Read the real life stories and experiences of freelance writer Mike Gagnon.

Shazbat!...

Well I have to make this quick. Scooter has fleas. We got him some anti-flea stuff. There was a classic car show in Kincardine tonight so we went to it. I watched some movies. I'm taking over an existing entertainment newspaper. I got fired from GM Goodwrench yesterday. I was just about to hit my two week mark. I got called into Jeff's office and told that Mike, a superior who is also a fucking idiot, wanted me out because someone else came in with a resume that had 20 years experience so that they wouldn't need training. He said it was costing too much to train employees, so they fired Nadine and I even though they have no problem with our work, so that they could bring in a guy that they don't have to train. Nice kick in the teeth eh? I am so sick of getting fucked over by everyone.

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 22:59 | link | comments (5)

Poonaka!...

Work has been good. It's not stress free, but I have no complaints. Well okay I could find stuff to bitch about, but it isn't going to help anyone. Super busy with business stuff too! All the aadvertising has been arranged and finalized for Dreams in Texture. Readers should see the ads in places like The Comics Journal, Alter-Ago, and DRAW! soon.

Tons of folks, newbies and pros alike, are contacting me and submitting their work to SMASH! COmics., I'm hoping things will really take off by this time next year.

Gotta go!

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 21:44 | link | comments

Penance Blog...

I've been sick. I've still been going to work, but haven't been doing much when I get home. I've been shitting my brains out for two days. I'm almost back to normal, but I still have aches and chills. I finally spliced together the phone line tonight so that I can check my e-mail and get online until I get the phone company to come in and put a new jack in.

The office is done being organized. YAY! Now I just have to catch up on my mailing and correspondence.

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 20:36 | link | comments

Playing catch up...

Geez, have I ever been this far behind? It's been a long and busy week. I've also watched Cold Creek Manor, 50 First Dates, and Last Samurai, so I'll have to write some reviews on those soon.

Work...

Work has been good. It's a good job. I have nothing to complain about and I get along with everyone at work so things are good. I do a lot of driving customers around while their vehicle is being repaired. I have to walk through the garage and check the progress on everyone's job in order to determine which mechanics should be scheduled to do which upcoming jobs and all that. I also enter all the invoice and paper work info and am responsible for posting all paid invoices to the accounting department. YAY!

Vampire story...

I finally finished that vampire story and sent it off to the publisher. I'm hoping they like it, but I expect some editing and re-writes, which is not uncommon. Once I've tweaked it for the editor I'll ask their permission to post an exerpt from the story here for promotional puposes. The only reason I have to check is because they are getting first prinitng rights from me, so I have to make sure it's okay with them  so I don't get in shit for breach of contract. The story was supposed to be 6,000 words, but it grew to 9,000 and I think that it is better for it. In fact I could have proabably put in another 500-1000 words, but I cut out some ideas that weren't necessary when I realized I was going to go over the limit. It's not a huge deal because the publisher will take stories over 6000 words, they just prefer the shorter stories.

Internet difficulties...

This week since we're both working we've been keeping Scooter in the bathroom and taking turns having one of us come home on our lunch breaks so that  we can walk him and take him out etc. Earlier this week he chewed through the phone line that runs through the bathroom, so I haven't been able to connect to the internet. Since that's the third time that that has happened in the least 9 months, I am going to call the phone company and let them know when I have a day off so that they can come and install a phone jack in the office, so that I won't have to run a phone line through the bathroom anymore. We're at my parents right now so I'm doing this entry on their computer. When I get home I'll have to splice the line back together again for temporary use.

Business work and organization...

I was really thrown off by the new schedule this week, but luckily I'm not too far behind. I really wish I'd gotten more business work done, but I'm not too worried yet. I think I'm almost caught up. Just a couple of urgent things need doing tonight and tommorow night. I've also managed to make my office much more efficient and organized, a process which is almost finished. I had to take down my Hulk poster, and in it's place I've got a row of hanging folders. Mind you these are not the store bought kind, but the regular paper folders taped together and then taped to the wall. Good enough for now . Instead of having the stack of things to do on top of my little plastic bins I've categorized everything and seperated by type of job and importance. Now I have a folder for freelance work, marketing, advertising, so on and so forth. Now that the plastic bins are empty I'm categorizing them and making them efficient too. They are now my new mail and financing/accounting department. Each is labelled with mail in, bills payable, bills receivable, etc.  Now I just have to sort that stack of financial and mail material into those bins.

