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I imagine I will keep posting on this blog a while for a few reasons. One, some reflections about my 365 Project are probably necessary. Two, Noah Scalin's new book, "Unstuck : 52 Ways to Get (and Keep) your Creativity Flowing" has recently been released and I am in it. I would hate for someone to come to this blog and it be not active. And finally, three, I think an occasional Napkin Moustache would be quite entertaining.

Noah sent me an email right before my 365 was over and asked a few follow up questions. Here they are with my responses:

1. When did your project start/end?

November 11, 2010 - November 10, 2011.

2. What are the biggest lessons/skills you learned from doing your project?

Creativity, no matter what level you perform it, will spark fires -infernos- of the ability to pursue other projects even further. Which leads to the answer to the next question...

3. In what ways did the project change your life?

Doing this Napkin Moustache A Day has changed my life immensely. I am a freelance writer, have the degree in English, but never did much more than write magazine articles, columns and reviews of movies and music over the years. Naturally I always wanted to write on a larger scale; short stories, etc. Through this small effort of blogging about putting a napkin on my face, not only did it spark my practice writing regularly, creatively, and entertainingly, but it also brought me in contact with other creative people that I may have never met. The project showed me the determination of seeing things through, to have something more than just an idea in my head. It jumps starts the creative engine that often stalls for people.

4. Now what?

More. While the 365 Project was going on, I co-edited a book called "Richmond Macabre : Nightmares from the River City", a book a short horror stories by various other authors (including one by me) that was well received and the first of its kind for Richmond, Virginia. You can go to www.richmondmacabre.com to find out more or order it through your local bookstore or amazon. I am also now involved in a few other creative projects, and planning more. It's all about following through with these ideas now.

More later...

The Three Hundred and Fifty Fifth...

Number Three Hundred and Fifty Five:

Home, Dinner, Lasagna

Amazing night last night at Balliceaux for the Macabre Masquerade. The Secretly Ya'll...storytelling was fine, the readings from the book were terrific and the band, The Zombie String Trio really brought the awesome! So great! So today, being Halloween, Gina, Justin and I got to dress up, cuz that's how we roll suckas! Gina did a good 60s black & white movie gal, Justin did a swell Muertos Cowboy, and well, I was the Masque of Red Death.

Here's a pic we shared with co-workers:

Third costume this Halloween by the way... damn. Anyway, home eating lasagna and watching the classic Wicker Man is my night! Nice!

The Three Hundred and Fifty Third...

Number Three Hundred and Fifty Three:

Home, Snack, Nuts

Well, today it happened. Phil Pollard died. He was with family, friends and his music and went peacefully. He leaves behind his wife, his three daughters and legacy of living. He was 44 years old. If you had ever met him, you would never forget him, and I certainly won't. We were in a band together for a year and a half and I still would see him occasionally. He was a man that always had a nod and a wink, and something clever, smart or terrific for you. A man that lived happily and shared that joy. Thanks for it, Phil!

This picture was taken on the fly, things were busy today; a book event at the New York Deli with Chop Suey Books that turned out well, then a drag costume party in the evening. The picture is a SUPER RARE print of the book cover, basically a test run, five made in this grey and black tone that Lisa and I had framed. We also had the "normal" book cover print framed, which will probably go up the rest of the year. Looks great!

The Three Hundred Forty Seventh...

Number Three Hundred Forty Seven:

Chesterfield Towne Center, Lunch, Some Chinese nightmare

Okay, since when did the old Chesterfield Mall don "Towne" and "Center" to it's moniker? It's not only stupid sounding, but stupid spelling for Midlo, yo! Anyway, Richmond Macabre crew were in full effect for the Poe Museum fundraiser at Barnes & Noble. Beth and I managed to sneak away for some mediocre Chinese plates. Sat like a rock for me, made Beth feel icky. Lot of great activity at the tables though; bag puppets, readings, zombie make-up demos, plus this thing that Beth and I posed for below. Anne Soffee and family stopped by too, and great to chat with her, plus she took the picture!

Getting Casky with it.

Long day, fun day. B&N does NOT support local, just want you to know that, and they are bastards about it. BUT, we still had a great time with the Poe people and writers, a few of us even grabbed a beer (or two) at the Red Robin across the Food Court late in the day. Good times yucking it up at the RR bar, acting up.

