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

I got passes to the advance screening of 300 held in Toronto last night. Me and Pam's brother Kev went.

It was awesome! One of the best comic movies ever. It totally rocked.

We didn't get home to 3:30 in the morning, i'm still way behind and catching up on my articles. My review of the movie will come out at the end of the week,.  I'm going back to sleep.

MIke

Posted by: lightning at 19:09 | link | comments (2)

What I believe

I believe in taking a few minutes out of every day to do something nice for someone else. Just saying hello. Congratulating them on a job well done. Saying thanks.

I believe that having a positive attitude and outlook can change a life and change the world. That the more positivity you spread, the more others will spread positivity and a little positivity from one person can start a movement that will improve the world.

I believe in finding understanding for everyone. That people do not have to agree with me in order for me to like them. That friends don't always have to have the same opinion in order to be friends.

I believe in finding something good in every one and loving others for what makes them different.

I believe that there will always be those who hate or disbelieve the intentions of those who are positive. There will always be people who take a negative outlook on things and attack those who approach life positively. They will disbelieve and attack. They will make wild accusations, spread lies and start rumors.

I believe in being strong enough to look past those negative people, even find a quality to love in each of them when I can, and continue to face the world in a positive manner. I will not let those who live in negativity drag me down with them.

 

Posted by: lightning at 12:16 | link | comments

Clearing out the clutter.

I've decided ot take the inititive and tie off any loose ends floating around out there in regards to my writing, and clean this office up. I could stand to have a lot more organization in here.

Part of that is sifting through all of my queries, submission guidelines, back issues of magazines etc and getting rid of what I'm no longer interested in.

It's surprising just how many magazines out there I've been in contact with and for one reason or another they haven't followed through on thier end.

The life of a writer I guess.

Anyway, I was able to cull out about 25% of the magazines and contact info that I keep on hand, which means there's a nice pile of stuff in the recycling bin now.

The desk is already looking much cleaner and neater.

I'm such a geek for organization.

Posted by: lightning at 11:52 | link | comments

Anyone interested in my whole professional development writing wise, published work, or availability should check out http://lifeinprint.motime.com It's still under construction, but you get a good sample of stuff there so far with more to come. I update every Monday and when basic construction is finished it will also get it's own .com address.

Interested in entertainment news? Go to http://sexcomicsandrocknroll.motime.com for that type of stuff. Also soon to be a .com

Right now I'm getting geeked up to see the epilogue episode of Beauty and the Geek which airs tonight on City TV.

Not much else ot say right now. Too busy writing.

Mike 

Posted by: lightning at 14:40 | link | comments

This weekend continued to be pretty good. We went and saw Ghost Rider on Saturdaya nd then rented The Departed Saturday night.

My reviews of both movies can be found at http://sexcomicsandrocknroll.motime.com

Posted by: lightning at 12:24 | link | comments

An excellent day.

I got up at 5 am today and I sold 4 articles before 6 am.

I am the fucking man!

Then I found $40! $40! Just lost and discarded somewhere with no way to know who had left it. I even tried.

Then I heard a Nun swearing! A real nun! Truly awesome and hilarious.

The odds of all of these things happening in one day must be like a gajillion to one. Too bad I don't play the lottery.

This is truly an awesome day. It's like a dream, but It's real because we're talking about going to see Ghost Rider this weekend!

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 15:17 | link | comments

Being a freelance writer you have to deal with the high periods and the low periods. Until I become much more established and write for higher paying magazines, I will always be in need of a sideline or other source of employment.

Every three months or so I shave the mop of hair off of my head, not right down, but short, groom impeccably including facial hair, nose hair, brushed teeth. Clean up and shower. Slap on some cologne put on some nice but informal clothing, and venture out into that terrible world outside my door.

Yesterday was one of those days.

Not used to natural sunlight I was blinded for a few minutes standing in form of my house. I then proceeded to my destination.