Happy Father's  Day...

Happy Father's Day to all of you fathers out there. Especially my Father and Grand Father. Also all the other fathers out there that I know. Jay, Ron, umm....Matt, Jeff, ...and everyone else!

Well that's about  all for now. Nothing terribly exciting. Be back tommorow!

Mike 

Posted by: lightning at 08:52 | link | comments

Hey today was good. Long. I'm tired. so very tired. Lots of business stuff going on too, but too early to talk about. Keep an eye out for something interesteing tommorow. I'm just too tired to write right now. And busy!

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 22:13 | link | comments

The first day at the new job.

All went well. I am in deep and intensive training. I got to drive a lot of different vehicles today. I even got to drive a phone company truck today because we had to deliver it back out to the phone company. That was cool and a little scary. I drove a new Grand Prix, and the commercial about lots of head room is bullshit. Nice car though.

I'm in again tommorow at 8am and will be for the rest of the week, yay! So tonight Pam is having her class instead of tommorow, so tonight I'll get to work on stuff untill 9 and all that. I know I've said this before, but I am just minutes away from finishing off my vampire story. The last chapter has grown a bit more than I planned it to.

So I'll cross my fingers and hope that I can finish tonight.

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 20:40 | link | comments (2)

You know you're still young when...You sacrifice need for fashion.

Yesterday I bought a new pair of cool sunglasses instead of the ink I need for my printer.

You know you're getting old when...you start going blind.

I also had to buy some reading glasses yesterday because for the last week I have been getting headaches everytime I try to read what I'm typing on the screen. Plus I have to get right up to the counter and lean over it to read the menu at KFC.

VOTE THIRD PARTY!

My take on the upcoming federal elections!

Canada

Okay look at the main two parties. Liberals and Conservatives. I myslef used to be quite a Liberal supporter. I even said "Hey the guy's new, give him a chance!" When Dalton McGuinty started going back on election promises after he was voted in for the Provincial government. Although they are finally starting to do a little good, I think it's too little too late. I've given up on them. Plus Paul Martin's only pitch seems to be, "Yes I'm a Liberal, but I'm not Dalton McGuinty." After seeing how many goals that the McGuinty government has given up without fighting for it I've given up on the Liberals.

What about the Conservatives? Well first of all I'm really not sure how I feel about Steven Harper. Regardless of that, and his promises for the upcoming election one part of his platform that hasn't been talked about too much is his plan to repeal the law allowing gay marriage if elected. That fact alone makes me want to not vote for him. Why should those people not be given the same rights as everyone else? Let them get married if they want! It's none of my business and it's noone else's to tell tham that they can't either. People want to argue that it shouldn't be allowed because of their own religious beliefs. Well guess what, this is politics and human rights, not religious theology. People say it should be condemned because the Pope is against it. Well guess what? The Pope is a religious leader, not a political one. Who do you follow? Your own country and what it stands for, or the outdated beliefs of a warped religious practice? It really isn't the Pope's business if gay people get married or not either.

This all makes me want to go outside the box. I'm not decided yet. The next choice is the NDP, who I've never been too fond of either. Hell I may end up voting for the Green Party. I'd almost say I'm almost friends with the local rep for the Marijuana party, but he hasn't tried to get my vote yet, plus I don't see a platform, so I don't think I'll be voting for them.

I've also been watching the commercials for the federal elections in the U.S. I think it's even worse there. I don't think that I need to explain my case against Bush. I'd say it's pretty self explanatory and doesn't need to be elaborated on here. On a side note I watched the Reagan funeral on TV the other day, and did anyone else notice that smug bastard? Everyone was very serious and respectful facing forward during the proceedings. And then this dufus George W. is looking all around for people he knows, grinning, and nodding at people as a greeting when they acknowedge him. I just wanted to reach through my TV and bitch slap him. So what if you don't care, at least show some respect.

