Banging My Head Against a Science Fiction Blank Wall!

As a writer and a cartoonist, I can't count the number of times the same responses I get from people when I inform them of my occupation.

When I tell them I'm a writer, the usual response is, "I've always wanted to write, but I don't have time." (The second most common response is: "Will you look at some of my writing?"

When I tell them I'm a cartoonist, their response is, "I can't even draw a stick figure."

These responses frustrate me because most people possess talent at one level or another, and they waste it with such remarks.

Because they don't lack talent! What they lack is will...determination...perseverance...or whatever you'd like to call it.

On a bad day, I'm tempted to scream at them, "Well, just sit down and do it...and do it over and over again until you get it right! That's all there is to it!"

So, what's my point? None, really...it's early March and cabin fever is definitely getting to me!...Writing on my fifth fiction book, I've escaped into a future where assassinations are common...people bully each other...and love sometimes seems like a dim spark in a black and pitiless cosmos.

But it'll all pass as soon as I figure out the next turn in the plot. How do I know? Because it's a pattern. Everytime I run into a fiction blank wall, I despair and despair...until suddenly a solution pops into my head!

Then, I realize that all that worrying was for nothing...and then repeat the process over and over again until the book is done!

It's all very silly, really, but in the end quite wonderful - a small price to pay for creativity.

Hey, if you want a sample of my science fiction creativity, try one of the following (in print and ebook form) at Amazon and elsewhere:

The First Misadventure of Fragger Sparks, A Ranger Leads the Way
The Second Misadventure of Fragger Sparks, A Ranger Loses His Way
The Third Misadventure of Fragger Sparks, A Ranger Paves the Way

If you don't like science fiction, try American Job (also called The Relentless Pursuit of Everett Pick). It's satire and a comic-tragedy set primarily in the Black Hills of South Dakota!