Watch Out! Oh, never mind...

Being that I love Calvin and Hobbes, and am a Spiderman fan, I found this artwork by Timothy Lim and just had to share it! I found it on a site called Comicsalliance, which assembles top comic artwork every week.

Calvin vs. Venom - hmmm, I wonder who would actually win...

And Now for Something Completely Different...

For you writers out there - if you’re working on a project and get stuck, or hit a brick wall, try this; jump to a different project - either something new or one you haven’t touched in a while. This may help in three areas.

One - many writers have said to continually write, almost every day if possible, to keep the gears oiled. If you find you can’t write one story, write another, and this way you’re still writing something.

Two - giving your brain a break from a story may help solve the problem. It’s believed that even while we’re not actively working on a problem, some part of our brain is still chewing away on it, and when we come back to it, the answer is sometimes just waiting to pop to the surface. This has worked for me on more than a few occasions.

Three - You may find that the “interim project” you pick up actually has much merit and may end up being your next great novel. Who knows? At the moment I have three different story ideas currently in the works. This way, if I “dry up” on one, I have two others that inspiration may strike for.

Now, all this is to lead up to one of my “interim projects”. While I’m trying to fix issues with “The Nightmare Plague”, my daughter told me that an acting troupe she has performed with wanted to bring some gothic horror to the stage. My mind immediately jumped to the scariest stuff I’ve ever read; the works of HP Lovecraft. Now, most of his stories could never be depicted on a stage (if you’ve ever read his stuff, you’ll know what I’m talking about, or just look at the picture),

so I took this as a challenge. Could I turn one of his stories into a stage play? As I perused his stories, one stood out as a possibility. I dove into it, and as a result, ended up having a great time adapting it. There were inherent problems, the result of the difference between the framework of a book and the limitations of a stage, but solving them was a fun mental exercise. And I think I succeeded. Writing it took about 6 months, and the script is right now in the hands of one of the lead actors. Hopefully the play will see the “light of day” on the stage (or more fittingly, perhaps I should say the play will see the “gloom of night” on stage!). Anyways, the play is based on Lovecraft’s “The Thing on the Doorstep”, and since other acting companies may want to perform it, I am posting a portion of Act I in a link on the right side. If a group is interested in performing it, contact me and I’ll provide the script. It’s a full-length 2-act play, a labor of love, and I humbly think it’s one of the best stage adaptations of an HP Lovecraft story. Enjoy!