Back to the election stuff, the next runner up is John Carry. Now so far the only platform I've seen form him is "I went to war and I did a lot of other good stuff too." Which is great, but what are his political goals? Solid ones. Not just, I'll create jobs, but how he is going to create jobs? 

If I was an American I think I'd sure as hell be voting third party this year as well.

Well, that was my own amateur opinion, till tommorow...

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 14:08 | link | comments

Yay! I'm back!

Movie Review

Lord of the Rings: Return of the King - Yep, I finally friggin' saw this movie. It was good. It had all of the conclusions and plot closings that I expected. Keep in mind I have never read the books, so I didn't have anything to base it on. It's too bad that Golem went bad and ended up the way he did. I liked him. With all of that in mind however I think that this is one of those movies that were slightly tainted for me by hype and my own high expectations. 

Golem from LOTR: Return of the King. Come on, how could you not love this face?

I mean come on, nobody important even died. I waited through  three 3 hour long movies for one frigging main character to die. I thought for sure that Sam or Frodo would bite the dust. I think I personally would have enjoyed it much more if they had, at least it would give me a more emotioanl connection to the movie. This happily ever after for EVERYONE bullshit bothers me. Even Bilbo was still alive, although he looked like he just came out of an egyptian tomb. The movie was good, don't get me wrong, but I think I enjoyed the second one more. Also what bugged me, is the use of lava in films. I hate the way they make lava seem like water and like someone can just dive into it, sit next to it or dangle over it. I'm sorry, but if you're only a few feet above a river of lava you're ass is going to be toasted. Don't get me started on how someone could be IN a river of lava and not have any visible burning. Also didn't that Ring Wraith/Witch King guy die a little too easily? And didn't he get stabbed like a hundred times in the first movie and not skip a beat?

I do however very much appreciate that this movie didn't go full out CGI with the monsters. It's nice to see that. The orcs and other various humanoid baddies were done very well. Thank god for Hollywood make-up. I'd like to see more movies done this way, and even having the detailed Jim Hemsen puppets like in the old days than rely so heavily on CGI. When CGI was used it was used correctly and in the right places. I don't think that there was anyway that they could have done the Dragons in the manner needed with a Jim Hensen puppet, so to me the use of the CGI for those was good.

I was really hoping Frodo would die. Oh well. Long live the king.

Comics Collective...

By the way I just wanna tell folks about this great group of people I'm involved with. It's a new organization being spear headed by comics pal Kevin Clorey. The name is the Comix Cooperative and their goal is to help promote and inform about small press and independent comic studios. They are always looking for new members and there are various perks to that indeed. The website is still under construction, but you can find it at: http://comixcoop.blogspot.com keep coming back for news, info and updates!

O crap, I was gonna talk about election stuff, but instead I wrote about Lord of the Rings...Election stuff tommorow then!

Mike 

Posted by: lightning at 13:06 | link | comments

My Gaping chest wound...

I was in the kitchen cleaning up and the pen behind my ear fell out. In a mad scramble to catch it I somehow managed to jab it into my chest pretty hard. Now there's a small gash across my chest that is bleeding. It frigging hurts.

My vampire story...

Okay, I got a little sidetracked with some more important things today, but I'm almost done this story. I only have like 1 more page to type. Then I can send it on. Thank god. I'll try to finish it this weekend.

Crock of Distro shit...

Diamond told me today that they won't carry Monkeys and Midgets. Although they said that they liked the art and writing, that they just couldn't carry it. Why may you ask? Yes you may. They say because wrestling themed books are no longer meeting benchmarks in sales, so they will no longer be taking on any more wrestling books. Hmmmmmm.....I don't know where to start with that. I think there's a lot that COULD be said. Either way this mo-fo is still coming out, but now I may decide to do it the way it was originally planned, as a graphic novel instead of a mini-series. Who knows. I'll have to talk to Nelson too. SHIT!

