Yesterday, I taped another Best Week Ever, which will air this Friday. I had a wonderful time. I made myself laugh, and I made everyone else at the taping laugh. I really hope that I get to be a more regular part of that show, because it’s so much fun.
But check out This totally cool thing that happened in the parking garage when I was waiting for the elevator:
I gave my ID to the security guard and told him I was going to tape Best Week Ever. While he signed me in, the elevator doors opened, and a really cute girl walked out. (I only mention that she was really cute because . . . let’s face it, I’m a guy, and guys notice these things.)
She looked right at me and said, “I love your website.” She said it simply, and matter-of-factly,
I felt like I’d just won a million dollars, man. I didn’t even know what to say, so I just said, “Thank you so much!”
She walked past me and the security guard, and disappeared into the garage.
I felt like I was in this bubble of joy, where the rest of the world didn’t exist. She didn’t say that she liked this movie I did twenty years ago, or this TV show that I did fifteen years ago. She didn’t even say “You know, I don’t think Python sucked that bad . . .” She said that she loved my website, this thing that I’m doing now. Like I mentioned last week, I haven’t done much in the acting world over the last few years that I’m proud of . . . but I’m very proud of my website.
Is it okay to say that? I don’t want to come off as a dick, and I’m keenly aware of the Pride coming before the Fall . . . but I really do like what I’ve been able to do here.
My whole life I wanted to write, but I never did because I thought I was supposed to be an actor. But every morning, I get up, drink way too much coffee, and spend the next three or four hours doing what I love: I work on Just A Geek, or I write something for my website, or something for ACME . . . most of the stuff I write I don’t even publish. I just do it so I write every day . . . and it rules. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s utter crap, most of the time it’s just sort of there . . . but it’s mine, and when that girl said that she loved my website, I felt like I could own the joy her comments brought me, because what you read here is really me. I’m not playing a character, or trying to make a shitty script into something worth watching . . . I’m creating images and recreating scenes from my life, without a director or a producer or a studio getting between what I want to create and what the audience gets to see.
If I stare at this much longer, I’m going to lose my nerve and not publish it, so I’ll just say: If I wasn’t writing, I’d be a nervous wreck right now, waiting for feedback from that audition, and freaking out about why they aren’t calling back . . . but I’ve got other stuff going on now.
A few days ago, I bought the 2004 Writer’s Market, because I’m going to face my fears of rejection and see if some magazines or anthologies are interested in publishing some of my stories. I never would have even dreamed about doing that last year, but you guys who read this site have given me so much support and encouragement, and O’Reilly is so excited about Dancing Barefoot, it seems like the risk is justified. I don’t want to get too excited about stuff that hasn’t happened yet, but I’m happy right now.
I guess that’s what this post is about: I’m really happy right now. It feels like some of the risks I’ve taken in the last few years are starting to pay off, and I wanted to share that with anyone who reads WWdN, because without you guys, none of this would be happening.
178 thoughts on “cobwebs fall on an old skipping record”
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You’ve got a great website. I’ve been reading (on & off) for quite a while, but I figured you already knew that this place was cool, so I didn’t want to sound like an utter slobbering freak.
And, I do know of some place that may want to play a short movie you did. Emporia, Kansas (where I live) has recently reopened an old time movie theatre on the main street that took over $2M in community donations to renovate over the last 10 years. They’re looking for movies shot/based in Kansas to show. And, I think you did a short film set here that I’ve heard some good stuff about.
So, your head a splode yet from all the love, W…? 😉
WWDN has been and continues to be great fun to follow. As long as you keep on truckin’, I guarantee we readers will keep coming back to serve as your Greek chorus and support your career(s) on a grass-roots level.
I really like your website.
“We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.” – e.e. cummings
Rock on, brother.
Wil, ever since I found out this site existed I have visited on a regular basis, I invited friends to read. I believe in what you do here, it is a great site. You are a talented writer, very honest, and transparent. This is a very real very cool thing, and thanks for sharing.
Hey Wil,
I just ordered your book. Looking forward to it.
Cheers,
wil-
i think the fact that you do this website in the first place is amazing. forget that is actually itself very well done and interesting. how many actors there would actually devote their own time to expressing their true self to their fans? i can only think of one- you. know that many of us appreciate what you’re doing, and your candor.
