Ah, Authors...The Best Kind Of People

A few weeks ago I sat with a new writer and we discussed...well, writing. I saw in him me about ten years ago, confused, stressed, wondering if I was ever supposed to be a writer. I know I said a lot of stuff--some might call advice--as we talked. There was one thing I do remember saying, that the writing community was one of the most accepting group of people I'd ever been with.

Today, that was again proven correct.

As I stood on the FanX Convention Floor a fellow writer, Greg Vose, approached me. I recognized Greg and he me. When you attend writing conventions year after year, even if you don't know someone well, you know who they are. He came up to me and he asked me a favor. It appear a writer friend of his told him that no one knew who he (friend) was. Now, I don't know if this writer friend was being serious, or having a bit of fun. Either way, something was being done about it.

Greg produced a small ribbon, the kind you can attach to a name badge. On it were the words, "I Know R.R. (Ronnie) Virdi." I was asked if I knew R.R. Virdi. I've never me the man, but I'd seen his name on social media (writing friends posting about other writer friends...), so I knew of him. That was good enough. He asked me to hold the ribbon so he could snap a picture and send it to him. Apparently, I was not the only person to which this was done. You can learn more about R.R. by clicking: HERE. 

As Greg walked away I thought about how cool this small interaction was. It was one writer doing something he didn't have to do to show a friend an act of kindness, to show him he was thought of, to be a friend. 

Since I began seriously writing, I've seen small acts like this over and over. Writers--at least many/most of the ones I know personally--are like this. I think it's because the act of writing is so difficult--we understand what it takes and we have empathy toward each other. Thanks Greg for proving my point...authors can be the best kind of people.

The Story/Stories From The Big Orange Couch...

If you were at the Salt Palace Convention Center today, you may have noticed something big, something orange, and something wrapped in plastic tucked in a corner outside the convention floor. To be honest, I most likely would have not given the orange blob a second thought had not my friend told me that it wasn't just a big orange blob.

It's a piece of history.

Sometime before tomorrow morning, the items will be moved, the plastic taken off, and it will be assembled in the celebrity green room for this weekend's FanX Comics Convention. What was sitting in a corner of the room, wrapped in plastic, is an orange couch and on that couch were dozens and dozens of autographs.

I had to get a closer look.

The first autograph I recognized was Sean Astin's. The plastic wrap made it difficult to see some of the signatures, and, of course, most I could not figure out who they were. I snapped some shots of those I did recognize--Chris Evans, Sean Gunn, Billy Boyd.

My friend and I tried looking for Stan Lee's or Carrie Fisher's. Had we the time, and access to the entire couch, we would probably have found them.

Today was a day to set up the show. People in the Salt Palace had things to do, stuff to set up, connections to make. Few had time to notice a collection of orange furniture sitting in a corner. Even fewer even knew what it was. I'm glad I decided to take a closer look.

The Tale Of The Mis-Matched High Tops...A "Short" Memoir

I've probably blogged about this before, but when I saw the purple Chuck Taylor's tonight, the memory returned.

High school...

Senior year...

Three friends, three pairs of Converse High Tops.

I don't know who came up with the idea. It's possible it all happened because three of us all had the same shoe size. We got the idea of buying some Converse Chuck Taylor's. We bought one green pair, one purple pair, and one orange pair--not sure why we chose those colors either (this memoir kind of stinks...). To make things interesting, we swapped colors. If I remember correctly--and I might not--I had one purple shoe and one green one.

We wore the shoes in school. I believe we were way ahead of our time, even in the mid-1980s. I kept my shoes for years. I think they began to fall apart before I finally tossed them. Tonight, I strolled through the thrift store and saw a pair of purple Converse All-Stars. And if they weren't size 13, I might have picked them up, even though the last thing I need is another pair of second-hand shoes.

I know wearing different color shoes is most likely, in no way considered avant-garde nowadays. For all I know, they might even sell them in different colors. If they don't, they should.

It's been so long since my senior year of high school. I wonder if the other two guys ever remember back at the time we swapped shoes when they see a pair of purple Converse Chuck Taylor All-Star high tops. 

Maybe, but they guy who ended up with one green shoe and one orange one probably won't.

What Did I Write About Eight Years Ago Today? A Baseball Book...

It's Labor Day, the 2019 edition. I'm sitting in my front room very tired. I looked through my most recent photos seeing if there was anything I took a picture of that I wanted to blog about (a couple of the the phrases in that last sentence end in a preposition...). See? Told you I was tired.

I don't do it often, but occasionally I look back through the years of blog posts I've written. Sometimes, what I see gives me an idea for a new blog post. For fun, I thought I'd check out what I wrote about back on September 2nd, 2011.

Turns out I wrote about a baseball book.