The legendary job interview.

At some point I had realized just how much my writing affects my outlook on life. I had been working on a humor article for a magazine, and now that I was out and about I was able to see the humor in many everyday things around me. I had a better overall outlook as opposed to the deep contempt I usually feel towards society.

It went well. At least I think it did. There were plenty of smiles, laughs and eye contact. I always enjoy being interviewed by women as opposed to men.

I think it went well, I think there is a good chance I will get this job. I wouldn't make any guarantees as I have had interviews that went great in the past that I didn't get and others I thought I bombed and ended up landing it. So I leave it up to the benevolent Buddha to determine my employment fate.

Either way I'll still keep my other part-time job at a local convenience store. Although with every shift the rage I'm packing down inside of me increases and will someday burst forth at an inopportune time...oh well.

Since it was also coincidentally the day of Saint Valentine's yesterday I also embarked on a mission of blooming love and romance. I hit a local market where I picked up homemade lasagna, some garlic bread, and a chocolate caramel pecan cheesecake.

I then went to the flower store where I go to every year. Pam had already told me that I didn't need to get her anything, but that if I did (wink, wink) not to get her roses because she always gets roses. She suggested a few ideas for potted plants instead. So I went into the flower store looking for something unique. This was the year I finally hit the end of my rope with them. The service there has been going downhill every Valentine's day for the last few years. The girl who serves me every year gets more bitter and miserable than the year before. Usually I just grin and bear it in order to get the proper token of romance for Pam, but instead this year I left.

At a local supermarket I was able to find a large potted plant, some type of foliage, identical to the one at the flower store, but at a third of the price.

So I got that, and some African violets, as well as Valentine's cupcakes.

I came home and while working of a couple of articles I prepared my romantic dinner for Pam and instead of buying a card I used my mad exacto-knife skillz to create a homemade valentine just like back in the day at public school.

After Pam finished work we enjoyed our romantic dinner and then watched the season finale of Beauty and the Geek on City TV. Ah that crazy Scooter....

Anyway we decided to watch a movie afterwards. I had borrowed Beerfest from work about three days ago and never got around to watching it, so we decided to watch that.

What a stink fest.

We decided not to let the craptacular movie ruin our Valentine's festivities and moved them up to the bedroom.

The rest of the details are censored for your protection.

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 11:21 | link | comments (2)

So I watched the Guardian last night. That was pretty good. I'll have to write a review on that soon.

Also things are going well with some new work on Monkeys & Midgets. I have an artist coloring pages for us to submit to publishers to solicit interest in a full color edition.

Nelson and I are also looking at the possibility of a Monkeys daily strip, but it'll be a while yet before we really know anything.

Other than that just working my ass off getting articles done for my editors as well as sending out queries to new potential editors.

No juicy personal stuff today. I thought of something funny last night and said "I should write that on my blog". I've since forgotten it but hopefully it will return to me later.

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 11:05 | link | comments (2)

Well..I must say that I thought today was going to be a bad day. It started off pretty shitty. Hassles, problems, bills, idiots...It was like instead of being spread out over the whole week every pain in the ass was hitting me at once.

But things turned up this afternoon.

I landed a couple writing gigs and another freelance job related to publishing.

I got a very nice letter of thanks from a comic creator who was a former editor at Marvel Comics.

I managed to wrangle a job interview for tommorow afternoon.

And, I managed to add a fair bit of content to my self promo site at http://lifeinprint.motime.com

All in a days work.

Now I have to work on some scripts, start a submission for a humor magazine, wash laundry and do dishes...and I only have about an hour and a half to do it in.

Bye

Posted by: lightning at 19:19 | link | comments

Really working on trying to be more upbeat. Usually it's not a problem, but with all of the crap that's been going on it's hard to, it's so frustrating. I just don't understand the mentallity of loud mouths online who think that because someone defends themselves that they must be guilty of something. Especially when they haven't got a clue. I'm trying to just let it go and say who cares, but in the back of my mind there is always this gnawing frustration about having people say false things about me online. If it was a chat room I wouldn't worry about it. But this was something that was done through a comics news website and people assumed it to be accurate because of the reputation of the website. Frustrating.