Great song. Great website 🙂
Hey Wil. I love your site and think that you are one of the coolest guys I have ever had the chance to meet and talk geek stuff with. I hope we get to meet up and talk again some more soon.
My wife also loves this site (as she is the one who introduced it to me).
And your doing a damn good job writing too.
I feel exactly the same way about my writing on my site. I write for me, when others enjoy it – it just adds to groove man… just adds to the groove.
-Scott
I’m just happy that you’re bringing us along for the ride. As an as-yet-unpaid-sorta-published writer with a dayjob, I’m paying close attention to what’s happening with you and what you do… your one of my heros. One of these days I’m going to get up the nerve to do what you’re doing now.
And… I like the way you say, “Indians.” That is an old memory of mine because when I was a kid and you did a guest spot on Family Ties I was so enamoured! *gush*
You know what, you should be happy! Some people only dream of what they want without actually going for it or even accomplish it. I could be in a crappy mood, but just reading this, I can almost see that glow on your face and it makes me happy. You are very talented and I’m happy just by being a fan, whether by your acting skills or by your writting. Keep it up! Thanks for the smile today 8-P
That’s great Wil! I’m so glad that you bumped into mystery hot woman 😉
And for the record, I think you, your book, and your website are awesome!
Dude! Have some faith in yourself!!! I know we do(If we didn’t, we wouldn’t read your blog). Now, rock on wit yo bad self!
The thing that’s so great about your website is how pure and open and honest and personal it is. When you relay these intimate little snippets of your life to us, it makes each and every one of us feel like a special friend, and that’s no small feat considering how many readers you have! Lots of famous people have people who admire them, people who respect them, people who worship them, people who are just fans, and even people who stalk them. You, however, have achieved something that is very rare. Purely because of this website, you have legions of strangers that love you. And even though most of us haven’t actually met you, entries like this one somehow manage to make us feel a little loved in return. In a world growing increasingly distant, THAT is something to be proud of. And for the record, I love your website, too!
I’m glad to be even the itsy bitsiest part of giving you the confidence to go out and pursue this stuff.
I’m happy that you’re so happy!!
Wil, if I ever get the chance to meet you in person, I’ll shake your hand and tell you how much I love your website too, OK? But I’m not a hot woman, so I doubt you’ll get quite as excited. 🙂
By the way, thinking of writing… Ever considered doing the 24-Hour Comic? You’d be in there with the likes of Scott McCloud, Neil Gaiman, Dave Sims… um, and others. You should check it out. There’s even an official contesty thing this year. I bet you’d have an absolute blast with it.
I’ve only been following your blog for a few weeks now, but I’ve found what you’ve written, overall, to be very moving (happy, sad, yadda), and I’ve had to share several of them with friends. The gambling bit had me on the edge of my seat. 🙂
All that said, if you want a relatively quick turnaround/response to submissions, with not-quite-pro rates, and a very easy (online) submission process, you might give NFG a whirl: http://nfg.ca
NFG is printed out of canada three times a year, and is rapidly growing in distribution.
hey wil! well good luck with the audition… cant wait to see best week ever… and your site does rock…. and im sure everyone else that reads your blogs agree with me…
Antoine de St. Exupery once wrote “It is only with the heart that one sees rightly… what is essential is invisible to the eye”
Wil, if writing is what has always been in your heart, then it is the right thing for you to be doing. Those of us who never hear our calling spend much lost time wandering around trying to find out way out of the fog of life. I am glad to be able to share in your life through your outstanding writing talents. Thank you for sharing them with us. Remember, though, that even if you never had an audience your work would still be worthy of your efforts. No effort in the world goes unrewarded in some way or another.
You are far too humble. What you’ve put together here is one of the most original experiences available on all of the ole’ intarweb. And you certainly deserve any and all kudos thrown your way. When I have the opportunity at work to check out what’s going on online…my first 3 stops are Blue’s News, Fark & WWdN. Good company, I’d say.
Can we just do a virtual AOL-handshake now or something? I’m married myself, so a virtual AOL-hug would probably raise too many questions for both of us.
-Pat
Hi Wil –
Don’t forget you can do both: Act & Write. I guess it depends on your financial situation as well. Acting might pay the bills more if you can get the jobs… Writing is probably more iffy in regards to bringing in the dough. It might depend on how well your new book does. Being a celebrity is certainly going to help with the advertising. Being on O’Reilly sure is going to help.