I remember that book. I bought it at the DI (our local thrift store...). I bought it because it was signed by four people. I recognized one name, Yogi Berra, but not the others. After a few quick internet searches, I knew the book was more awesome than I originally thought. A few years ago I was doing a play with a person who watches, likes, and appreciates baseball much more than I do. I mentioned I had the book and he wanted to see it, so my wife and I drove out to his house. I ended up trading the book for a small guitar amp (the amp was small--it wasn't an amp for small guitars...).

When I go back and check those old blog posts, a couple of things stand out. First, many of them lack the photos I used when I originally wrote the blogs. Thankfully, the pictures on the post I wrote eight years ago today are still there. And second, people used to post comments on my blog. That's something that hardly ever happens now. I'm okay with it--I didn't start the blog, nor do I write the posts to get comments. If you're interested in reading the original post, you can click: HERE to access it.

Eight years, and I wrote about a baseball book, a book I no longer have.

Should I Cosplay As One-Punch Man...Or Not?

Cosplay...it's all the rage. At least, it is with the thousands of people coming to the Salt Palace next weekend. It's amazing the creativity and ingenuity people come up with. I find the subject fascinating. In the past I've tried taking pictures of cosplayers at these conventions, and I have posted a few, but it's hard to keep up--you see something amazing and you turn around and there's twenty more just as amazing--or even more so--standing right behind them.

Maybe it's because some of the cosplay costumes are so incredible, I get intimidated. And even though I know you can do some great cosplay on the cheap, I think I'll need to spend a lot of money to get it right. Plus, what would I cosplay as?

How about "One-Punch Man?"

The first time I ever heard of One-Punch Man was while performing A Christmas Carol two years ago. A fellow cast member said I reminded her of him. Her kids watched the show. I checked it out, and expect for the carnage and rage contained in the character, I agree--there is a resemblance.

Of course, if I wanted to cosplay One-Punch Man, I'd want to do it right. I do have some similarities with the superhero. Neither of us appears to be able to grow any hair on our heads--including eyebrows. So, I'm halfway there. I would need a yellow jumpsuit, a black belts (with accompanying cool-looking belt buckle...), red calf-high boots, red gloves and a white cape. If I had all that, I might consider cosplaying as One-Punch Man.

Then, you've got to be the kind of person who likes to dress up and pretend to be someone else. I do this all the time on stage. Maybe it's because I have an entire cast surrounding me that I don't mind cosplaying there. I don't know. I've never been a "cosplay guy." And I don't have enough time to gather all the necessary items to make a cosplay I'd be proud of for the show next week.

Who knows...I might do it next time. Those who do seem to be having a blast. I guess we'll see.

Updating...The Other Blog

It's time.

After months and months...

It's time.

Time to update my other blog.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I have another blog that I've basically ignored for a long time. I know people who used to blog quit often, but for one reason or another, they just stopped updating it. I bought my domain name years ago. As an author, you do things like this to protect and establish your brand. I still think it's important to have and to keep.

There's a couple of reasons why I stopped updating that blog. First, there's this blog. And when you write a daily post, as I've been fortunate enough to continue, the other one sort of gets forgotten. Then, there's my writing success. It's not like there are thousands of people searching my name wanting to know when the next book launch is. That may happen one day, but today is not that day.

Another thing you find out when you haven't checked up on the other blog for a long time (and when you turn off your notifications...) is it seems a lot of people have been commenting on my blog. I have 20, 698 comments on my blog. I've not responded to any of them. I sure hope there's a "mass delete" option on the website. In scanning only a couple, I'm sure they have no idea who I am, what I do, or even what my blog is about. I suppose that's only fair--I know nothing of who they are. The difference being, I'm not interested enough to respond.

I know I can stick with something. I'm thinking of updating that other blog at least once a week. I'm thinking maybe Sundays would be a good day to do that. Hopefully, I'll have enough interesting things--or semi-interesting things--to write about to keep it going. If you'd like to follow along, just click: HERE, or go to scottwilliamtaylor.com for all the fun.

Low-Key Lip Sync Battle At FanX...Give It A Shot!

Three Words

Lip

Sync

Battle!

Next week, at the FanX Convention Stage Floor, at 3pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday we're having a battle. Two acts, at the same time, try and out-duel each other. The winner moves on, the loser does not. And on Saturday, it's the championship round!

When a lip sync battle was proposed, those of us at FanX went bonkers. What a great idea! We turned it over to Howie, a friend and who came up with the idea in the first place. She's running it and I can't wait to see the costumes, the pageantry, the performances--it's going to be great!

And if YOU want to participate, go to the Facebook Low-Key Lip Sync Battle page by clicking: HERE. Come on--you're already dressed up! Why not get up on stage and pretend to sing an amazing song in front of the best con fans in the world?

Right?!

So, click on the link, sign up, and join the fun! We'd love to see you there!