I felt like a ghost. As if, for a moment, under the hot Sydney sun, I was only an idea of a person and not a real person at all.

I didn't introduce myself to her or say anything (it didn't even occur to me to say hello, in all honesty). I just walked home, through a world that felt flimsier and infinitely stranger than it had that morning. Add a Comment

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I have recently created a small collection of brand new paintings. The style of the art is not what you typically see from me! Once in awhile I like to re-energize by working in a style which is not my day-to-day. These works are the final products of my latest creative excursion. The subject I tackle in the series is TATTOOS, and the people who have them. Tattoos have always been mysterious, fascinating, and endlessly interesting to me—the tattoos themselves, the reasons people get them, and what the marks personally mean to them. Then of course there’s the fact that tattoos are actually living, breathing art in the literal sense.

The four acrylic-on-wood paintings in this group, "Angel", Henry", "Bird" and "Siren" will be released for sale in my Big Cartel shop at 9 PM EST on Thursday, November 11th.  I sure hope to see you there!

Want a preview? > Watch the process of painting "Bird"

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I spent the weekend monitoring the border between the known and the unknown. To the fly on the wall it no doubt appeared as if I were merely interviewing people. Tattooed people. And a group of professional photographers. These two tribes were brought together in a unique photo project sponsored by Vanishingtattoo.com.

You could call it ‘fine art meets tattoo art’, but that glib pitch sells the project short. While the strobes were illuminating some amazing body art, they were also shedding light on a once-taboo cultural practice that remains widely misunderstood today.

The event’s organizer, Vince Hemingson, suggests that tattoos are symbolic of a person’s inner self. It’s that simple. They bring a person’s inside out. If your inner life seems sometimes vague and chaotic (and whose doesn’t?), a visual reminder of who we are, or aspire to be, can’t be a bad thing.

“My tattoos help me steer a less self-destructive course through life,” says Jody, one of the models who volunteered to be photographed.

The soft-spoken tattoo artist from Abbottsford, BC, explains that many of his tattoos were acquired as markers of painful events in his life. This pain, he confesses, was largely his own fault. The extent of his tattoos, encroaching even onto his face and skull, suggest that his life has been a rough ride.

I can’t imagine adopting this strategy to deal with my own failures as a human being, although I am seriously impressed with the clarity that Jody has gained by these indelible marks.

“I’m reminded every day to choose good over evil,” says Jody, whose skin ink is largely self-applied.

The mystics – from Buddha to Jesus to Gurdjieff – have been teaching us how to be in constant remembrance of ourselves. They implore us to bring an objective awareness to our lives of abject narcissism and subjectivity. Most students in spiritual practice lack the commitment that would result in any real change. Which makes Jody’s commitment remarkable.

He scares us, all right. But why? Could it be because we’re fearful of doing what it takes to bring our dark side into the light of day?

NOTE: if you’re considering getting a tattoo, you might first want to check out these two resources:

Think before you ink:  http://www.youtube.com/user/1tattootribe
What’s a good tattoo:   

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This one is, I think, important:

Hello, Neil. I intern at a lab that deals with stem cell research, and recently was forwarded the following attached message from the head of our lab. The document linked will explain everything, but the gist of it is that there is currently some regulatory legislation in the works to replace the repealed guidelines on embryonic stem cell research from the Bush administration. The National Institutes of Health are currently running an online comment form which allows US citizens to have their opinions on the matter heard, and such opinions are being heavily considered. If you would prefer not to get involved in a controversial issue like this, I would completely understand. But if it is something that you would be willing to get behind, it would be greatly appreciated if someone of your influence could get this message out. Thank you so much for your time.

http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dd5vs2xt_0hkwp6xd8

-Joshua Turner

I think stem cell research is important. (You out there reading this in internet-land do not have to think as I do. You can actively want to ban it if you like.) But having learned that,

*"The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) launched a new
"Oppose Destructive Stem Cell Research" campaign today, equipping citizens
to contact Congress and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to oppose
embryonic stem cell research ." -- WASHINGTON, May 6
/PRNewswire-USNewswire/ www.usccb.org/stemcellcampaign

and that

". ..of the 6000 plus comments that NIH
has received concerning the draft guidelines, 99% were from people who
opposed embryonic stem cell research."-Carecure Forum
http://sci.rutgers.edu/forum/showpost.php?p=1039001&postcount=12

and given that I do not believe that 99% of the people out there believe that stem-cell research should be banned, I thought, well, my opinion is at least as valid as that of any Conference of Bishops. And I bet I can reach at least 6,000 people...

So, look over the document. If you have an opinion on stem cell research, and would like it expressed, go to:

http://nihoerextra.nih.gov/stem_cells/add.htm

and let them know what it is.

And please, if you care about this and if you have a blog or LJ or method of reaching other people, pass it along -- link to this blog post, or link to the googledoc above. You've got until May 26th to make your opinions heard.

