How I Decided to Become a Comic Professional
by Gary Walters

Hey! You don't know me! Well, some of you do, but not enough of you do, LOL.

I've been bumping around the comic cosmos now for a few years, writing a story here or there. Doing some illustrating there or here. But I'm commited recently to become a real comic book pro. And I'm going to chronacle that journey to professional comic book writer here, at Your Mom's Basement.

So, here, in this first installment of this column, let me tell you a little about myself:

Before becoming a comic book professional a few months ago, I had the same boring kind of job that you likely have. And hate. I hated mine. Hated it so much I quit. Quite to pursue my dream. My dream of finally being a comic professional. In the comic book business.

I had been working for the last year at a local parking garage. Working the booth, doing security, taking tickets, making change. It was a boring job, but in between rush hours it gave me time to read comics, draw, and write down ideas. It was one such idea that convinced me to make a go of it in the comic business full time. More on that in my next column, tentatively entitled "One Good Idea". After I realized I had an idea for a comic book character that I could make a go of it with, the job, which didn't hold my interest to begin with, held it even less so.

So one Wednesday, after returning back late from getting my weekly comic book fix, and having my boss yell at me for not being in the booth right at 3 o'clock, I decided I had had it. Really, I feel bad for people like my boss. Non-creative types never understand creative people. Our needs to create. To have time for self-expression. Fifteen minutes late! I was fifteen minutes late. He didn't know why I was late. He just started yelling. Maybe I was in a fit of creative passion and could not be disturbed. Maybe I was needing a moment for introspection, he didn't know. We creative-types are special in this lonely world, and they just don't get it. And we don't need those types pulling us down, tearing away at our gifts that are meant to be shared with the world. I was so angry at his narrow-mindedness, that I knew as he yelled, that the time had come. I needed to seize this moment. For the time to pursue my dreams had finally come. And, a month and a half later, I quit.

So there I was, a newly unemployed comic book professional. Ready to take on the world! Luckily I had used my time in lousy-car-garage-hell wisely and took a community college class in writing the previous winter. I think "lousy-car-garage-hell" is the secret, hidden level of hell in Shakespeare's "The Inferno", LOL. But seriously, taking a writing course is the best way to get the experience necessary to become a professional writer. There are even loans you can take out to pay for the class, so you don't have to pay for it at all. I learned a lot of helpful writing techniques and ways to "break through" writer's block. Which I get a lot. I learned so much and it really increased my confedence in my ability to write well. And once it was over I emailed the teacher and he said that if I had completed the class he thinks I would have gotten a "b".

It's been an exciting couple of months since joining the ranks of comicdom. I've gotten to know a few of my peers and they've been very supportive with their advice. I don't want to drop names, but some have even said that I should be sure to say "hi" when I see them at the next con, or convention. And don't think I wouldn't. This is a hard industry to break into with a career. And I know it. I'll have to use every advantage I have, leverage every possibility, and borrow every chance. One of my first goals will be to network at conventions this year with the connections I've made online. I've talked to many a professional, and I hope they will recognize my name from my postings on their messageboards. That's the foot in the door. Then once I can get them my pitch, that's me opening the door wider. Making the dream happen. Seizing that moment from so many months ago that presented itself to grab. And once that door is open, you just have to walk through it, and then you're the professional comic book writer of your dreams.

So, this column will be the chronacle of my career breaking into the comic book business. I'll relate tips for how I've made it, explain my creative process, and let you know about my upcoming projects (lots of stuff in the works that I can't talk about yet). Please join me on my journey, won't you?