The title of this weeks blog may sound like something you would have written in high school or possibly on a college entrance application, but recently I've been thinking a lot about storytelling and the significance it plays in my life.From a very young age I was gifted with the "gab" as they say. I actually spent more time with adults than with kids my own age at most functions, family or otherwise. It may have been this ample exposure to adult conversation that help most in developing my vocabulary, I also learned that a great deal of what adults talked about was stories. They were often stories of shared experiences; I would later learn that these are called reminiscences, or stories shared of your own experiences; also known as anecdotes or tall tales. I loved hearing these stories even if I did not fully understand them.
Off of this foundation I began collecting my own anecdotes and recounting tall tales of my adventures with Boy Scouts or a family vacation. I became an avid reader, in junior high particularly, and consumed everything I could find in the Encyclopedia Brown and Great Brain series. I sprinkled in a Judy Bloom book occasionally to lighten it up, but the boy mysteries were my favorites. That matured into a brief dalliance with Hardy Boys books and then a full on love affair with Agatha Christie. I read every Christie mystery our library had. I particularly enjoyed Hercule Poirot. I watched the movies on Mystery on MPBN with the enchanting hostess Diana Rigg whom I would discover was even more lovely twenty years later as Mrs. Emma Peel and Mrs. James Bond.
So many stories. I consumed them. I still do today. The concept of binge watching is something I did as a teenager. I'd often record on VHS an entire season of a house, like the short lived Flash series and sit down on a rainy afternoon and watch four episodes back to back, remote in hand to skip the commercials. This way I could watch more shows in less time.
It was in Junior High that I also started telling stories. Probably it started with Dungeons & Dragons. My friends and I would gather in the school library at lunch or recess during the winter and play an adventure of my devising. They were not great stories, but they were diverting, especially when wind chill made it 5 below outside. I wrote poems and short stories in high school and even tried to get one published. I co-author two radio drama in school, one of which was a fantastic Agatha Christie style murder mystery. I found comic books and went to conventions. I met wonderful comic authors and artists and started writing my own comic scripts in the hope of getting them published with Alpha Productions in Rockland. All the while I loved the process of creating.
That is what storytelling is in it's truest form. It is creating. It is creating the story, but it is also creating the moment when the tale is told. That could be setting the mood at a party when you tell an elaborate joke or exactly how you compose your narrative it is all creating. 
I don't know how many of my readers have religious views or spiritual ones, but I'll lay mine out here. I believe there is a power greater than myself. I do not know what it is and I'm pretty sure all the people that claim they do have only a small part of it right. I also believe that if I wish to commune with this power I do not need an interpreter or intermediary however well intentioned they may be. Lastly, and probably most importantly when I create I get as close as I possibly can to that greater power. The act of creation is probably the most powerful thing a person can do and regardless of the scale you take on step closer to the divine. Maybe it's a god complex or an overblown sense of self importance. But in my mind it proves the old axiom; Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. It may just border on

Last week the Maine film community got quite the shock. The founder and operator of one the states most successful and well run film festivals (LAFF) was arrested for possession of child pornography. I do not know Joshua Shea very well, in fact I had only met him a handful of times for festival related activities. I would have never imagined that he would be someone to be suspected of such a heinous, and exploitative crime. At this point he has not been arraigned nor tried for this so I do not have proof that he is even guilty. That is the beauty of our justice system, the presumption of innocence. That being the case, this is not the place where you'll find people going off on Mr. Shea. My attitude may change if he is convicted, but I'm not one to leap to conclusions.
The one conclusion I will make is that just the perception of the founder of the festival being involved in such criminal activity has done irreparable harm to the film community. A festival we have loved is gone and many filmmakers and patrons are out money and time and now six days later people are starting to get refunds. The worst part is the lost opportunity for filmmakers that had intended to screen their work at the Lewiston Auburn Film Festival who now have to find other ways to get their work out to the public and start all over again.
Now that the shock is wearing off a little, I have good news to share. If you have not heard about it yet, some filmmakers and former festival organizers have formed the new Emerge festival which will happen this June 14th at the Franco-American Heritage Center in Lewiston. This ma(FMI: Emerge Festival).

More inspiring to me though is the showings that will be held at the Saco Drive-In of How To Kill a Zombie and Hanover House on May 9th and 10th. The drive in is a great location to screen these horror films and you can buy your tickets in advance via Eventbrite. I already have my ticket for Friday night. i hope to see you there.