How do you feel about the huge price being charged for "Absolute Death"? This book is only 360 pages long but retails at $99.99. All of the Absolute Sandman volumes each have a page count over 600 but are priced the exact same as this book. How is that supposed to be rationalized? Don't you think a retail price of between $39.99-$59.99 would be a lot more reasonable for a book of this length? I ask because you blog on Amazon a decent bit, and this is your creation.

I wonder if the product itself will get the same kinds of reviews that "Absolute League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier (Hardcover)" understandably got on Amazon: one star. Only one person gave it two stars, and 15 people gave it one star, due to this pricing issue.

What are your thoughts?

I'm a bit surprised -- I'd been told that it was going to be retailing for about $75, which with an Amazon discount would put it solidly into the area you suggest. but I also know there are a bunch of extra expenses that have turned up on this book, including having to reletter the whole of Death The High Cost of Living, which weren't originally planned or budgeted for.

The Amazon complaints on Black Dossier (which is over 150 pages shorter than Death will be) aren't about the 'pricing issue', but that it's a complete and utter rip off, as you aren't getting anything extra for your money above what you'd get if you just order the normal hardback of the Black Dossier -- the Absolute edition just has just slightly bigger pages and a slipcase. Absolute Death is filled with stuff that's never been seen, never been reprinted, or never been printed in the form it's going to be seen in, and has definitely never been collected anywhere before. Whetherpeople feel it's it's going to be value for money if you're paying the full $100 (as the Absolute Sandmans probably are) remains to be seen but I do know a ridiculous amount of work is going to making it as wonderful as we can.

Right now it's up on Amazon for $62.99 (the same price they're doing the Absolute Sandmans at, although they've gone up and down to full price a few times), with a guarantee that if they drop the price between now and publication you'll get it at the lowest price they offer, and you have from here to November. So it's $63 or less.

Dear Storyteller Gaiman,

I'm not sure your personal opinions on tattoos, but if I were compelled to get a piece of Sandman art on my body forever. What would you recommend? Haha I know dumb question right? But I'm sure you wish your story to be represented as awesomely as possible.

Sincerely,
Tanner Hunt

I think tattoos are personal enough that it should be your choice. Find a Sandman drawing that speaks to you, and that you'd want to live with for the rest of your life. Make it that one.

If you are writing (or doing anything else) for the sheer fun of it, and may sell it and may not, then you are on your own time, and can go throw popcorn at the TV all you want to.

If you have taken an advance or a contract, YOU ARE WORKING FOR SOMEONE ELSE, and you have the same obligation to produce quality work, ON TIME, as a soldier in Iraq does.

If you didn't know that all cats can levitate, and that it's already been studied exhaustively, then you are an idiot, and your cat thinks so too.

Mm. You were doing okay until you threw in the bit about Iraq. (I assume the flip side is, "Soldiering. Well, it's just a job. What are they complaining about? Why are they nipping off to hospitals and complaining about the facilities and treatment? Soldiers in Iraq have the same obligation not to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and not to put themselves in harm's way that a novelist in a rose-trellised cottage Devon does.") (And I keep having fantasies about a trained platoon of Her Majesty's Armoured Novelists being put through their paces by an irascible RSM "... on the double - wait for it wait for it, what do you think you're doing, you horrible little man, contemplating litotes? -on the double, quiiiiiiiiick PLOT!")

Normally, I'm the one marching up and down trying to explain to the world that writing is a job, and it's not romantic and it's not clever and it's not special. For the most part, that's what this blog is about.

But writing fiction isn't the same as say, carpentry, patrolling a border or animal husbandry. You're making stuff up. It's a kind of weird confidence trick you play on yourself, like the Roadrunner running across the air between two peaks, where if you stop and look down you can plummet like Coyote. And getting stuff done on time isn't the same as getting it right.

I'm not sure when The Graveyard Book was meant to have been delivered, under the original contract. I do know that I had a $50,000 delivery bonus, if I handed it in by the end of December 2007, which I definitely didn't collect even a penny of, what with finishing it in March 2008. I'm pretty sure that I could have bashed something out in 2007 and got it in on time and collected the money; I am also certain that that book wouldn't have won the Newbery, and probably wouldn't have been very good. And I suspect that people who read the book would have complained that I was just churning it out for the money, and they would most definitely have been right.

But, yes. The person or organisation the writer has a contract with definitely has every right to complain, and trust me, they do. The writer is, after all, working for them, if there is a contract. 

Often, with a long series, there isn't. I suspect that Stephen King's deal on the Dark Tower was that he did them as and when he was ready. It took him 34 years. Readers died, not knowing how it ended. If Steve had been killed by that minivan in 1999, nobody would have known how it ended. It would have been a tragedy, for many reasons, but contract violation would not be one of them.

Dear Mr. Gaiman,

I can't tell you how much I adored the movie Coraline, and the film's score is no exception.

Bruno Coulais' pieces were haunting and beautiful, and the TMBG's "Other Father Song" was terrific, but sadly, the song which stood out to me the most I can't find!

