I have myself listed in Linkedin as a Creative Hybrid. I’m currently in between jobs so I really had to wrestle with exactly what I wanted to refer to myself as because I’ve done many different things in the studio space since graduating from Art School. Starting off as an illustrator and needing to support a new family, I sort of stumbled into sales, which involved being a producer, then storyboard artist, copywriting and finally into business development. I’ll write about all that at a later time, but for the purpose of this post I’d like to talk about my brief stint as an author and connect it to that moniker, Creative Hybrid, because it is a major component of the definition.
I went through about a seven year period while trying to raise four kids where I generated a tremendous amount of creative content, everything from large paintings of robots, wildlife and portraits. My wife is a nurse and at the times worked nights. I cranked out 2 paintings a week, mostly oils, cold wax medium and acrylics. I’d get the kids to bed then start at like 10 pm, usually cleaning my brushes and retiring at around 2:30, only to get up at 7:00 am and drive the kids to school then head into my day job at Skidmore Studio. But there was also a yearning to get back to writing. When I was freelancing as an illustrator, I had the opportunity to write a few columns for Detroit Monthly and Michigan Woman, both long defunct magazines. I always loved to write. I think it was borne of devouring books and movies for years, and hearing my father tell jokes and stories. He was amazing at both, the way he seemed to find the ear in dialogue, hit punchlines, his timing. I started with screenplays and short stories. I read books on screenplays, hooked up with a mentor through the WGA and bought Final Draft. The first screenplay I wrote was 185 pages, which if you go by the 1 page=1 minute of screen time, translated to a long ass movie. I dove in and kept writing, finally paring my story down to 101 pages. At the urging of my mentor I entered it into the Nicholl Screenwriting Contest for the Academy, the same one related to the Oscars. I didn’t win, but made it to the top 10%, finishing between 400-800th. That’s all they would tell me, as there were 8,000 submissions. It was enough to give me the confidence that people other than my family and friends thought I could at least write a story. I must’ve written a million words. I churned out 5 screenplays and numerous short stories. Fifteen of those stories comprised my only book (to date), Eight Dogs Named Jack and Fourteen Other Stories from the Detroit Streets and Michigan Wilderness.
Being an unknown author, my publisher decided I should be involved in the design of the book, which included a woodcut-style illustration for every story including the cover art. Sure, who needs sleep? I wanted it to be above all else, beautiful. I had poured my heart and soul into these stories, many of them inspired by my upbringing and marrying into a Sicilian family. I knew little about publishing, but I knew the cover would have to grab people, get their attention, and see if I could convince folks to take a chance on me. In retrospect I wish I’d pushed for a trade paperback (way less money), but I was into the aesthetics and once my publisher showed me the deckled edge, hard cover style he had in mind, I was hooked. The cover art ended up being a vibrant illustration of one of the stories, Measure of a Man, a tale of a Detroit fireman who’s tested agains the elements of the Canadian Wilderness while on a hunting trip. It featured a lone man set against the backdrop of the Aurora Bourealis, with bold yellow type. As for the title, the publisher won out on what we were going to call the book. I suggested, Leaving Copper Corner, which was the nickname of the part of Detroit I grew up in, so named for all the Detroit cops that lived there. But as soon as he saw the title of one of the stories, Eight Dogs Named Jack, he was resolute. That was the title. I argued that people might think the book was filled with stories about dogs. “Don’t be foolish. THIS, this is the title.” (SIDEBAR: Later during an interview with a radio host [who will remain nameless], who had clearly not read the book, he opened with, “So this is a book filled with stories about dogs…” Groan.)
Imagine our delight when a major book blog, whose name escapes me (or I’ve blocked from my memory), wrote a review of my book! Except the title was, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” The blogger loved the cover art but was expecting “Jack London” stories. They thought a couple stories were good but panned most of it. Disappointing, but I was published, and that time remains a very fond one in my life.
The book can still be found at Amazon, and I think there’s a few hundred available. Look, you may hate the stories but it’s filled with art work done by yours truly. You can take a look at all the illustration on my website by clicking here.