The Three Hundred and Forty Fourth...

Number Three Hundred and Forty Four:

Visual Arts Center, Pumpkinhead

Yes! This is an ACTUAL prop from the 1988 Stan Winston flick Pumpkinhead. Doc Gillespie, wise sage of horror film, brought props as part of the fun that the James River Film Society had tonight with it's first Halloween Showcase. I was a part of it, as curator for the opening film, Pickman's Model, by Giovanni Furore, based on the H.P. Lovecraft short story. Fangoria was also there representing. Geeks of Doom Bobby Morgan in the house too, running the triva contest between movies! Great night, we had about 60 people show up! More icing for the cake, please, you ask? Sure! Richmond Macabre writers Melissa Scott Sinclair, Michael Baughan, and cohort Beth Brown too! WOOT!

The Three Hundred and Forty Second...

Number Three Hundred and Forty Two:

Avalon, Dinner, Monkfish

Nice dinner with Lisa at our old haunt, followed by an after dinner cocktail at Secco while waiting to talk to Ward from Chop Suey Books about another Richmond Macabre event at New York Deli! October 29th, 4-6PM, Fears & Beers kind of thing, show up!

Date night, out on the town!

The Three Hundred and Thirty Eighth...

Number Three Hundred and Thirty Eight:

WTVR, Television Appearance

I covered three mediums today.

Radio: First, I did my radio show, with two guests; Jeff Roll from the James River Film Society, then Alex Orangyna from the River City Roller Girls. Jeff talked about the Halloween Showcase and several other events upcoming, and Alex talked about a roller derby double header happening tomorrow. Excellent time with them both!

Television: After that, it was down the street to the "South's first television station" WTVR Channel 6 and their Virginia This Morning show for an appearance for the Richmond Macabre book. There Beth and I were, wedged in between "hicks-spanic" comedian Alex Reymundo, "The Waltons" Earl Hamner, AND a baby flamingo, eventually batting clean up in show. I managed this napstache right before the interview with Cheryl Miller, who is way more calm while interviewing than the other dude; who is jacked up on some serious coffee or something. Here is the interview. Funny thing, it was so fast once we got in the studio, then bam, interview done, now here is the egress. "Which way would you like to leave the building?" the thin fashionable blonde producer asked. Beth said the back, so yup, we left the station via the alley, which was kind of great because the huge pink and white station tower looms right there and is always awesome to see up close.

Interlude: Then went to work for a few hours. Lunch break. Then off to the west end of town to ANOTHER television studio, this time Henrico County's HCTV to do some voice over work for a show they did on the county library system.

At HCTV studios.

Print: Ending the day at Westbury Pharmacy for a book signing. The owners there were so nice and hospitable. They made two really big posters for the event, gave us a great location, table, candy corn and refreshment.

Me, Michael Baughan, Beth

We even signed several books too! The kind folks even let us take one of the large posters with us to totally use for future book events. So a full, fun day!

The Three Hundred and Thirty Sixth...

Number Three Hundred and Thirty Six:

The Camel, Dinner, Quesadilla

Long day today. First went to an online conference at the library on eBooks. Great thing was that the keynote speaker was my pal and author M.T. Anderson. M.T. Anderson was Henrico County Public Library's All Henrico Reads author last year. Lisa and I had the pleasure of driving him around Richmond on a nickel tour of the town. Great guy, smart guy.

After that it was off to Carytown to post some flyers for the James River Film Society's Halloween Horror Showcase. I am one of the curators of the event, plus Richmond Macabre will be there in full effect! Also, spoke with Ward at Chop Suey about another RM event!

I had a meeting at the radio station to go to at 7:30, so I had a light supper at The Camel where Secretly Ya'll's Colin was bar tending. We chatted a bit about some Secretlys and the event we have planned on October 30th. Then the meeting up at the station last till nearly nine, nearly a 12 hour day! Whew! See the exit sign in the pic? Yup!

The Three Hundred and Thirty Second...

