The me of the present is a story teller who just so happens to be a Visual Effects artist as well; a Generalist who’s open to alternate ways of representing character and story modeling sets or props with high end digital tools, or enhancing a mood with artworks or just that touch of color or place to anchor a scene. As a story teller, a Writer, I’m always looking for ways to draw upon my creativity and the various forms it takes to feed my imagination, to explore the “What-if”. In many ways, the essence of story and the various forms of telling it is what’s at my core with everything else simply fueled by that passion.
While I’d like to tell you that I make a living at all of this, quite honestly creative expression is a hard life requiring endless perseverance and persistence over time. Optimism in the pursuit of ones dreams pays off, but overnight riches are not the norm. So I’ve learned to be flexible and do what it takes to sustain the breathe in and breathe out, the putting of food on the table and the caring for others under my charge. As a product of the great 20th Century, I’ve grown up during technological booms and busts and have worked my way through both, leveraging skill sets central to the working of the Web and the engines that run it. At times, I’m very much like the “Wizard of Oz” hidden behind the curtains pulling levers and throwing switches and doing what it takes to help others realize or maintain their mechanisms of technology towards whatever future that awaits them.
Mine is an interesting life of ups and downs, smooth sailing and rough seas. I like the smooth parts but not the rough ones. And like everyone else, I usually have little control over which will come my way. All I can do is live it and throw myself into the doing while always being on the lookout for learning new things and drawing strength from the fact that my creativity will always seek expression whether it be on a canvas, with a clever turn of phrase, or just in the living of my life.
I’d like to think there’s a point to it all.
Hopefully, in the least, there’s a story.
-VJBauer+
…P.S…
There is not much here on this site to engage with me as a Reader or Fan of things I do or how to comment on such. Sorry about that. I created this site to get my brand, VJBauer, out into the ether many moons ago and to be a touchstone where I could manage a community of clients in the visual effects realm. Freelance gigs helping me to pay my bills and do the breathe in and breathe out.
I keep my Writing, Storytelling, Poetry, Plays, and the like separate, though as I cut Clients loose and devote more time to my Writing aspirations, all of this might very well morph into something else. For now, I have kind of split myself into my Writing world and the work-a-day world of VJBauer.com and my affiliate 2bDrawn.com.
My inner voice…my muse for Novels, Short stories, and the like has his own space. Or so he’s told me he’d like to have, though I wonder if that’s a good idea. His musings can get way off into the margins, Fringe, with Story ideas that push the envelope of different genres and mix things up a bit.
So … what am I getting at?
Joshua…Joshua Dane is that relegated part of me that’s off musing about it all. He’s a pseudonym of mine, an imagined alter ego who has, on more occasions than I can count, been on my back to get my Stories online and in front of an audience. And what I keep telling him is…I’m working on it. Cheese Louise! But he’s been getting under my skin about it this year, so I’ve also been working on giving him an outlet if he behaves. He seldom does. It’s what Muses do and usually at the most inopportune times.
So, to get him off my back, I’ve given him a space where he can express himself and rant about me—though I might have to moderate that. His site isn’t quite ready yet, but you can visit and sign up for his Newsletter for when he gets his act together, or I let him. Visit joshuadane.com for details.
Otherwise, thanks for visiting what I hope is the more rational one of this duo. That’s probably debatable. At least in his eyes. LOL.
Be safe…
Be well.
-VJBauer 2024