Author: Wil

Author, actor, producer. On a good day, I am charming as fuck.
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“I’m full.”

Posted on By Wil

A few months ago, I started telling Anne, “I’m full,” when we are out with friends, my brain has had enough social interaction, and I’ve crossed a threshold from having fun to feeling overwhelmed. When I get full, it’s time for me to leave, and I don’t beat myself up for that, or force myself to continue being overwhelmed because I feel like I shouldn’t stop having fun, or I’m worried that my friends will be offended that I have to leave. (They won’t be. Good friends who are worth having in my life care about me and understand my limits.)

Self care is so important, you guys. Take care of yourselves and put your own mask on before you assist another passenger.

It’s okay to have a great time with your friends, or with your partner, then then feel like you’re done and it’s time to go spend some time alone to recharge.

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a terrifying tale, beautifully told

Posted on By Wil

I woke up yesterday morning to a couple dozen emails from Bandcamp, informing me that my novelette audiobook, Dead Trees Give No Shelter, is suddenly selling like crazy.

I figured someone must have shared a link somewhere, but I didn’t know it was Cory Doctorow at boingboing until I was looking at the Internet during lunch. Cory had incredibly kind things to say, and he praised my work pretty effusively. As someone who is a writer in large part because Cory supported me and gave me guidance when I was just starting out, getting this kind of recognition from a peer means more to me than I thought possible.

This is so awesome, and it makes me so happy! I have sold more copies in twenty-four hours than I have in the last twelve months! And the eBook is screaming up the charts in the Kindle store, too! Right now, it’s #2 90-minute fiction & literature short reads, #23 in horror, and #44 in horror literature & fiction. WOW!

I guess I’ll remind y’all that there is a limited edition, collectible hardcover coming out in about a month (it just depends on how long it takes the printer to get them to me), and I guess I’ll quote Cory’s incredibly kind comment on my writing, and narrating:

“Wil Wheaton’s 2017 standalone novelette Dead Trees Give No Shelter is a beautiful, spooky horror story in the vein of Stranger Things. A terrifying tale, beautifully told.”

and

“It literally made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.”

I have a hard time feeling good about myself, and I struggle to not dismiss the kind things people say about me and my work, so today I am making a choice to feel proud and accomplished, and to be so so so so happy that so many new people are going to be exposed to my writing and narrating, today.

Here are handy links, copypasted from boingboing:

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and the sky was all violet

Posted on By Wil

Earlier this week, I wrote this on my Facebook:

It was so long ago, the exact time is fuzzy. Maybe it was Fall of 1992, or early Spring of 1993. My friends and I were *deep* into Mother Love Bone, Soundgarden, Hole, and Nirvana.

My best friend, Dave, and I fancied our 20 year-old selves to be quite sophisticated, musically speaking, and we professed a specialized understanding and appreciation for Kurt Cobain’s lyrics that the people we disdained as “mortals” couldn’t even begin to fathom.

Sidenote: I’ve been listening to massive amounts of grunge and riot grrl for about a month, and I can honestly and embarrassingly admit that 20 year-old me wasn’t *nearly* as insightful, wise, and sophisticated as he thought he was. He really needed to shut up, and he did *not* have the understanding and appreciation of this music that he thought he did. I know this because 46 year-old me is finding things in these lyrics and albums that younger versions of me weren’t nearly mature enough to see.

So it’s late afternoon, and Dave and I are walking up Veteran in Westwood, to the loft that I share with Hardwick. On our walk, we pass a frat house. On this particular day, this frat house is blasting Nirvana’s “In Bloom” out of its open windows. Kurt Cobain screams, “he’s the one who likes all our pretty songs/ and he likes to sing along/ and he likes to shoot his gun/ but he don’t know what it means / knows not what it means / when I sing it.”

Dave and I look at each other, and the pure, unfiltered, raw and unadulterated CONTEMPT we have for the people in this frat (which I deliberately call a frat because it annoys the douchebags who join fraternities to meet other douchebags) can move mountains.

“These fucking guys,” I say, gesturing dismissively at the house.

“They don’t even know he is singing about THEM, man!” Dave finishes my thought.

It is only now, two and a half decades later, that I realize Kurt Cobain was singing about ALL OF US.

Oh, twentysomething Wil, you are such a privileged little white boy, and you have so much maturing to do. You’re doing the best you can, but … just slow your roll, kid.

I’ve been reflecting a lot on my twenties this week, as I have immersed myself in the music I loved then. I’ve been unpacking a lot of what and who I was then, and how he relates to who I am, now. One of those reflections inspired me to write this, today:

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See you on the Trek Side of the Moon

Posted on By Wil

Several months ago, I got this silly idea to combine two things I love, and make something that I wanted to own. I am not skilled at design, so I asked my friend, Rich Stevens, if he could turn my idea into a reality.

Rich delivered, in a big way:

Get it?

I love it, and my recent experience with Cotton Bureau was so positive, I thought I’d give this design a try on a T-shirt.

Isn’t that cool?! It’s available in Men’s, Women’s, and Junior sizes, on a couple of different fabrics.

I love it, and I hope you and five thousand of your friends love it, too.

Get Trek Side of the Moon by Wil Wheaton at Cotton Bureau, he said in an SEO-friendly way, painfully aware of how awkward he sounded.

that’s a wrap

Posted on By Wil

Last night, I went to Stage 25, now known as The Big Bang Theory Stage, and watched the taping of the final episode of the show that has brought more joy into my life than anything else I’ve ever done in my professional career.

I have a lot of feelings and emotions to unpack, and they are all too raw and turbulent to do that today. Maybe after I go to the wrap party tonight. Maybe in a few days. Maybe it’s too personal to ever properly convey what it means and has meant to me since I joined the show in the second season. Maybe I’ll try right now and see what comes out.

I think it’s fair to say that if I built a tripod out of my career, the main legs would be Stand By Me, Star Trek, and The Big Bang Theory. It kind of blows me away that I get to say that. It is remarkable to me that I have gotten to have all of these things in my life, when honestly just ONE of them would be more than anyone could hope for on his or her resume.

Mainstream Hollywood doesn’t seem to be especially interested in me and what I bring to a production these days. I don’t know why, and I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to do anything to change that, but I can confidently say that I probably have an on-camera acting career today because of Big Bang Theory, and anything I do on camera for the rest of my career will stand on the shoulders of the work I’ve had the privilege and honor to perform over the last decade.

But all of that is just math and *work*, and while I’m grateful for the work, and proud of the work, what I will cherish for the rest of my life are the friends I’ve made among the cast, writers, and crew.

This is a picture of me with Kevin Sussman, who was in my very first episode way back before I had any grey in my beard, and I love it, because it’s this silly thing we did whenever we worked together on the stage.

“Hey, let’s take a super awkward selfie,” I would say to Kevin, and then this would happen. It’s moments like this, and relationships like this, that truly matter and make the difference in a life, and I’m so lucky and grateful that I have had so many moments like this, with these amazing humans.