Number Three Hundred and Thirty Two:

Tarrant's Cafe, Corned Beef Hash, Brunch

A quick meal before the third book event in as many days! I enjoy the busy! It was at Quirk Gallery, and while not many people showed up, three great things happened: more author interaction, a great live set by the band Machine Gun Mustache, and an interactive event called Exquisite Corpse which will be posted later on the Richmond Macabre website!

The Three Hundred and Thirty First...

Number Three Hundred and Thirty One:

Fountain Bookstore, Book signing

Great time in the Slip at a great bookstore! We had a number of people come in and purchase the book. Then Beth, Michael Baughan and myself signed copies and chatted with folks about it. Kelly, the owner, is absolutely awesome. She plugged the event, she hung up a banner out front, she showed people coming in the store the book while they browsed and totally sold some of them on it. So very full of greatness.

Window display @ Fountain.

Beth, Michael and I having some fun.

Later, I went to Carytown to pick up some cheese at River City Cellars for a party we are going to later. I pop into Chop Suey and our book is being proudly displayed. The guy behind the counter told me it was doing well too! Yay! Further evidence that local bookstores ROCK!

On the counter at Chop Suey.

Also awesome? Our Wedding Anniversary! Happy Anniversary Lisa!

The Three Hundred and Thirtieth...

Number Three Hundred and Thirty:

Home, Dinner, Egg Sandwich

Quick bite after work, headed to the Poe Museum for their awesome Poe Memorial Service. Today is the anniversary of Poe's death. A fair amount of people showed up, plus Richmond Macabre authors Dale Brumfield, Charles Albert and Andrew Goethals read selections intermingled with actual Poe stories read by museum staff. It was kind of nice to have a couple of beers and chat with the other writers in the book in a less formal atmosphere (meaning with booze). A grand time! Note the decoration of pumpkin in the window; it's the most wonderful time of the year! ;-)

The Three Hundred and Twenty Ninth...

Number Three Hundred and Twenty Nine:

Home, Dinner, Leftovers

Beth Brown and I are suave at marketing (well, mostly Beth). Coming off of the great interview on Wordy Birds last week, we then get a nice big blurb in the city's glossy Richmond Magazine! Sweet. Beth told me in her Publisher travels that the book was already being asked for last weekend at Chop Suey. Add that the copies in our library are all checked out, with holds and that is some nice confidence boosting that people are requesting and liking the book! Nice! Oh, and NEXT week, we are slated to be on Channel 6's morning show on Friday. Woot! Feels good to be bringing something to Richmond that people are enjoying and wanting!

The Three Hundred and Twenty Sixth...

Number Three Hundred and Twenty Six:

The Poe Museum, Book Launch

Today was our book launch party of Richmond Macabre : Nightmares from the River City at the Poe Museum. Wow! What terrific event! The weather was getting cold, threatening rain, perfect for the day full of moody soundscapes, creepy book readings and getting to know everyone that contributed to the book.

Lisa and I showed up around one to help set up with co-conspirator Beth Brown. Everything started to come together around 15 minutes before the event. Beth and I could tell when someone walked in who looked like one of the writers. (We had met NONE of the contributors before today, that was kind of cool!) After a while, chock full of great atmospheric music by my pal Sean Lovelace and Brian, the first set of readings by the authors began. I was one of them, I thought I did a pretty decent job. After the first set of readings, more musical interlude followed as well as the invitation for people to tour the fantastic Poe Museum. So surreal, and awesome, was when people started coming up to me asking to sign their book! Wow! Kind of special, neat. It was great to see so many people interested in a collection of short horror fiction set in and inspired by Richmond, Virginia, something that I (and I am sure Beth) am very proud to be a part of! It's kind of like the reward for the hard work of putting this project together.

Next, the second set of readings began, also great. Ending the afternoon with a massive book signing by the 13 authors that appeared for the event. There were a lot of special moments for me, too many to mention here, but there will be some pictures on tomorrow's blog of the event. Such a great time, perfect!

The Three Hundred and Twenty Fourth...

Number Three Hundred and Twenty Four:

Home, Breakfast, Eggs

Despite my tired look (Hey! Give me a break, it's 5 in the freakin morning!) I was excited about today. Not only do I do my Friday Breakfast Blend on WRIR 97.3, but our interview on one of my favorite local radio shows Wordy Birds aired today! It sounded great too! You can listen to it here. All in preparation of the Book Launch Party at the Poe Museum this Sunday from 2-4PM! Should be wonderful time!