In most cases I can think positively and brush things off. I can usually find something likeable in almost everyone and I can usually find a way to make something positive out of most situations, but this is just grating me.

Which is probably exactly what the people behind all of this want...

Posted by: lightning at 09:37 | link | comments

Well, it's the 7th straight day of snowstorms and flurries. The whole town is stuck in there homes like shut-ins. Half of them are shut-ins anyway. I'm getting sick of this white crap.

Worked this morning and I read my horoscope in today's paper. Says I should devote my efforts to getting work published. It actually said that. I was amazed.

So...I'm gonna go work on some articles/writing instead of spending any more time droning on here.

Mike

Posted by: lightning at 12:09 | link | comments

*Note: Just a warning this is a long one but raises some very valid concerns and points.*

 

Well, I'm back and I guess it's time to go back to ranting so I can get this current rant out of my system.

 

I think in the interests of keeping readers informed, especially fans of comic industry and pop culture news, that you should keep a cynical eye on all news items you see developing or posted on supposedly legitimate websites and magazines.

 

Remember: the rule "Don't believe everything you read" is true.

 

The current state of legitimate journalism in the comics industry just boggles my mind. There are so many people passing themselves off as experts and so many websites passing themselves off as legitimate that are anything but. There are many sites out there that are full of misinformation and a lot of writers out there that are uneducated about the realities of the industry who are writing articles based on false assumptions.

 

The reason that this causes a problem is that much of the inner workings and business procedures of the comics industry are not common knowledge among the fans who read these articles. Many readers are taken in, believing the person writing the articles are knowledgeable and experienced. In reality many of these writers are no more knowledgeable than the general fan reading their work.

 

Many of these fake “experts” do not do any proper research before they present their writing to the public. The internet is rife with articles about comics and the business in general that are full of inaccuracies and falsehoods. In many cases writers have just made an assumption and written their article around that without any fact based information to go along with it.

 

Often times these fake experts have no real writing experience or credentials. They do not present their thoughts or ideas in a professional manner. They are often apt to present theories, accusations and assumptions in their articles that are totally false and unprofessional.

 

Trolling comic book news websites and chat rooms will quickly turn up articles where fans turned "expert writers" will make unprofessional claims about a publisher or comic creator without any actual facts or research to back it up.

 

Just for a hypothetical example, let's say that there are a million people out there in the world writing about the comics industry. I would estimate that only 1% are actual experts. That’s only 10,000 out of a million writers who are actually knowledgeable enough to be considered experts and a trust worthy accurate source for news.

 

People with real experience in the industry can see these articles and dismiss them as ill informed, but the public does not have the knowledge needed to make the same assessment. In many cases a reader has no reason to question what they consider to be a legitimate and accurate news source.

 

Let me make my own personal example. People who’ve been following this will know the specific details.

 

Recently a comic news website ran an article about me, claiming that I had stolen a comic character from a creator and was illegally printing and selling copies of his books online.

 

The entire article and series of related allegations were totally false. They proved to be false.

 

In the course of writing the article the “journalist” did very little research other than accepting the claims of the comic creator in question as fact. At no time when he was writing his article did he attempt to verify any of these facts with me or even inform me of the allegations being made.

 

However he did try to make it look like he had contacted me about the allegations in his article and that I had no comment. That is a very big professional mistake for a writer who claims to be legitimate to make. Very unprofessional. It serves to discredit anything that the writer does in the future because you can’t trust the facts and claims the writer himself is making to even be accurate.

