Nicole Smith

Guest Blog Post: Justin Scro, Part 1

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, I’d like to feature guest bloggers on my site on a regular basis. I love the advice fellow authors give, and I love reading about their struggles and all they’ve overcome to achieve their dreams. I find their stories inspiring.

Recently, I began chatting with Justin Scro, a fellow author and screenwriter, as well as musician, and all around cool guy. The other day I asked him if he’d be interested in writing up a guest blog post for my site. Little did I know, he was going to write a lengthy missive to the tune of 3,900+ words, but that’s okay. I found his entire piece fun to read, as I hope all of you will too. Because of its length, I’ll be spacing the post out over the next few days, so I hope you’ll come back each day and read the next section.

Without further ado, here you go.

FROM MY PARENT’S BASEMENT

The 809 Walden Court

25 miles outside of Chicago

As I near 31, I have my own fully funded online video production company set to launch (November 15^th, Slow Graffiti represent!), my Roxy Music meets Nirvana indie band Camera (of ten years) is set to release our debut LP, my four fiction novels are selling like warm cakes on Amazon, my podcast has more listeners than I would imagine (like, 86, but that’s a lot to me!), and the amazing Jinan Hamood just found me and asked to represent my screenwriting work…

One year ago, as I neared 30 none of things seemed possible.

This is my dramatic, over italicized trailer for…

Justin Scro

and

The Hewlitt-Packard Laptop of Destiny

Or

The Rant That Drowned Chicago

This is a freakin’ Dickensian tale if there’s ever been one.  Poor whittle old me, saddled with a pure grip on the human condition and privy nothing more.  I have to use the word ‘poor’ up there because while I have never been homeless or gone hungry, I am and have been lower middle class my entire life.  I try not to be a class warrior, but it is very important to understand how I had to make mountains out of every molehill I came across in order to create opportunity, not just find it or ‘look into it’.

Here we go.

Blah, blah, blah…I started writing around the time you learn how to use pencils, loved to draw but horrible at it, always a big fan of movies and music, and then I turned five.  From five it became stand-up comedy, acting, wanting to work with kids, and baseball.

Then, around the arrival of both Reservoir Dogs and Nirvana’s Nevermind my world was blown.  I was between eleven and twelve years old but I wanted to become a film director and a musician immediately.  That’s where you get the mixture right here:

I wasn’t kidding! During the part that I’m wearing the Red Hot Chili Pepper’s BloodSugarSexMajik tee shirt I am guaranteed-dilly 11 years old.  I  didn’t put that clip up to try and get hits or to show how shameless and cool I am.  I put that thing up there to show that I was, I am, and I always will be.  That’s right.  I’m like pure gangsta philosopher.  The only two books I could buy into as a jaded ass youth were Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Naked Soul of Iceberg Slim (just because Irvine Welsh of Trainspotting fame was quoted on the front and I liked the movie they made out of his book I didn’t read…a real culture vulture!).

*It is at this point that I would like to apologize for being a parenthetical nightmare (I blog like I talk.  My novels only glean the best of this style of madness, I assure you!).

** I would also like to point out that we are currently mid-digression from me taking you through my creative life as quickly as possible.  When you read the word: BANANA, we will resume.

Many years later and a full life’s education (bumming in Europe, a few true loves, playing the brightest venues in Chicago, living on my own, Billy Zane…), this is the exact same house where I lived only a few days ago.

Why did I take you through all of that before even sticking in the tip of my story?  To let you know you can trust me.  Capice?

(Please stop by tomorrow to read the second part of Justin’s post.)

*If you’re interested in writing a guest blog post for my site, please feel free to contact me at [email protected] or via Twitter @NicoleLIreland. I look forward to hearing from you.