Last week marked the fourth anniversary of my first-ever fiction sale. This is what I wrote about it back in March of 2019:
When I was a kid, I knew exactly what I wanted to be if I ever grew up: I wanted to be Batman.
Looking back now, I guess that maybe possibly might not have been the most realistic of goals. Subsequent fantasies of becoming the President of the United States, a film actor, and a wealthy publishing magnate with my own line of comic books, pulp magazines, and a girlie slick to compete with Playboy and Penthouse (which, of course, would come with its own pulchritudinous army of counterparts to the Playboy Playmates and Penthouse Pets) were really no more plausible than my earlier dream of racin' around in a cape and mask and boppin' bad guys in their evil-doing schnozzolas.
That still leaves two more life-long ambitions: to be a rock star, and to be a writer. The former is not going to happen. But I am a writer. I'm not a particularly successful writer, granted; nonetheless, I am indeed a writer.
My bucket list has been pretty modest, I think. When I was 24 years old, I was fortunate enough to be paid for something I wrote, and I went on to be a hobbyist freelance writer for the next 22 years. It was strictly nonfiction: histories of comic books and musical performers and genres, album reviews, liner notes, interviews with the Ramones and Joan Jett. I never made a living at it; I realized years ago that I was never going to be a full-time professional writer, and came to terms with that realization. But I enjoyed it, and it was well worth it. In 2006, I stopped freelancing because it wasn't fun anymore. I still love to write. I keep this daily blog, and I still pull at little mental threads with the hope of selling one of my pieces again.
I've had two big bucket-list items, and two secondary ones. One is that rock star thing, to perform with a band at least one night; the other big one is to write a book and get it published. The former's a pipe dream, the latter is...possible. Plausible, even. If I don't quite manage to write the great (or even so-so) novel I envision, I betcha I can put together a decent volume of my musical musings, especially a book collection of my ongoing series The Greatest Record Ever Made. I can't sing or play guitar, but a book? I think I can achieve my goal of doing a book.
The two secondary items on that bucket list? I checked 'em both off this week. I wanted to sell a piece of fiction, and I wanted to sell something that would appear in a comic book. On Monday, the good folks at AHOY Comics purchased my short story "Guitars Vs. Rayguns," a rock 'n' roll comedy text piece that will appear in one of AHOY's fine titles. Check and check. And, in fact, a check on its way to me soon. Writing for money! I approve of that message. I hope to do more of it soon. 
Awright, we're back in 2023 again. Time travel! And I think we're all good with skipping a few of those years. Since breakin' the ol' telling-lies-for-a-living ice in 2019, I've written and sold a few more short stories, starting with "The Picture Of Amontillado" and barreling into individual adventures set in my Copperhead Kid continuity: "The Last Ride Of The Copperhead Kid" (my third fiction sale, but the first one published), "The Copperhead Strikes!," "The Copperhead Affair," "Chaos At The Copperhead Club," and "Flight Of The Copperhead." I've also sold a quirky superhero story called "Rain-Hat Sam," which has been purchased but not yet published.
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| Ed Catto's illustration for "Chaos At The Copperhead Club" |
I've also written several more short stories that did not sell; most of those probably didn't deserve to sell, but I do think "Home Of The Hits" and "Pop Friction" were pretty good. I've begun work on two other Copperhead chronicles ("The Copperhead Kid's New York Adventure" and "The Copperhead Detective"), have started sketching out how all the separate Copperhead chapters could connect as a novel, and have been picking at the idea of self-publishing a paperback collection of my non-Copperhead short stories.
(I have not offered my short stories to any market other than AHOY. AHOY pays better and faster than most, and feels like a more appopriate fit for me anyway.)
I'd like to write more fiction. I have a few novels in mind, though the notions are so unformed they don't yet qualify as actual ideas. Inspired by a rave review from an AHOY reader, I want to expand "Guitars Vs. Rayguns" into some sort of longer form. I have some vague inclinations to combine my love of comic books and rock 'n' roll with flights of fancy inspired by interpersonal relationships, memories, and pure imagination into something new. Several somethings new..png)
But for now, the nonfiction has to take priority. My Ramones book will be out in hardcover in early May. That long-threatened Greatest Record Ever Made! book ain't dead yet; it's complete, undergoing another reread/review/revise process, and hoping to secure a publisher. I may return to an earlier vow to finish writing my de facto autobiography Singers, Superheroes, And Songs On The Radio: My Life In Pop Culture In The 1960s, 1970s, And 1980s.
I would not advise the holding of one's breath while awaiting the latter.
One project feeds others. There are things to write, fueled either by facts to report and/or interpret or by stuff to just make up outright. I love being a writer. I've never been any good at anything else. But I do love being a writer.
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Carl's new book Gabba Gabba Hey! A Conversation With The Ramones is now available for preorder, courtesy of the good folks at Rare Bird Books. Gabba Gabba YAY!!
This Is Rock 'n' Roll Radio with Dana & Carl airs Sunday nights from 9 to Midnight Eastern, on the air in Syracuse at SPARK! WSPJ 103.3 and 93.7 FM, and on the web at http://sparksyracuse.org/ You can read about our history here.
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