First I must apologize for missing last week's post entirely. I'm very sorry and I hopefully will never miss a post again. But as you can tell from the picture, something happened in the past week that has changed all of our lives here at Casa de Hauger. We got a puppy.
A friend of my wife had an older dog (7 years +) that had a surprise litter about eight weeks ago and out of 11 pups only 4 lived. I think it was two boys and two girls. My wife had inquired about this absolutely darling little boy and we met him a week ago. (That is where this photo is from). It was love immediately. He was so cute, friendly and affectionate toward all of us that we knew he was going to be a perfect addition to our family.
We picked up the requisite gear for a puppy and brought him home this past Wednesday. After offering my son over two dozen names for the pooch, my wife chimed in once or twice and he grabbed onto her suggestion immediately. So now, Chase Nolan Hauger has joined our household. He and my son have bonded amazingly well already, in just a couple days. For an eight week old puppy he is very calm. Maybe it is because my son, Greggory, has been running him ragged and he is just exhausted. I'm not complaining though. He is comfortable in his crate and is starting to recognize his name reliably. He has even flopped down at our feet while watching the TV a couple times. That's my kind of pooch. Everyone that he's met has immediately taken a shine to him and his overall demeanor fits our family to a tee.
Chase is a mixed breed dog, maybe mixed up is a better description. His mother is part Shepard, Lab, Hound and Boxer at least. We know nothing about his dad. As I mentioned earlier this was a surprise litter. But I would not change a thing. Some people swear by pure breeds, but I'll take a mutt over any of those any day. He will no doubt grow to be a big boy, but for now he'd our little cuddly dynamo and he's here to stay.
Who knows he may one day find his way into one of my stories. He certainly is one of a kind.

The week has come around again and it's time to share my little corner of the world with those of you that choose to read my rants. Welcome, as always, to a small window into my life, work and strange inner workings of my mind.  Today's topic is creativity and storytelling in a broad context. Last night I had the pleasure of appearing as a guest on Jeff Ferguson's internet radio show, Jeff Trek. As it has been before it was a great time and when joined by fellow author Thom Julian we really got into some pretty deep discussions about how the process of creativity really works.
The picture I've included today really sums it up very nicely. Creativity is really like a great cauldron of bubbling, frothing mystical energy. You start with an pretty empty pot when you are first born and as you experience more and more things the ingredients get added to the pot. You start dipping in a finger or a spoon to test the brew every once in a while. When it seems ready you ladle out a serving and that is your creation. The first few creations, you imaginary friends, your story about grandma's cat are pretty rudimentary because they don't have that many ingredients and they haven't really stewed that long to blend the flavors.
As you get older and get out into the world you experience other storytellers. First your parents and relatives, and then television and other media deposit a few things along the way. Your stories start to be a little more original and run a little farther afield. Stories about your dog eating your homework or how your younger sister got worms down her dress are a couple good examples of this phase. You go to school and you are taught structure in your storytelling, or what I'll call recipes. You learn act structure, metaphor, and the short hand of archetypes. All along the way you stir the cauldron, sample and then portion out a little bit of your creativity to share with others.
Some people stop at this stage. They graduate from high school or even college and get a job. They become drones in the workday world and neglect that natural outlet for creativity that I believe resides in all of us. These people are bored with their lives. Their recipes are flat and often tasteless. I implore everyone that reads these words not to let that happen to you. Continue to stir the pot. Read voraciously, consume media, meet people, explore new places. These things are the ingredients of a fulfilling life as much as they are a fulfilling story. If you are currently a drone, start simply, try a new restaurant on your lunch hour, or a new wine with your dinner. No need to go off the deep end and book a week long trip on the Amazon the first time out. But do it. Do something.
Life imitates art as much as art does life. Fill your life with inspiration one ingredient at a time and your cauldron will bubble over with creativity. Sample some every now and again and share it with the world.
People ask me all the time how I create what I do. How I find inspiration. It's always there bubbling, just waiting for the cook to ladle out the next helping. Soups on.

If you do want to sample some of my recipes try The Stolen Throne. It's a Novellette, and at under 10,000 words it's like a light snack. No need to go in whole hog to start with. Who knows though, it may just be that last ingredient missing from your own brew. Bon Appetite.