In December 2016, I embarked on writing a children’s chapter book series titled Katz Pajamas. The concept was a forties style film noiresque chapter book featuring a hard-boiled cat detective named Katz Pajamas. Set in the city of New Purrt, Catifornia, Katz is called upon by the rich and famous …
As a professor at Anderson University I’m blessed with the opportunity to teach classes in storytelling and screenwriting. Every semester, as my students start to develop ideas, one of them will tell me they don’t have any good ideas. When a student tells me this, I often ask if they have …
“Every ‘no’ is one step closer to a ‘yes.’” You’ve heard that before, right? If you work in sales, you have. What about this one. “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” That one’s attributed to Thomas Edison. These quotes like so many others are …
I’m rereading Hugh MacLeod’s book Evil Plans: Having Fun on the Road to World Domination, which was the follow up to Ignore Everybody. In Evil Plans, he has a chapter titled Make Art Every Day. The chapter starts off talking about recent college graduates working odd jobs just to get …
I’m going to cut to the chase. Good ideas are worth exactly the same amount as bad ideas. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Absolutely nothing. A good idea only becomes valuable when it is developed and formed into something of value whether that’s a script, book, film, piece of art, business venture, …
I got in trouble with my wife the other day because I responded, “yes, but…” She had an idea about something she wanted me to do. I had a similar idea… “but” I also had additional ideas. It wasn’t that my additional ideas were wrong or bad, it’s just that …
One of the hardest things to admit to myself over the years has been the fact that I am an artist. Why? Fear of rejection? Fear of other “artists” not agreeing with me? A perception that I needed to be corporate? Thinking that my art wasn’t real art? You know… …
Performance art is no mystery to you, and a good show may lead to the tossing of coinage. So don’t hold back. You’ve done some pretty crazy things on stage or in the subway before. Remember that time you skipped naked through the airport terminal yelling, “I feel like a …
The proof copy has arrived. After too many years of on again off again writing and editing, we have finally arrived at our set destination. We’re making a few changes and uploading the final draft within days. If you know anyone who dreams of moving to Hollywood and working in …
