Broken Frontier

This has been a very hard column to write. For months I have tried to come up with interesting insights from my own creative background and for most of that time I have succeeded, always putting off to another week the time when I would have to return to the source text for much of the earlier columns that make up this 43 chapter (so far!) odyssey called The Story Factory.

The truth is that it is hard work being a writer. I don’t think I have ever sanitized that in my columns, but at the same time I don’t think that I have been too upfront about it either. This column is perhaps aimed more at up-and-coming or budding creators and I have news for you all; this is bloody hard work!

You see, for whatever reason I seem to have a way with words. I was never great at English while at school, but I always did well with essays and the like and when I finally decided (at around age of 24) that I wanted to go into a career in public relations, I kind of sealed my fate (much in the same way that Anakin Skywalker did in Revenge Of The Sith – OK, maybe that was a little different!).

I sell words for a living. At the end of the day when you strip back all of the fluff from my professional life it boils down to this; I am either writing or I am on the phone. As Michael Hutchence once sang "Words are weapons, sharper than knives". In my case I have used words as weapons in my personal and professional life and now the keyboard-weapon is aimed at me.

When all that I do all day (from 9:00 am – 6:30 pm usually) at work is sell words, I find it incredibly challenging to devote time at nights or on weekends to … well, words. I am caught in a catch 22; I can’t write comics full time because, well then my wife and I would lose our house and/or starve to death! I don’t get a paycheck from any website or comic book companies – I do this for love. Some projects offer what is called a back-end deal, where you get paid once a book ships only if it makes any profit. I’m not complaining, just giving you the facts.

The thing about a writer’s journey is that it never ends; you develop this all-encompassing hunger for words and all of a sudden you have an appetite that would put Galactus to shame! Apparently men use less words than women in their day, but I figure I would give most gossiping secretaries or hairdressers a run for their greenbacks! Today at work I wrote a 10 minute speech for our president (that’s 10 Microsoft Word pages), two press releases, one of which was four pages – the other was two, about 20 emails (at least five were written while I was talking on the phone) and I started preparing to write the weekly 2500 word email/ fax message that my work puts out each Friday!

And what am I doing now? Well, I had a manic weekend so it is 10 pm on Monday night and I am writing this column!! Sorry for the rant my dear readers, I guess it is all catching up with me.

So, this is the part where I need your help! The Story Factory is at a crossroads. Here are my choices:

That last one was a bit of a joke, but seriously I need your help. In case you can’t tell, I am feeling a little uninspired, so if anyone one who reads this feels like writing me a message board pep talk please do so in The Story Factory forum. Otherwise you can email me at jasonbereklewis@brokenfrontier.com

I love writing and I love fantastic stories. I love creating (or trying to create) comics and coming up with my own stories. In a kind of strange way, despite all the times it takes and the fights I have with my wife, I love this column. Sometimes, I just need an inspirational jumpstart before I am off and running once again.

Clear!

Bzzzz! Spraaaak!!

That’s better…

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