The last month has been one of the strangest and most challenging that I can remember. This is not just a blog post about my journey, but I think of all people. Lives have been completely flipped upside down. In the last two weeks I have had to start working from home, running a department of 125 faculty members, 25 technicians, and 850 students at my college all trying to do distance learning. I would be lying if I didn’t say I employed several ideas and inspirations from my time here at Full Sail University. On top of that I had to pull my children out of daycare and run a daycare in the home and continue with my studies. On March 13th I suffered a mild anxiety attack over fear that I had the virus, and if I could have passed it on to my wife, my children, co-workers, or my family. Fortunately, I did not get sick, the stress of working in New York City forced me to pivot and start to work from home.
This class has been a shining light and a glimmer of hope for me during this challenging time. It has challenged me, inspired me, and pushed me to create some of my best work. The interaction with my classmates and Professor Moore gave my creative energies new vigor and motivation. I truly feel that this class has helped me get through this month, and it indirectly made me a better writer and visual storyteller.
At the start of the month I set one goal, to write a comedy. I am not known for my comedic storytelling, and to that point had not really written anything humorous. I wanted to have some sort of lighthearted and wacky story about people, just people living their lives in a simpler time, but a relatable setting. The characters I wrote are hyper-exaggerated versions of people I know. I felt like these characters would be people that everyone might know. They could be your friends, your neighbors, or reflections of yourself.
This experience has been different than my past writing endeavors because though it was used as a release from the stress of the real world we are all living in right now; it made me wish I was in that world with these characters going on their journey with them. We should all hope to have the challenges and laughs the characters of That’s A Latte have in a time like this in the world we face right now. I intend to continue writing this story and seeing where their story goes as well as my journey writing them takes me.