Ramblings of Ron Earl Phillips, Writer
The NEEDLE in the Box Contest Last Spring I reviewed, commented on, a new seasonal crime noir magazine called NEEDLE edited by Steve Weddle. The debut was really a knock out of the park as far as I'm concerned. Every story really hit the mark and made me a fan.
Another thing NEEDLE, Steve and the community revolving around the magazine, did was to get me writing again....
Aug
19
Category : Comics
After years of setting in a cabinet, I finally got to hang my favorite duo as drawn by one of my favorite artists, Ryan Ottley. If you look close you can see Ryan originally signed it Wya. If I manage to get KLIK BOOM: JELLO SHOTS off the ground, I’m going to have to get Ryan to do the cover.
Pencil version can be found here: http://blog.klikboom.com/galleries/faces-of-klik-boom?pid=21
Aug
19
Category : General
Having been a procrastinator all of my life, I perceive there are two different types. The apathetic procrastinator and the impatient procrastinator.
The apathetic procrastinator, or the AP, is distinguished by not really caring if they (he or she) finishes their goal. The idea sounded cool, for a moment, but if it get’s done what’s it really going to matter? There’s a bit of self-loathing involved and the AP can’t really see the reward in finishing the project and accomplish their goal.
APs have somewhat of an Eeyore complex. Oh, bother.
On the other hand, you have the impatient procrastinator, IPs. These people have stars in their eyes. They’ve won the game, the award, the accolades before even starting their project. They’re in love with the idea for about 5 seconds. Then the crashing reality that that game, those awards and accolades are months, years, maybe a decade away. They can’t wait that long, they can’t put all that effort and time and get nothing. The drive and dedication dries up like a prairie rain storm.
IPs really want to be stars, but would rather start something new than see the project all the way to the end. Real fly-by-nighters.
Me, I’m a bit bi-polar with my procrastination. I genuinely start with tons of ambition and gusto, then get hit simultaneously with the feeling I’ll never get to the end and if I do, no one cares. Or at least that’s the way I feel. And to top it off, I often get hit with too many ideas. Where to start, how to start?
I thought I was cured for a while. I was focusing on one thing, now I can’t find focus on anything. Just a lot of buzzing around my head followed by a ton of self-doubt.
I’m going change though. I’ve fiddled away the last 15+ years with this kind of nonsense. Sure there were other reasons, but that just falls to the core of all procrastinators. Excuses.
I don’t need anymore excuses. Time to get focused and put those projects out there to speak for themselves. Stop the dreaming and the despairing.
In the immortal words of the most famous redneck, “Time to Git’r Done!”
Jul
23
Category : General
Have you ever looked at origami and thought it was amazing how variation of folding paper could create various shapes and design? And then follow up with the thought you could never be so meticulous and delicate enough to do origami? That’s me in a nut shell. Sure I could probably do simple shapes. I fold a mean triangle football.
As amazing as origami is to me, crafting these intricate shapes from paper, it still looks like paper. I never imagined anything made from paper, no matter how manipulated could look like anything but paper.
These two creations are by paper artist Philip Valdez and you can see how he produced them on his blog @ http://philipvaldez.com
So is that amazing or what?
Jun
18
I won’t lie to you. Maybe I’m not the only insecure writer out there, but sometimes (most times) I don’t take the positive comments posted on the blog at face value. I want to believe them, but part of me thinks they’re just being nice. Kind. Throwing me a bone.
If so I don’t mind, really. It gives me a nice boost in ego and pushes me to write the next story. And I hope the next story will be better, bigger, more complex and enjoyable. I enjoy writing. I think I’m not a bad writer. So when I put the stories out there the ego needs to be feed.
So I’m insecure and greedy.
Today I got something from a fellow writer, a friend from the podcasting world. It floored me. Made me smile so wide I feared the top of my head would just zip off. It was genuine. Honest. My ego meter is so full I might be happy for a full week without even needing a single comment.
David Sobkowiak recorded my bit of flash fiction “On The Sly” along with Laura Frechette (thankfully doing the voice of Carrie Llewellyn). They did a great job which obviously compounded the thrill for me.
I could keep this all to myself, but though I may be greedy, I am not selfish.
David told me to expect another surprise. I plan on posting that next week. Perhaps on Friday. Maybe sooner to save myself from exploding.
David, Laura, thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.
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Please check out David and Laura’s links below.
Jun
15
Category : Writing
It’s another one of those crazy writing challenges. This one instigated by writer Chuck Wendig over at Terrible Minds, his writing life blog. He’s a little on the crazy side in an insanely good way.
Chuck put together a wild t-shirt with his crazy bearded face and laser beams coming out of his eyes. It reads “My Beard Comes So Fat, I Wanna Do Laser.” The challenge was to use the second half of the shirt slogan in a 1000 word bit of flash fiction or make it into a funny graphic for an internet meme. You got bonus points if you used the first half too.
As contrived as the contest is, I would assume the bulk of the entries would be funny or light. I can do funny, but I’d rather not.
Enjoy my contribution.