I recently moved my writing desk into a new room and there is now a freshly-painted but entirely empty wall just beyond my monitor. This morning when I sat down to write, I was staring at two blank pages: the white one with the blinking cursor a foot away from my face, and another one a foot behind that painted in two coats of mocha brown. But for some reason, only one of these blank pages intimidated me. The one on my computer monitor. That flat blank wall? I know what I’m going to do with that. Last night after work I bought four 1’x6” pine boards and sixteen shelf brackets. I’m going to put those shelves up and then I’m going to fill them with all the fun, cool, adventurous toys, collectibles, knick-knacks, oddities and souvenirs I’ve gathered in boxes and under stairs for the past four decades or so. I can’t wait to have displays where Boba Fett chills out next to a model Dodge Challenger, which will sit next to a human skull carved from whale bone, which will be next to a Jon Snow bobble head, who gets to hang with Stalker and Snake Eyes from GI Joe. I can’t wait to fill that wall with all the pop culture artifacts I’ve got hidden away.
And you know what? I think I’m going to fill the other blank page the same way. They say there are no new ideas under the sun. If you’ve thought of it, a million other people already thought of it a hundred years ago. And I sort of believe that. The thing is, we have the privilege of witnessing all the millions and billions of ideas that have come before us. And although it’s rare for an idea to pop into our minds without any influence or inspiration, we can take and borrow and blend all those other ideas that came before us to come up with something entirely our own. So I’m going to fill up those shelves with all sorts of toys and trinkets and mementos from my life’s experience. And I’d eager to see how that seeps down onto the page!
2 Comments
Happy New Years all you sci-fi, horror, and psycho fiction fans! It’s almost 2020, and as sci-fi as that sounds, I feel like a time traveler with 2019 already in the rear view mirror. But this was another fantastic year for making connections and creating fiction. Here’s the yearly rundown of everything Joe Prosit from 2019:
Of everything that happened this past year, I think I’m happiest with the connections I’ve made with other writers. Almost a year ago, I joined the Lakes Area Writer’s Alliance, a group of local writers of all types designed to support and encourage writing. Some of us are published authors, like Carissa Andrews, Kacie Clement, and T.J. Jones. Others write for the local paper or freelance for magazines. Some are just starting on their writing journey. Regardless of our diverse background and ambitions, we all work together to make the writing community a better, more supportive, and more interesting place. You can find out more about Lakes Area Writer’s Alliance on their website. In October, I was invited to present at the Lakes Area Writer’s Conference and Book Fair. It was a great weekend. My short story Pre-Triage won first place in the short story contest, and then I was allowed to rant and rave about short stories, story structures, character arcs, ugly babies, and all sorts of things in my presentation on Short Story Creation. You can read my blog on the short story market on the LAWA blog here. My good friend, Sebastian Hetman, started his full time editing service this year and has a fantastic daily blog full of thought-provoking and conversation-starting ideas. The man has been hard at work and strives with every job and interaction to make fiction better. Read his blog and check out the services he offers at his website. Back on the local front, I’ve somehow got entangled in another group of writing friends who’ve dubbed themselves, “Whiskey and Typewriters.” For obvious reasons, this is right up my alley! Right now, we’re just swapping stories and providing critiques, but I feel like big things are going to come out of this gang of miscreants. I hope to tell you more about that in 2020. But you’re reading this which makes you a reader, and if there’s one thing I know about readers is that they like to read. You want fiction and you want it weird and you want it now! Well, don’t worry friends, I got you covered. My science fiction tale of a boy who’s not a boy at all but must save everyone he knows from nuclear annihilation was printed in this year’s American Emerging Science Fiction Writers anthology. Get your copy here. This November, The Weird and Whatnot published my tale of a strange high speed police chase: a sheriff from the sticks and a girl from outer space. Get your copy of the magazine and read Solo Pursuit today. And most recently, Horror Tree: Trembling with Fear brings you my three-part horror series The Stilt Walker. When a girl and her best friend, a stuffed rat named Jones, stay up late at night they start seeing monsters stalking through their small town, infecting the unsuspecting as they sleep inside their homes at night. Episodes One, Two, and Three are available now! But most of my writing time this year was spent on three science fiction novels: 99 Town, 7 Androids, and Zeronauts. They’re not available just yet, but as I search for an agent and a publisher I can feel the momentum building. When they’re released, be ready for a mind-bending action packed mystery for the ages. I can’t wait to tell you more about it! 2019 has been a great year, and 2020 promises more connections, more events, more announcements, and more sci-fi, horror, and psycho fiction. If you want to come along for the ride, keep coming back here for updates or follow me on Twitter at @JoeProsit. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays. See you in 2020! |
JOE PROSITOn the off hand chance I type out the random thoughts that wander through my brain. Archives
January 2024
Categories |