{"id":296,"date":"2017-03-14T15:31:47","date_gmt":"2017-03-14T15:31:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/?p=296"},"modified":"2017-03-14T17:21:19","modified_gmt":"2017-03-14T17:21:19","slug":"sorry-i-havent-been-blogging-i-wrote-a-book-instead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/2017\/03\/14\/sorry-i-havent-been-blogging-i-wrote-a-book-instead\/","title":{"rendered":"Sorry I haven’t been blogging. I wrote a book instead."},"content":{"rendered":"

Yep, that’s right. I wrote a book over the last six weeks or so. It’s called “Awful Activities: A Jumbo Compendium of Stuff to do for Immature Adults<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

\"awfulWhat did you<\/em> do during that time?<\/p>\n

Oh, you didn\u2019t write a book? Well, then, shut yer yap.<\/p>\n

To say I \u201cwrote\u201d a book is a bit of a stretch\u2026 I wrote and drew<\/em> a book. Does that diminish or enhance your views of my accomplishment? Well, let\u2019s frame it this way\u2026 Did you write\/and\/or\/draw a book in that time? Okay, then.<\/p>\n

So it\u2019s an activity book with one big illustration and a caption on most pages\u2026 you, the reader, are supposed to fill in the rest. Wow, so one big doodle and a few words, and suddenly I\u2019m William J. D. Shakespallinger? Of course not. Let’s be honest, this book is rotten and naughty and lowbrow and kind of stupid. I admit, I aimed pretty low here. Does that mean I\u2019m embarrassed by it? Hell no. It was still a lot of work, and I\u2019m supremely proud of this thing. Despite the low ambitions, I think it\u2019s pretty dang funny. And it should bring a lot of snarky happiness to folks worldwide. In fact, I expect it to by my best seller to date. Is that something to hide from? No. It is not.<\/p>\n

\n

\"why<\/p>\n

\n

Here\u2019s how it came to be\u2026 In December, I was thinking about attending an upcoming comics show in Denver, DINK, the Denver Independent Comics Expo<\/strong><\/a> (Most of the letters in \u201cDINK\u201d appear in that title, just roll with it\u2026). So I psyched and prepped myself to finish a graphic novel that had been in hiatus in time for the show. I was\u2026 INSPIRED!<\/p>\n

\"whatAnd then\u2026 I didn\u2019t get accepted to the event. Crud. But do you think I threw a pity party? Hell, yes, I did! It was a multi kegger of a party with taquitos and many pizzas!!! But eventually I got over it. Then a few weeks later, they announced the next round of folks who could get into the show, and I was in! Woohoo! Except I had lost all momentum as well as a few weeks of drawing on the book, and had to weigh the costs of buying a table. And in even the most optimistic scenarios, I was unlikely to finish the book I had been trying to finish with the quality of art and storytelling that I had hoped for. So, screw it.<\/p>\n

Dang. Enter Charles Brubaker<\/strong><\/a>, one of my cartoon pals who I have known for a long time despite not actually ever meeting in person. He\u2019s from Tennessee, y\u2019all, and needed a place to stay for the show, and long story long, I agreed to share his table in exchange for room and board and transportation (bonus\u2026 on the way to Denver, we get to use the HOV lanes for free with an extra rider in the car!).<\/p>\n

\"offensiveSo yay, I was still excited about the show, but had lost several weeks of drawing time for the book. Now what? Well, when they aim low, I aim even lower\u2026 I had been toying with the idea of an adult coloring book for awhile, and thought I could make that happen in short notice. The idea evolved into more of an activity book, which requires fewer crayons so that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

Important note\u2026 quickly cranking out a piece of work does not fully equate to shoddy production values, half-assed creativity or cynical exploitation. Sure, my new book has all of that, but I actually cared deeply about giving the reader the best lowbrow entertainment I could manufacture in a month. And I\u2019m damn proud of it.<\/p>\n

\"awfulSo let me ask you again\u2026 what fantastical piece of art or pop culture did you create in the last couple of months? I believe everyone\u2026 EVERYONE\u2026 has one at least good book inside them. One novel, one comic book, one cookbook, one manifesto, one collector\u2019s guide to the world of Stretch Armstrong toys (I would sooooooo buy that book!). Or maybe one album or one painting or one poem. It can be something heartbreakingly beautiful that will bring the world to tears, or something that makes us all slam on the brakes and confront the lie that is our reality face to face, or something lowbrow and stupid that sells a lot of copies and makes people happy for a few minutes. Whatever.<\/p>\n

\u201cAwful Activities<\/a>\u201d is my latest offering from my canon of excellently crafted and\/or hurriedly scribbled comics. What\u2019s yours?<\/p>\n

\n

\"trailerAnd now for something truly inspiring…<\/em> I dedicated this book to some friends who are writers, but who haven’t quite gotten around to publishing that first book. Hopefully this will provide a motivational boost to get over that hump. Here are links to their blogs and\/or other online creative outlets.<\/p>\n

Tina Foster Caldwell<\/strong><\/a> writes from a vintage camping trailer parked on the back nine of her fabulous estate. Sometimes the trailer ventures out into the world. Do not cut her off in traffic.<\/p>\n

Sally Holland<\/strong><\/a> is a journalist who lends her sense of truth to assorted fables, fairy tales, and fantastical stories.<\/p>\n

Joe Wolfe-Mazeres<\/strong><\/a> is a music writer, radio host, and novelist who prefers writing acoustically on an old IBM Selectric because it makes his words sound warmer and more authentic.<\/p>\n

Renee Gordon<\/strong><\/a> writes mostly about her two sons: smart, creative little firecrackers who tend to find the loopholes in any instruction or logical argument provided to them.<\/p>\n

Every one of these folks now owes me a signed first edition of their books.<\/p>\n

\n

“Awful Activities” is available on my website. But you figured that out, right.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yep, that’s right. I wrote a book over the last six weeks or so. It’s called “Awful Activities: A Jumbo Compendium of Stuff to do for Immature Adults.” What did you do during that time? Oh, you didn\u2019t write a book? Well, then, shut yer yap. To say I \u201cwrote\u201d a book is a bit … Continue reading “Sorry I haven’t been blogging. I wrote a book instead.”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3,1],"tags":[22,12,10],"class_list":["post-296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-comics","category-musings","category-uncategorized","tag-art","tag-comics","tag-musings"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":310,"href":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/296\/revisions\/310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ronruelle.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}