The Indie Author’s Journey: An Introspective (Pt. 1)

It’s late on a Sunday night, and I’m sitting in front of my computer listening to my 80’s Pandora station. At some point, I have to go to sleep because I’m fortunate enough to have a day job to go to tomorrow morning. But, I told myself that I would post a new blog entry at least once a week, and I’d like to think that I’m a man of my word and conviction . . . or at lest one of the two on any given day. So, while Daryl Hall and John Oates spend many choruses spelling the same three words, I’m reflecting on every decision I’ve made since November 29, 2000. That was the day that 14-year-old Me completed a drawing of five costumed teenage vigilantes prepared to guard their city from the forces of evil . . . as long as they were home in time for dinner.

Okay, maybe not every decision since then. More like every creative choice I’ve made to bring my fictitious alter ego—along with my doppelgangers Taylor, Zack, Nova, and Max—from a mere thought in my head to literary Life. Here’s the first part of that reflection, the actual nuts and bolts of my publishing adventure:

I came up with the idea to write about me and my four imaginary friends being superheroes when I was 12, right about the time that I moved significantly far away from my two real best friends (one of whom was my first . . . okay, third true love). At that time, all I had was a spiral notebook, a pencil, and my mother’s electric typewriter. Everything I knew about story structure was gleaned from episodes of Batman: The Animated Series and repeat viewings of the Back to the Future trilogy on sick days—there were a lot, since I had gnarly asthma until well into high school. 

Anyway, by the time I graduated and was well into community college, one of Mom’s academic buddies, D.J. Copeland released her first novel, The Kids at Latimer High. I have vivid memories of being at her house, watching her pore over cover design edits and story revisions; and, finally, receiving a signed copy of her self-published book. Debbie even personalized the inscription with words to the effect of “I can’t wait for you to write and release your own story!”

NOTE: I don’t have too many personal or professional regrets in life . . . but not retaining that original copy of Debbie’s book will always be one of them.

On January 1, 2007, one hour and twenty-five minutes after the ball dropped at midnight, I finished my first draft of TEEN JUSTICE: Justice Has A Curfew—Part 1. And, please believe me when I say . . . it was awful. (But not that awful, since I fully intend to harvest a ton of parts for future stories =) I felt a surge of accomplishment adrenaline and passed out until noon the next afternoon. Now, it’s important to know that a few years prior, my mom advised me to create a “poor man’s patent,” which consisted of printing out every character name, every story element, and every crude teenage drawing I had pertaining to the world of TEEN JUSTICE. I did, I had them notarized, and then I sealed them in an envelope and mailed it to myself. The envelope was never to be opened unless absolutely necessary at some future date to establish original ownership in court. (Consequently, as I type this, the envelope is in my desk filing cabinet with the seal still intact.) Several months after completing my manuscript, I submitted Justice Has a Curfew Parts 1-3 to the United States Copyright Office.

So, to briefly recap, I went from playing superheroes with my friends to writing about our imaginary adventures . . . to actually writing and copyrighting a complete story about them. I owned my kids, I owned their adventures, and I owned the right to navigate their future endeavors to infinity and beyond.

In the next installment of this retrospective, I’ll get into the nitty gritty of how I crafted the story of Curfew—Book One, along with all some of the Ups and all of the Downs of getting it published. Until then, take care and I’ll see you soon!