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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 7, 2005)
January7.2005 38 HUMOR ............. ▼.............. A talent to amuse hen I started this column four years ago, I was working 60 hours a week at a job I hated so much I wanted to chew off my arm. I couldn’t imagine how I was possibly going to forge a career as a full-time writer. audio rights soon followed. A year later, the nutty idea of a novel about Suffice it to say, my cup ranneth over so teen larceny came banging on the doors of my much I needed a mop. subconscious, demanding to be let out and lit What 1 learned from this experience is the erally keeping me up at night. So even though power of dreaming big, but starting small. My I didn’t have the time, 1 started writing it. little column has led to some very big things: As a result, 1 was totally sleep-deprived for My book, How I Paid for College: A Novel of a year and a half. One Sex, Theft, Friendship and Musical Theater, time 1 actually came landed me in People magazine (I always knew home from the grocery 1 was a People Person), was chosen as an store and put a gallon of Editors ’ Choice by The New York Times and milk in the laundry has been compared to both War and Peace and room and a gallon of bleach in the fridge. Shortly thereafter, I went to'a reading given by Portlander Chuck Palahniuk, best selling author of Fight Club. Like any other fan, I told Chuck my by Marc Acito name as I handed him a kx)k to sign. Then, in a moment that changed the course of my life, he looked up at me and said: “1 know who you are. I read your column.” Cue the Hallelujah Chorus. Based on the strength of the columns alone, Chuck recommended me to his agent, who submitted my manuscript to Chuck’s editor, who bought the bcxik in just two days. Two weeks later, the film rights were optioned by Columbia Pictures for Laura Ziskin, producer of the Spider-Man movies. The sale of foreign and W Columnist bids farewell The Gospel According to Marc Moby Dick— unfavorably, but at least it was compared. Still, I was pleased to see How 1 Paid for College outselling How to Stay Christian in College on Amazon and to see it posted on the Random House Web site under Bill Clinton— or, as I prefer to think of it, in the Monica position. Unfortunately, due to the increased demands on my time (I’ve been to 16 cities in the past three months) I’m finding it difficult to main tain deadlines—or my sanity. So this column will be my last. And while there is definitely a voice in my head that says, “Marco, don’t give up your gay job,” 1 need to focus on writing more books. So let me say thank you, dear readers, for being such faithful followers of “the gospel.” I’m especially grateful to those of you who took the time to write me, particu larly if you sent nude pic tures. Keep those e-mails coming, boys. Thank you, too, to the editors of the papers around the country that carried me, especially Marty Davis of Just Out, who gave me my start. 1 am exceedingly proud to have been a part of the gay press. And most importantly I am thankful to my own in-house editor: my husband (in Canada at least), Floyd Sklaver, who has lovingly edit ed (and re-edited) every draft of every piece I’ve written—a hundred columns in all. He’s also responsible for their distribution and book keeping, as well designing and maintaining my adorable Web site, MarcAcito.com. 1 wish everyone could be as lucky in love as 1 am. On the wall above my computer is a quota tion from Walt Whitman. It reads, “The atti tude of great poets is to cheer up slaves and horrify despots.” In my own peculiar way, it’s what I’ve aspired to accomplish with this col umn. If I’ve managed to make you laugh as well as make you think, then I have succeeded. And rest assured, 1 will continue to strive to become a queer of influence in the culture. My parting thought to you is this: Some times our dreams feel so huge and unattainable we shove them in a drawer and try to forget about them. But, if there is something in your life you’d like to see happen, keep that goal in sight, nurturing it little by little, and you’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish. I am liv ing proof that anything is possible. Stoke the fires of your burning ambition. Have the courage to be outrageous and extraordinary. And, most of all, be splendid. If I can do it, so can you. And that, my friends, is The Gospel According to Marc. jP! Readers who wish to be on M arc A cito ’ s oh-so-exclusive mailing list should write him at marc@marcacito. com. Come join us for the official kick-off of . "Socks Thursday, January 27th at 9:30 p.m. Wear a jock and receive a free room upgrade for your next weekday visit. Steam Portland JAN 4-FEB 6. 2005 503 2 74-6 5 8 8 www PCS org fmlOÎ
