On Drawing

I can't. Don't have the skill for it. Lord knows I tried. Let me establish something: My brother is a gifted artist. He can put anything on paper his mind's eye can come up with... in more than a few styles. He got a degree in graphic design, and now works for the department of Education. He's good.

I'm not. I took drawing lessons from a family friend in middle school; we traded drawing lessons from their mom for piano lessons from my mom. It was sweet of them to give me the opportunity; but the best I ever did was... not very good.

To wit: My brother is the reason I took up writing. There we were, both sitting in a restaurant with paper placemats and writing implements, and my brother was just doodling away. Jealous and thinking "Well, there's more than one thing to do with a pencil, isn't there" I started writing a short story.

The story was rubbish, of course, but it catalyzed something for me. Fast forward a decade or two, and I'm writing my first comic book miniseries, I edit books into transcripts for an audiobook company and if I'm very lucky might become the editor for a magazine both my brother and I have freelanced for; for some time now. That would be, in a word, awesome.

I owe my brother a lot. He's been one hell of a role model. Now he's a career man and a loving husband and father. I'm barely dating. Still have a long way to go...