 

If I had ever turned in something so poorly researched and inaccurate to any of the magazines I currently write for, especially if the fact was made public, I would never expect to work for that magazine again. Any legitimate magazine would never hire me again and the same should apply to any website. I would be, as any legitimate writer should be, thoroughly embarrassed and ashamed for trying to use something that’s supposed to be a legitimate news source to mislead and dupe the public.

 

Had I ever written an article like this it would have fallen apart in the fact checking stage and never been published. That’s another important factor. Where was the publisher of the false article in all of this? Even if the writer turned in a false and misguided article to the publisher it should have never seen print or been posted online. The website that ran the article made absolutely no attempt to verify the facts and claims being made by the so called “journalist”.

 

Any legitimate news, entertainment or media source of news will have an editor or fact checker verify and investigate any facts or claims being made in an article. Legitimate news sources do this in order to make sure that the news that they are making public is accurate and true. The website that ran the article about me made absolutely no attempt to check the facts presented by their writer.

 

How many other articles have they published that were untrue? How many other websites are operating in the same manner and publishing articles based on false facts?

 

These are the questions that arise when something like this happens. It is unprofessional and irresponsible websites and publishers which cast an unfavorable shadow on the entire comics and pop culture media industry. These few tainted sources of news make all of comics’ journalism seem questionable and potentially unreliable. When these websites continue to get away with posting inaccurate news it creates an environment for other sites or new start-up sites to think its okay to follow suit. These copycat sites then feel it is okay to publish inaccurate stories in order to draw attention to their site.

 

Many websites want to publish over sensationalized news because it gets attention. Attention draws hits. The more hits a website has the more ads it can sell and the more it can justify increasing ad rates when it wants to.

 

Legitimate journalists should avoid these websites because once you are associated with a website that is proven to be inaccurate that association may follow you through the rest of your career.

 

Any writer, be they writing on comics or any other subject should not be turning in any work that is not thoroughly researched. Just because you know all about something doesn’t make you an expert. Just because you can write on something doesn’t mean you should. Research. Do not write anything that isn’t researched. Don’t be afraid to contact people. Find real, publicly established experts and ask them questions. Get their input and quotes for your articles. Real writers do their research and don’t alter an article to fit their opinion or the way they want it to turn out. Real writers research a topic thoroughly and write articles based on what that research finds.

 

Do not ever submit an article that hasn’t been thoroughly researched and verified.

 

When I contacted the website that carried the article and asked for a public apology they refused. This was based on the weak excuse that the journalist and the website had not made any claims, only presented the claims made by the comic creator.

 

I honestly have better and more profitable things to do than fight with a website that can no longer be considered as a legitimate news source.

 

Had I pressed the issue and backed them into a corner I inevitably would have gotten the excuse that many in this industry abuse. Freedom of speech. This is a classic defense used by those who know they have spread false information. The problem is that legally, if you’ve spread lies, freedom of speech is not a real defense.

 

Again a case of people not doing their research.

 

The freedom of speech applies to a person’s right to publicly speak an opinion. The freedom of speech is not legally useable as a defense when someone defames, libels, or slanders someone else or otherwise spreads information with the express intent and purpose of causing damage to that person through loss of income or reputation. A court of law will not even consider freedom of speech if it can be proven that the claims a person was making are false or fabricated. This means that if you purposely mislead the public with an article or instigate the writing of said article based on lies and false accusations, the right to freedom of speech does not apply and will not protect you.

 

Look into it. Do your research. I did.

 

As could be expected this false article also led other news sources to pick it up and carry it, doing articles with their own angle and take on the piece. Even people with personal/professional weblogs posted their opinions, usually that I must be some rotten bastard. One such blog even dug up some old work of mine when I used to be a publisher. This was the very first book I had published. The group of them proceeded to post info and pages from the book criticizing it, pointing out spelling mistakes, posting a corrupted cover file of it. Of course the comments carried on that I must be some kind of idiot and was likely the worst publisher on Earth.

