Sharkbait Writes

“Katie vs. The Ameoba”

My interest in writing goes way back to the mid 80s when I was a kid living in Austin, Texas. One of my older brother’s many talents was drawing comic books and writing short stories. My brother and I were always very close and I naturally wanted to copy what my big brother was doing.

I was probably 9 or 10 years old at the time when I came up with my first story, “Katie vs. The Ameoba” (Spelled exactly the way I spelled it when I was 10 years old 🙂 ). I loved action and monster movies when I was a kid (still do), so I created The Ameoba, a giant mutating monster that’s sole purpose in life was to terrorize cities throughout the United States. It had to be stopped at all costs! The answer was the U.S. military and their special weapon, a giant snake that was inspired by my brother’s 7 ½ foot pet boa constrictor. Her name was Rosie, but I couldn’t use her name in my story, of course. So, I named her Katie.

I spent many late summer nights sitting on the living room couch working on my comic book. I had my notebook paper ready, map colors scattered everywhere, Oreo cookies on a paper towel, a glass of milk on the coffee table, and The Flintstones playing on the 27-inch “big screen” Quasar television. That’s right, I was a kid on a mission and I had all the tools to complete it!

One page after another, I drew each scene on notebook paper, adding narration at the top of each page and numbered each dialog bubble that floated over the characters. As I completed each page, I used Elmer’s glue to bind the pages together. That was about as high-tech as the process got for a kid growing up in the 80s.

When I finally completed my comic book, I proudly presented it to my parents, friends, their parents, and just about anyone I came in contact with. When I received compliments, my heart pounded with excitement, and I just knew what I wanted to be when I grew up! I wanted to be a comic book artist and writer… then a movie star… then a baseball player… then a race car driver… then a… well, you get the point.

Before I began writing this blog post, I looked for the comic book I “self-published” so many years ago. I remember placing it in a folder or box and storing it in an old dresser drawer that has since been collecting dust for years. So, this evening after I got home from the writing job that currently comes with a paycheck (writing obituaries; hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?) I opened the drawer that I thought I would find my old comic book in. Nope. Hmm. It must be in the bottom drawer, then. I pulled the bottom drawer and out came the middle drawer with it. I fought with this piece of furniture for a good 20 minutes and lost. I wanted to scan a couple of images of the comic book to share with you, but I’m afraid “Katie vs. the Ameoba” is going to have to remain incarcerated in the belly of that old dresser drawer until I figure a way to bust it out. 😦

So, there you have it. A little bit of childhood writing history. As a minnow, Sharkbait wrote a comic book. As an adult, he… well, he writes obituaries for a living (for the dead, really) with a strong desire to write much more fiction in the near future.

Thanks for taking time to read my blog and I hope you’ll keep coming back for more. Please rate this post and leave a comment. I look forward to reading them.

Cheers!