You might also think about approaching the more “classical” literature, or more literary contemporary writers such as Michael Ondaatje (if you thought the movie English Patient was good, just try reading the book – Ondaatje’s work is considered a modern literary masterpiece).
That is – reading excellent writers including some of the poets (starting off with Tennyson or Dickinson would be my recommendation) I think will improve your writing – because you get to see just how good someone can get at it. I suppose much like observing the great great actors at their craft – you can read some of the great great works. Poetry of course – is considered writing at its best – is extremely compact, extremely imaginative, and often extremely effective.
Virginia Woolf is a great classic writer you might enjoy – just pick up any of her books, and don’t pay attention to the plot as much as how she writes her story – it’s extraordinary to say the least.
I share your excitement with writing, and have slowly explored writing more and more myself. I’m not a professional – not by any longshot. But keeping a journal and a BLOG is definitely a start. There is a freedom to writing that you don’t get in almost anywhere else. It expands your inner life and you can almost do anything with it if you let yourself go. Almost like running a D&D game – and you’re the gamemaster.
I also think the more you practice at it, the better you’ll get.
it’s a sureal thing to be recognized for something that you love, isn’t it?
a few years ago, i was walking into the san jose arena for a season ticket holders practice with the san jose sharks and the girl at the door handed me my souvenir gift and then looked up at my face when i said thank you. she gasped and said “oh my god, you’re a hockey chica! i love your website!”.
freaked me out. but it was still kind of cool.
i’m happy you’re happy wil. it’s a good thing to be in that kind of place, and even better to keep it going. ^_^
We’ll ignore the fact that I think you’re fine as hell and focus on the fact that you are one of those cool guys that I went to highschool with that made everything fun. It’s cool to be here on the website, wonder around the soapbox. It’s fun and a nice way to relax and vent and whine…anything you want to do, you can on this website and not many sites let you do that.
You’re awesome Wil.
I wish I could claim credit for being that girl because I love your website. It’s the first thing I read.
I have ordered Dancing Barefoot and am looking forward to it with great anticipation.
imc130d, That was the first thought that came to my mind also. If the “cute girl” is such a fan will she happen to post here. I think that would be kinda neat. 🙂
Love the writing Wil,
-steve
that’s great wil!
i read everyday but never comment, so i just wanted to say that what i think you’re doing is great.
btw, i just ordered your book.
I really enjoy your website. I must admit, I first looked at it because I’m a bit of a Star Trek geek, but I kept reading it because you are a compelling writer.
Writing and theatre are my passions, as well. Although I’ve barely acted since theatre school, I do write every day. It’s good to keep in the routine, whatever else is going on in life.
Cheers!
I envy you Wil. And not in the fanboy “I want to be a celebrity, too!” way. I envy you because you have found a wonderful, beautiful wife with kids that you genuinely care about and love (two things which can be mutually exclusive at times), and now have a way of supporting you and yours that you genuinely enjoy.
I don’t want money, I don’t need power, I just want some gadgets and a life I can think about and smile. It seems you have that. I envy you.
Oh, and I like your website, too 😉
I love it when people are happy. You inspire me to blog.
Firstly, if Abby is reading my comment are you okay after your car wreck? No one else has asked and I just wondered how you were doing. I hope Wil that you don’t mind me asking another poster?! =o)
Secondly, (and this is for Wil) about eighteen months ago my husband told me to ditch a troublesome job, a well-paid job that was destroying my health, it was not paid enough to risk my life for! He told me to follow a dream that I had seen as taboo, like the ‘Mum, I wanna be an actress’ line, another career move that is frowned upon.
With me though my taboo was saying that I am a writer. I regularly contribute to an online magazine, I have written reviews and articles and I have had the pleasure of interviewing two new authors, I dearly hope that I might be one of those new authors soon (my first book is in hyperdrive to the redraft quadrant at the mo!)
The one thing I have taken from my experiences so far is that you cannot go against the strongest power in your universe, your heart. And if writing is your love, as is mine, if writing is your sanctuary from the world and all it has to throw at you then you have to grasp it while you can. Just think if on your deathbed it ran kicking and screaming through your mind. ‘Why the Hell didn’t I write that story about the Ostrich Farmer?’ Well maybe not that one that you’d rather forget, but you catch my drift?!