 

The funny thing is that this was carried out all by people I knew and associated with in the past as a comic creator. These were all comic creators tearing down the very existence of the first book I’ve ever published. The reason I just see it as funny now is that knowing each of these people I know what their first books looked like. I know they’d be upset, enraged or embarrassed if anyone ever posted their first book online and tore it apart. When comparing my first book to theirs it really doesn’t matter what they say because my first book looks like a masterpiece next to theirs.

 

But I won’t do something like that. Why? Because it’s unprofessional. Writers and creators out there need to realize and remember that everyone has to start somewhere and build their talent and career from there. Everyone in this industry has a first/early book that they are embarrassed to look back on now. Publicly ridiculing a fellow creator is not only unprofessional, but it can come back to haunt you, especially if the person you ridiculed climbs the career ladder faster than you do.

 

These people also stated that the corrupted cover file carried by a third party book seller and distributor must have been a sure sign I was the worst publisher in the world. Again, people are commenting like they are experts on things they know nothing about and have not researched. I know none of these people have ever taken the initiative to get their own work distributed widely like this. These sorts of errors and mistakes are commonplace and happen every day. Sometimes an error is easily fixed; sometimes it takes a long time. Either way any well established professional that reads these comments will know that the commentators are speaking about things they have no knowledge of. They may remember that if those same people approach them for work or business dealings in the future.

 

In any event using the internet to gang up and ridicule someone is immature and unprofessional. It makes you look like you have the mentality of a schoolyard bully. These comments can exist online years after you have made them, making it quite possible that they could come back to haunt you when you least expect it.

 

If you don’t have first hand knowledge or experience on an issue you shouldn’t write like you do, especially to ridicule or attack someone. It just makes you look stupid.

 

To help draw this to a close I have one more example.

 

Recently while browsing comic book websites online I happened across the website of an independent comic book publisher. Their website was run in a blog style format with the top of the page always updating with the webmasters newest post.

 

To the best of my knowledge the webmaster was one of the creators who published comic books with them and not one of the publishers or owners of the company itself.

 

A recent entry made that blatantly obvious.

 

The webmaster had posted an entry regarding a recent comic news piece. In his entry he criticized another small press publisher and claimed that they must have had something seriously wrong with them because they had a book that was not being distributed to retailers by Diamond. Unfortunately the opinions expressed in this entry made it quite blatantly obvious that the creator had little to no comprehension about how the entire solicitation and distribution process works. They also displayed very little knowledge about the publishing process.

 

I have to believe that if the publisher who owned this website reviewed posts before they were loaded that they never would have posted it. If I was this publisher I would be embarrassed to have something like this on my website.

 

But it still happens and continues to do so. In all honesty I think it’s getting worse every day. The reason it is allowed to spread is that these fake “experts” know that much of the industry is not public knowledge. The chances are readers won’t know enough to question the false claims made by these phonies.

 

The only way to combat it is for the general public who reads these stories to keep the question of accuracy in mind. Before you accept a story you read as a fact think about it, read some related stories, research it, or even contact and ask questions of those mentioned in the story. Remember that a lot of sites are just trying to sell ads and will publish inflated stories to do so. Research the websites that you use to get you comic and pop culture news. If you find that the accuracy of one of the news sites you go to is questionable quit using it as a source for info. Don’t give them the hits. Take it off your favorites list and find news sites that are reputable and only go to those sites that are.

 

For would-be writers and journalists, as well as many “current” ones, don’t comment on things you know nothing about. Don’t try and pass yourself off as an expert if you’re not. I don’t even consider myself an expert, but I also don’t write on things I haven’t heavily researched first. If you want to write on something that you don’t have a full knowledge of or explore claims that are being made do your research first and make sure you have it to back up the accuracy of your writing. Writing a sensationalized and fabricated piece may give you a popular article now, but in time the truth comes out and spreading falsehoods in your work will earn you a bad reputation that will follow you for your entire career.

 

Posted by: lightning at 15:09 | link | comments (2)