'Sup

Welcome, welcome, please make yourself at home in my virtual cave dwelling. Can I offer you the gift of fire? Perhaps a giant, stone wheel to impress your friends?

Thanks for visiting my primitive blog. I've been hoping to put one together for years, and I've finally decided that there's no time like the present (which means I've stopped being lazy for once). So who am I, and why are you here? Well, to answer the first part of that question, allow me to introduce myself. My name's Lew, and I'm a writer who's hoping to eventually get my stories some considerable exposure. Now, exposure on the level of, say, J.K. Rowling or George R.R. Martin would be nice, but I'm going to try and aim a little lower than that first. Everyone had to start somewhere, right? Besides, I don't have any cool initials that stand for "just kidding" or "rest & relaxation" like the previous writers do.

I began writing at a young age, putting together fan fiction stories centered around Ninja Turtles. Yes, I was (and still am) a huge TMNT fan. If you haven't been watching the new show on Nickelodeon, please do yourself a favor and check it out. The writing is smart and funny, and the voice actors are doing a fantastic job of reviving this old franchise. However, if you're one of those people who gaze at your childhood through rose-colored glasses, please stay away. I can't stand reading any more "OMFG Nickaelodeonz rap3d my chidho00dz!!!!1" comments that seem to flood the forums and fansites. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, writing! So I started with fan fiction (embarrassing, I know), and then I began trying my hand at original material during my early college days. Just when I was getting into the groove of things, I had to step away from writing for a few years while I focused on finishing college. I survived, barely, by eating Mac 'n Cheese, Slim Jims, and Mountain Dew. After getting a shiny piece of paper that I worked so hard for, I found a wonderful job with lots of interesting people, some of whom drove me crazy. Instead of turning to the silver flask full of happy juice, I decided to focus my energies on something more positive: writing. I signed up for the Writers' Program via the UCLA Extension and found an incredible community of writers who shared some valuable tools of the trade. I thought being a writer of speculative fiction would alienate me, but that wasn't the case at all. The classes I took at UCLA Ex helped to transform my writing from total garbage (like Aunt Petunia's "tuna-less tuna casserole"), to something a little more salvageable (like Uncle Rob's "liquid dinners"). Since then, I've been trying to get my stories published with very little success. Only one, "The Passenger," was published online in 2010, and the literary magazine (AKA lit mag) died about a year later, thankfully. Looking back, that story wasn't one of my favorites, heh. Right now, I have one story on hold for an online lit mag (I hope they decide to publish it), and I'm working on refining 2-3 more stories for submission next year. I'm also revising, albeit slowly, a horror/action novella.

Now that I've answered the first part of that question (yes, there were two parts, remember), allow me to address the second part. Why are you here? Well, why are you here? I can only think of two possible answers: 1) You and I are well acquainted, and you're kind enough to support my crazy endeavors (hi Mom!); or 2) You're incredibly bored, wandered into my virtual cave by mistake, and we still might be well acquainted (hi Dad!). Whichever answer you find suitable to your situation, I do hope that you'll be stopping by on occasion. I plan to use this blog as a way to vent my insanity as I pursue the American dream of writing a novel and making piles of money. Won't you join me on this adventure? Or maybe you already have. If that's the case, bring some potato chips. I'm running low. See you next time!