Eight years ago this Monday, I signed my first book contract (above left). It was for a collection of my syndicated humor columns called “Humor at the Speed of Life.” I was still a journalist at the time and had finished a 16-year run of my column in 50 newspapers.
Just LOOK at that guy! The youthful joy and hope in the face of a budding author! His eyes are bright! Full of anticipation for the future! I have ARRIVED! he’s thinking. The world is my oyster! Sure, I actually hate oysters because they initiate my gag reflex so bad I can launch one onto the wall from 6 feet away with surprising accuracy. But still… it’s my oyster to gag on!
Ahhhh, it seems like a lifetime ago. Especially when you include the COVID vortex that bent time and aged us all 20 years like when you leave half an avocado out over night.
This could explain the second photo: [Insert “Twilight Zone” music here] Flash forward eight years to the face of someone who has shifted their focus from humor (or humour for my Canadian friends) columns to crime/suspense fiction novels. Researching crime scene investigation techniques, talking with homicide detectives, creating plot lines that involve unscrupulous and even sociopathic characters who can blur the lines between good, bad and evil… apparently it takes a toll on even the most unhardened and Pollyanna-like writer (um, that’s me). Will I continue to shrivel into a hooded, pale-skinned shell like Emperor Palpatine, so consumed with darkness that even my manicurist stops returning my calls for an appointment?
I don’t think so. “Why not,” you ask?
(Seriously — please ask me)
(Thank you)
I’ll tell you why, but you have to promise to keep this just between us (and by “us” I mean just you, me and 6,000 or so other followers of this blog.)
The truth is, I absolutely love this stuff. I know that seems contrary to what I’ve written before and my basic nature as a person whose glass is always half full, assumes people are good until proven otherwise (usually during elections), and approaches life as a positive adventure full of lessons, opportunity and — best of all — bacon. But in a strange way, it’s because of my natural leaning toward the light that I enjoy delving into the opposite, creating a world of danger and strife and uncertainty and darkness.
That’s because I can invest myself (and readers) in a character that somehow manages to find their way through it. In that way, as much carnage and foulness as there may be in my books, I still see them as hopeful and inspiring when you peel away everything else. So while the face of the guy on the right may appear to have killed off the guy on his… left (or is it his right and your left?), other guy, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
And while my writing beyond this blog has certainly changed, I’m still the same guy trying to express and explore my obsessions and interests through the keyboard like a blind man trying to read a cold waffle iron.
See what I mean? Sometimes I can go really dark.
But not so dark that the waffle iron was actually turned on. THAT would be dark…
[Obligatory Plug: Want to know more about waffles? I can’t help you there. But if you’d like to learn more about my novel series, click HERE to visit my author website!]
Ned's Blog 
I think you look great in BOTH pics, Ned! (Well, except for lacking the smile in the second one.) I say keep doing exactly what you’re doing, but maybe add a few more laughs here and there, and all will be fine. 😊👍🏻😊
Thanks, Marcia! I swear, I still laugh a lot more than not! I appreciate you stopping in and sharing those smily faces ❤
I believe you about the laughing. I do a LOT of that, too, yet I have more FROWN lines than ever. Why is that? Hmmm. Guess it could be something to do with having lived so dang long! 🙄 😁 (After a certain point, I suspect all lines start looking alike!)
What an exciting evolution (adventure?) you’ve gone through over the past eight years. I can only imagine where you’ll be in another eight, and surmise it will include writing more books, frolicking and follying with your beloved, and going for a few motorcycle rides. Why oh why did I have to read your post categories and see “Recently probed (and potentially sore) subjects” when I recently underwent one of those unfun screening exams we elders get about every five years or so? (Sorry, probably TMI).
Really wonderful to see that familiar image pop up in the comment feed, Susan! And yes, I have no reason NOT to believe the next eight years will be — at the very least — eventful.
I left my 40s thinking, “Welp, that’s going to be my most interesting decade of change.” Man, was I wrong. Now that I’m approaching my 60s — and thinking back on how this decade has been — I’m just preparing to hold on tight.
I hope everything turned out good with your screening, although I’m not going to probe…
I hear you about life revving up in my 50’s, and yes, smooth sailing on the exam. 😉
You’re aging handsomely! I suspect it’s the laughing. I have every intention of getting around to reading your novels, as I too find the darker side intriguing. And I laugh probably more than the people around me care for. Meh! Can’t help it if they don’t share my fine sense of humor!
I appreciate that, Julie! Which reminds me, how did your last vision test? Haha! I think it makes perfect sense that people with a sense of humor also have an ilk for thrillers/horror/suspense. Two sides of the same coin, I think. And if people around you are annoyed by your laughter, find comfort knowing you’ll be alive and laughing long after they’re gone 🙂 See? I’m still a positive person!
Thanks so much for stopping in, Julie! Keep laughing and poking around in the dark 😉
interestingly enough I just had my vision checked last month, and it had improved! Well my distance vision did, my reading vision got a tad worse.
I do have what I believe to be a very good idea for an eerie novel, but lack the time and skill to compose it. How do you feel about ghost writing?
Hey Julie! That’s great news about your vision, although now I’m concerned that I may have had a filter on that I wasn’t aware of…
I have done a couple of ghostwriting jobs, so I’d certainly be open to talking about it if you want to reach out through my email (nedhickson@icloud.com) I’m not taking on any new projects until mid May, just so you’re aware, but I’d be happy to chat in the meantime 😉
watch for my email