Weird employment...

Well it turns out I'll be the new sales person in the parts department at the local GM service centre starting on Monday at 9 am. This is a good thing. I can still do comics, plus it will give me money to put into my comics. Razza frazzing comics that don't get solicited.......

I hate the government...

Stupid Canada Revenue and the banks really gave me a screwing over on my student loans. Now every branch of government involved wants some money from me because they decided to quit taking out my automatic loan payment and now want the whole balance. Goddamn money grubbing scam artists. So my first few paychecks at the new job will be going staright to the pension account of some politician.

Speaking of politicians, I'm gonna talk about my views on the upcoming elections tommorow...

Mike

GODDAMN GODDAMN GODDAMN, DON'T TELL MY BOOK IS GOOD, BUT NO THANKS. IF YOU DON'T WANT IT JUST LIE AND TELL ME IT'S SHIT AND MOVE ON. ARRRRGGGGGGGG!  No, no I'm not bitter.

Posted by: lightning at 18:59 | link | comments (4)

I am so tired.

I sold some of my graphic novels today. I got royaly ripped, but what a ya gonna do? Midgets are so funny. I love them. I'll post more info on Monkeys and Midgets here soon.

I forgot to mention that we're having a 50% off sale on all SMASH! Comics that are found on our online BUY page at www.lightningstrike.ca/smashcomics So head on over and by some SMASH! goodness.

Speaking of goodness, I got a box of new books solicited to Independent Glimpse. It's an entire box of the anthology trade published by Peter Conrad called SWELL. I haven't been able to read through my entire copy of it yet, but it has been quite a good read so far. There's an autobio story by James Kochalka about his bike named Rootbeer. Sam Henderson has an entry. Peter Conrad, Neil Fitzpatrick, Keith Knight, and many more! If this sounds up your alley keep an eye out for it to be added to our webpage at Independent glimpse for sale or e-mail me if you wanna buy a copy!

SO I've got new business accounts with a barcode company and FedEx too. YAY! FedEx really came in handy because the solicitation for M & M #1 almost didn't make the cut-off date.

I've been having writers block over this Vampire Fiction story I'm writing for a publisher ion the UK. The solution finally hit me today in the middle of walking the dog. I still had to mow the lawn, but after that I got back to work on it and I'm almost done. God willing I'll be able to finish it and send it off to the editor for tweaking tommorow.

There's an even sweater job lined up with another UK publisher after that. I'm not getting rich or even making decent money by any means, but hell, I won't turn down paying work.

Speaking of work, through a strange twist of fate I've had 2 interviews in as many days at the local GM dealership. I'm actually being considered for thier service, parts sales, maintenance outlet that is attached to the dealership. I'll find out tommorow if they wanna hire me.

My mom's cat Niko, A.K.A Nice Kitty has passed away. My mom had to put her down yesterday morning. It turns out that she suddenly developed a severe case of jaundas and was sick and dying, so she had to be put down.It's too bad. We'll all miss that cat. She was so fluffy. If I can find a picture somewhere I'll post it soon.

Right now I want to sleep, good god am I tired. I've been running ragged. I've gotten a pile of work done in the last couple days though.

Now I must sleep...

Mike

 

Posted by: lightning at 21:07 | link | comments (2)

The hair is gone! Just a quick note to tell you folks, that my long, hair, that actually made a small pony tail is now all gone. I got it chopped off. The Monekys and midgets solicitation is off to Diamond. There are some biz stuff in the works so I am too bust to write any further.

Later!

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 22:00 | link | comments

It is too hot to blog!

That's it I'm done for the day! I'm quitting early (well early for a Tuesday. I'd usually do work untill (pm because Pam has her class, but screw it I'm too sweaty to concentrate. I'm done for the day at 7pm.

Anyway, here's a preview to exite you. It's the unfinished rough draft of the cover for Monkeys & Midgets #1

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'll be sure to get up more previews and a final version of the cover soon! Let me knwo what you think!

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 20:24 | link | comments (3)