Somewhere Over the Sun

Letter to a 5-Month-Old Nephew

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:00:00 -0600

Dear Sylas, It is again raining in Mexico City. The people that know me are familiar with my...

"…an honest and joyful attempt to reach out…and remind us all of the great things that..."

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 17:03:54 -0600

“…an honest and joyful attempt to reach out…and remind us all of the great things...

Do Not Fear the Blank White Page

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 19:00:06 -0600

If someone has ever told you to fear the blank white page, they are wrong. The blank white page is...

"The final paragraph of Somewhere Over the Sun is like a song I never want to stop listening to. It’s..."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:00:05 -0600

“The final paragraph of Somewhere Over the Sun is like a song I never want to stop listening...

I like this blog to be exclusively original content, but I...

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:53:58 -0600

I like this blog to be exclusively original content, but I wanted to share this with my readers. It’s a graph depicting artists’ capabilities over time (red line) and the perception of their capabilities over time (black line). Pretty damn accurate, and a nice reminder that as long as you keep doing whatever it is you create, you are going to get better.

I think pretty highly of myself and my abilities, otherwise I wouldn’t be pursuing this career at my age, but I recognize that there is a lot of room to improve, and I’m looking forward to the books and stories I’ll one day write.

billdixoncomedy:

Growing As An Artist

By Bill Dixon

80% of the emails I receive through this website go as follows:

Q: No matter how hard I try I feel like I will never be a good [writer, musician, painter, cook, burlesque dancer, comedian, tap dancer, juggler, misogynist, cow tipper, cat collector, etc.] I really want to be good but I just feel like I will never get there. Did you go through a crisis of confidence? What should I do?

A:

The photo above represents a theory I have about artists:

Let (X) represent time in years (left to right: 0-10)

Let (Y) represent how awesome you are at your particular art form (bottom to top: “Someone please drown me in a urinal” to “I’m Awesome!)

The orange line represents the rate at which a majority of artists grow into their art form, or the Generalized Artistic Growth Rate.

The black line represents the artist’s perception of his or her art, or the Perceptive Rate of Growth.

So what does this mean to the aspiring artist?

If you think you are an amazing and talented individual, chances are you have not been participating in your artistic community for very long.

I call it the, “Dude, I could totally do that” phenomenon. It occurs in art galleries, restaurants, concert halls, and comedy clubs across the planet every day. Someone watching, listening to, tasting, or experiencing a piece of art leans over to a friend and says, “I could totally do that.”

“I could totally do that” is Day Zero. Now Day 1 is an important day:

Day 1 is the day you realize you don’t know what the fuck the word “aperture” means.

Day 1 is the day you figure out not to wear your nice jeans when you use oil paints.

Day 1 is the day you are holding an acoustic guitar over your head trying to bounce the pick out of the body for the 10th time that day.

Day 1 is the day you are scanning the thesaurus for synonyms for “happy.”

Day 1 is the day you realize most chefs don’t use microwaves.

Day 1 is the day you realize beat matching is fucking impossible.

Day 1 is the day you realize Photoshop takes up an unbelievable amount of space on your hard drive.

Day 1 is the day you gasp in horror when you find out how much the fluid head tripod for your video camera is going to cost.

Day 1 is the day you realize that you are not holding the microphone close enough to your face and it’s no matter because no one is laughing at your AIDS joke anyway.

Day 1 is the day you realize that those male ballet dancer “fags” could dead lift your Honda Civic.

Day 1 is the day you realize “I can totally do that” is an unbelievably naive statement.

Now the horrible irony, the overwhelming, earth shattering, bat shit crazy irony is there is only one statement that can get you to Day 2.

“Dude…I can totally do that.”

So if you think your work is shitty and contrived, and for some reason you still wake up with that nagging voice in your head saying, “I could totally do that,” I would say you are on the right track.

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Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:44:21 -0600

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Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:18:00 -0600

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Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:37:15 -0600

Hello :)I finished “The Calvin Sky” two weeks ago and loved every single story in it. I tend to get...

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Sun, 29 Jan 2012 08:16:21 -0600

We forget that there is no joy except in human relations. –Wind, Sand and Stars, Antoine de...

Ten Hours in London

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:56:00 -0600

I turned eighteen on the flight. It was a red eye from Mexico City (MEX) into Heathrow (LHR), next...

I made this yesterday for reference when submitting short...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 02:26:51 -0600

I made this yesterday for reference when submitting short stories to literary magazines in the future. Wanted to share it in case any other writers out there might find it useful. These, of course, are just a few of the many fine magazines out there. Always check submission guidelines before sending in your work. Sorry for the poor quality of the image. Godspeed.

15 Internet Tabs Open to 15 Different Literary Magazines

Sun, 22 Jan 2012 16:50:34 -0600

Short story submission time!

Photo

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:19:54 -0600

Letter to a 4-Month-Old Nephew

Sun, 15 Jan 2012 04:41:37 -0600

Dear Sylas, You’re fresher at this, so maybe you can explain: are we born wanting to pair...

Adi's Favorite Movies of 2011

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 18:01:00 -0600

This list is not in any particular order. I could probably point at my favorite movie or two, but...

The Calvin Sky is up and available for download on Amazon!...

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 15:36:57 -0600

The Calvin Sky is up and available for download on Amazon! It’s $1.99 for Kindle, and if you don’t own a Kindle you can still just download the Kindle Preview App (click here!) and read the collection of short stories on your computer.

Enjoy!

Hiccup

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 19:10:41 -0600

Had to take down The Calvin Sky due to technical issues with the layout. My illustrator is fixing it...

Good News, Bad News

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 21:12:16 -0600

Yesterday morning, I received an email from the literary development company in Los Angeles...

Still Here!

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 05:19:18 -0600

Hi everyone!Sorry for the inactivity as of late. Stay tuned for some impending good news, but for...

Birthright

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 18:00:06 -0600

Before I left Las Vegas on an expiring student visa, I called the cable company to cancel my...