You have saved me more than once from going back to the Hell of a job my husband saved me from Wil, and for that and the uplifting moments you share with all of us fanatical mad people, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
You shrugged off Wesley ‘lemon’ Crusher a long time ago, keep going! We all know you are a ticking potential time-bomb of talent!
Wil,
I know it is intellectually chic nowadays to be self-effacing and modest. But you shouldn’t have to apologize for your pride of your website. It’s a fine piece of work and your pride is well-earned.
You’re a fine writer Wil, and it’s been genuinely nice to (sort of, kind of) get to know you though your site. Thanks for letting us inside your head, and keep up the good work!
I’m glad you posted this. It wasn’t too prideful at all, at least not in a bad way.
As a writer myself, go ahead and send out some queries to some magazines. I’ve been getting rejections off and on since I was 12 years old. It’s really not that bad once you get the hang of it. 🙂
I’m here for the writing. But a big perk for me is when I feel all cool because I recognize one of the song lyric referencing segment titles. Today I felt cool for about 4 minutes until someone pointed out it was from a Cake song, not Soul Coughing like I had thought. That is the danger of feeling cool for stupid reasons. At least I can still enjoy the writing.
I’ve followed your site for a while, and after the last hold ’em story, I had to start proselytizing to my little circle of influence to convert to your readership.
I love your site as well. It began merely as a curiosity for me a few weeks ago (when I discovered it) but I find myself visiting several times a day to see if you’ve posted anything new. My copy of Dancing Barefoot arrived today with the mail at 3 pm, by 5:30 it was read cover to cover. And that’s with two kids at home! I absolutely loved it, especially Spongebob Vegaspants.
I’m curious tho…if you’re lactose intolerant what do you pour over your Honeycomb?
Why do you keep dissin’ “Python”?
Keith said: Why do you keep dissin’ “Python”?
Well, I guess I shouldn’t hate on it that much. It’s got its high points, like . . . uh . . . well, I know some of it is funny. It’s not “Deep Core” or “The Curse,” that’s for sure.
If every crappy movie I did was scattered across the desert . . . they’d call it sand.
if you’re lactose intolerant what do you pour over your Honeycomb?
Silk brand soymilk. 🙂
Hey, in all seriousness, HUGE thank you to everyone who is sharing in this cool part of my journey, and took the time to add to the comments (I think this is 94 or 95) here.
Honestly, Wil, there’s no need to thank us. If anything, we should all be thanking you. If it wasn’t for you, we wouldn’t have WWdN to support, nor would we have Wil Wheaton to send mojo to. Thank YOU, Wil, for putting segments from your life online, and bringing them to life in ways that only you know how.
To the anonymous “cute girl” on the elevator: thanks for making our fearless leader’s day. You rock, chica! Anything that makes Wil happy usually filters down to all of us and makes us happy. This, in turn, creates mojo that we send to him, thus keeping the cycle of good vibes alive.
I’ll be snagging a copy of Dancing Barefoot (finally!) next week, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to be too anxious to read it on the drive home. In which case, I’ll probably pull over and start reading to satisfy said jones.
JAG mojo coming your way from across the Great Divide. I’d say good luck finishing it, but there’s no need. You rock as a writer, and because of that, JAG is going to be a great book!
today’s post illustrates the difference between the man you were a couple of years ago…and the man you are now…a mature confidence is shining…where there was once self-doubt.
Wil,
You remind me of a book I just read: ‘Child of the Dark: The Diary of Carolina Maria De Jesus.’ She had faith in her writing that it would some day get her some where. She wasn’t the best, as you can see by the writing, but she was able to move out of the favela in Sao Paulo. Through her hard work she was able to pull it off. The same thing appears to have happened to you. You persisted and now you are getting the payoff. Congrats and keep up the good work.
-Wookie
Wil,
“Your Welcome!” and “Thank You!”
I guess that’s what this post is about: I’m really happy right now. It feels like some of the risks I’ve taken in the last few years are starting to pay off, and I wanted to share that with anyone who reads WWdN, because without you guys, none of this would be happening.
Wil,
That is a wonderful thing, being able to be happy with what you are doing. As easy as it sounds, it’s not something that comes easily! I’m so happy for you!
I really love your website.
Hey I noticed a little line in your post about losing the nerve and not publishing a Blog. I just started a Blog and I’ve noticed that I do that occasionally as well. It’s nice to know I’m not the only one.
Later