Greetings, blog followers. You may have noticed that I haven’t posted any family history work in quite some time. I do apologize for that but have been engaged in developing my first full-blown graphic novel.
Way back in 2005, I started a comic strip while stationed with the Coast Guard’s Electronic Systems Support Unit (ESU) on Commercial Street in Boston, Massachusetts. My goal at the time was to take my fictional character – Captain Coastie – and bring him to life using various photos of the crew. They seemed to enjoy it. When I left the ESU for graduate school, Captain Coastie went into hibernation (or rather, retirement).
About a year ago I decided to resurrect the Captain for my current unit in Alameda, California. I did a few strips and got to thinking, “Hey, what if I turned him into a book?”
I always wanted to write my Great American Novel but kept running into difficulties with character development and concise descriptions (as opposed to scenes in Moby Dick that are extremely detailed). I had no experience with fiction writing since my job is nearly 100% technical writing (which does not lend well to what I wanted to do). Since I’m a visual person, and I already had a character, I figured why not give it a try?
I was very happy when I created the last frame and sent it for print. I did it!
I plan on focusing my efforts back on genealogy shortly. In the meantime, feel free to check out my novel at Lulu.com. Click here: Captain Coastie.
Remember to always stay creative. Researching family history is fun but too much of anything will burn you out quickly.
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