It's the tune played when Coraline and her mother (real of course) are shopping. It was also featured in one of the TV commercials for the film. (See it here http://twurl.cc/p7j )

In all my searching all I've found is that I think it's called “Nellie Jean”, by Kent Melton (who may also have been a sculptor for the movie as well).

I know it's a long shot, but I was wondering if you had any information to pass along about the song. I downloaded the movie soundtrack from iTunes, and it's not there. I guess at worst I'll keep listening to it on YouTube, though I'd really like to download it!

Thank's, and keep it up!

Jason B

I asked Henry Selick, who said,

It is not "Nellie Jean" by Kent Melton – that is the 5 to 7 seconds of ukulele played by the small character in front of the garden store where Dad is dropped off. I think we just called it "shopping music" and I'm surprised it's not on the soundtrack CD. I've asked Bruno Coulais if he'd mind sending me an MP3 to share with Jason.

And then, because Henry is a remarkable man, he sent me an MP3 of the track in question, and the mighty webgoblin has put it up at http://www.neilgaiman.com/mediafiles/exclusive/Audio/in_the_store_2.mp3

(The high voice singing is actually Bruno himself.)

...

The house internet died, and Sunday is a day when you learn that 24/7 Tech support means that someone agrees with you that, yes, the Internet certainly does sound broken, and that they'll let people know when they get in to work on Monday. So I am saving this to a flash drive and then walking off into the world to find a wireless connection and, with luck, posting it. But once that is done I may be offline until things get fixed.

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A favorite cousin of mine had this snippet of an e.e. cummings poem tattooed on her backside. It says:

bird by snow and stir by still
anyone's any was all to her

(Read the entire poem here.)

This cousin happens to be funny, sweet and smart as heck. (And cool, too.) She teaches at an alternative high school in Colorado with kids who haven't always been valued by society, and she works passionately to instill the love of words in her students. I'm not sure if she encourages them to tattoo literature on their bodies, but hey, here's to creative teaching methods. (What's next, sweetie? War and Peace??)

So here's a big shout-out to you, K!

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Mississippi Beaumont is awaiting her 13th birthday. That's the birthday when the savvy comes for her family. Mibs can't wait to figure out her savvy. Her brother Rocket has electricity, and her brother Fish has a powerful weather savvy.

The other good thing about 13 is homeschooling. Until the kids learn to scumble their savvies, Momma thinks it's best to keep them home. No more Hebron Middle School, and no more snarky comments from Ashley Bing and Emma Flint.

Then they get word about Poppa. Mib's world comes crashing down.

While Momma and Rocket speed away to Salina, Miss Rosemary -the preacher's wife - comes on over with her kids Roberta and Will to take care of the Beaumont clan. Mibs' little sister Gypsy has gone and told Miss Rosemary that Mibs is turning 13. Miss Roberta is determined to whip up a birthday party at the church for Mibs, and she won't take no for an answer.

When Mibs awakens on her 13th birthday, a couple of strange things happen that make her think she has figured out her savvy, and she knows more than ever that she has to make it to Salina and lay her hands on her Poppa. At the church, Miss Roberta's husband is yelling at a Bible salesman, and Mibs starts to hear some other voices as well. She leaves the church and sees the Bible man's pink bus, with a Salina address on the side. She knows how she will get to Salina. What she doesn't count on are the other kids. Roberta, Will, Fish, and little brother Samson are all aboard Lester's Bible bus when it leaves the church parking lot, and makes a turn away from, instead of toward, Salina!

What follows is a road trip adventure of the best sort. Friendships, families and savvies are at the forefront, as the children try to get Lester to speed up his trip to Salina and avoid the police who are soon looking for them at the same time.

I have to say, that this little book may be my favourite of the year thus far. Countrified charm, magical realism, a dash of romance, and a family that left me envious, all make for an utterly charming read. Ingrid Law's Savvy is a sweet book that will leave readers wanting more. Fans of Horvath and Wiles take note!

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I realized a long time ago that aside from licking mailing labels and washing dishes at several of New England's finer eateries - my manual labor skill set could not compete with the sizzle of my brain, which was light years away from anything that involved soapy water and burned popover pans.

Being "creative" is a label we writers wear on our sleeves, or if it's summer, someplace that hopefully shows more skin. We creatives are branded and in today's marketplace we all know a brand is a good thing so perhaps we should work harder to exploit this Writer Brand and all get permanent WRITER TATTOOS to set us apart from the normal world. It would be like the scarlet "A", only it would be a "W" which would clearly mean to everyone we meet: "Watch out while I say something clever."

I have had many non-creative jobs and many more creative ones - and I guess the point is, I can't NOT be a writer because there really is nothing else my brain lets me be...except lazy, which I'm actually trying to perfect as my next "brand".

I write because I have to...Because I want to...Because I can't wash dishes very well or drive a school bus. Of course I can write about that school bus driver, who is also writer...who might just be a guy like me with a monster in his brain who devours any thoughts of mundane employment!

And on that note: Time to go write!

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