The Three Hundred and Twentieth...

Number Three Hundred and Twenty:

Home, Dinner, Pizza

Had an interview for the book with Liz Humes, host of the wonderful book show called Wordy Birds on WRIR 97.3. I think Beth Brown and I did a great job. Beth did well, of course, she has done this before, and while I have been interviewed for things like a t.v. segment for my job and bands, the book was a little different. I think I did all right though!

Picked up a pizza pie on the way home, in time for some Antiques Roadshow!

The Three Hundred and Nineteenth...

Number Three Hundred and Nineteen:

Home, Dinner, Beef tomato awesomeness

This was pretty much my vision after playing video pinball for at least an hour. Being a person that grew up during the golden era of arcades and video games (Pac-Man --I sucked at, Frogger -- I sucked at, Phoenix -- I was okay at that one, Gorf -- I was okay), my all time favorite then and now is Pinball. I freakin LOVE pinball. If I had a choice between whatever popular video game was in an arcade ever, I would still choose pinball. So, I think for my mid-life crisis purchase, if and when that happens, I would really LOVE to get my hands on a pinball like Funhouse, or Pinbot (not the Black Knight though, that one kind of sucked). This video game that I have actually has all of those, plus a few more Williams tables, an okay substitute for the real thing, but still would LOVE the real thing!

Also, ONE WEEK till the Richmond Macabre Book Launch!

The Three Hundred and Seventh...

Number Three Hundred and Seven:

Office, Lunch, Industrial

So lunch at work today, no one to dine with, I took the opportunity to drive to the Style Weekly offices to drop of a review copy of Richmond Macabre. Also too the opportunity to pick up an Industrial to go from the downtown Coppola's Deli. Nice!

The Three Hundred and Sixth...

Number Three Hundred and Six:

Balliceaux, Dinner, Burger

After an invigorating yoga session, Lisa and I met Gina for Balliceaux burger time and one of my favorite local events these days. Secretly Ya'll... has now been in town for a year and they did a special Musician's Secret episode which was brilliant. Singer-Songwriters got a chance to come to the stage and talk about a song they wrote, then played. What was really great about it, was that they just did ONE song, then let the next person come up and tell their story and sing. Great stuff and snagged this shot right after the burger came.

Speaking of Secretly Ya'll events, Richmond Macabre is co-hosting with them to put on a Macabre Masquerade on October 30th, starting around 7PM! For 3 bucks (that will go to Books on Wheels) 3 storytellers will spin yarns, three writers from the book will do some readings, a surprise band, and a DJ to finish off the night with a dance party! Oh yes, this will be good! DO IT!

The Two Hundred and Eighty Seventh...

Number Two Hundred and Eighty Seven:

Home, Dinner, Pizza, Leftovers

Grabbed a leftover slice of pizza on the way out the door to meet Noah Scalin and Beth Brown regarding the Richmond Macabre book. (By the way, available at the Barnes & Noble website for early order now!) We had limited screen prints made of the cover, so we numbered and Noah signed them this evening. We listened to some old awesome 78s on a Victrola. Awesome! Oh, I guess I haven't shown the cover of the book on this blog yet:

So great!

The Two Hundred and Eighty Second...

Number Two Hundred and Eighty Two:

Home, Dinner, Fajitas

Some exciting things today. No, I'm not talking about the 1 billion sneezes and nose blows due to allergies, I am referring the release of our book Richmond Macabre! Beth picked up the limited prints of the cover by Noah Scalin today, and they look phenomenal! I already want 5!!! We met with the event / education coordinator for The Poe Museum, as well as the curator and one of the contributors who happens to work there. The museum was more than happy to host our Book Release! So great! Sunday, October 2nd, 4-6PM. And, to put the cherry on the kick butt sundae, they also want us at the Poe Memorial Service (Death-a-versary) later in the week on Thursday, October 6th from 6-9PM. We hope to have lots of our contributors around to read and sign copies of the book at both the events. Feels like things are off to a great start!