About
This is the page that answers two important questions:
- Who the hell is Lake Lopez?
- And why should I give a damn?
Fair enough. Let me give it a shot. First of all, I am a flesh and bone human being, not the body of water in California. So if you’re looking for fishing info you came to the wrong place. Lake is, in fact, my real name and yes there is a story behind it. If we become good friends I might share it with you – maybe.
the boy I used to be
I grew up in the kind of small town that has three stop lights, two stores that sell cowboy hats and one high school. It was an interesting childhood, I guess, one with open spaces, railroad tracks, loyal friends and dedicated enemies. A kid with an overactive imagination doesn’t need much more than that to make childhood go by fast. Now, I’m the grown-up version of that goofy boy I used to be.
On Writing and Blogging
I was not the kind of studious boy who knew he wanted to be a writer. My only boyhood ambition was to stay out of trouble, a goal I abandoned upon reaching my teens. Then, one day in the hour-long torture session known as Freshman English, I met the most amazing man. He was a brave soul, having accepted the job of substitute teacher to 13-14 year old children. His first question to me was, “Why is your desk in the corner?” I explained to this man that my desk was in the corner so that I was positioned far away from my classmates where I could not distract them from the joys of Pip and Miss Havisham. I went on to explain that Great Expectations, our reading assignment, was the worst book ever written in the history of all books, (an opinion I adhere to today) and that my sentence to isolation in the corner was for expressing this sentiment. The substitute teacher nodded and said, “Well then, young man, I think you better scoot in for today’s lesson.” He then ignored the teacher’s instructions and talked about, of all things, words…
Words, he said, are power. Words have toppled kingdoms, turned villains into saints and sent the innocent to the gallows. Words made wise men out of fools and made fools out of the brilliant. Words were the biggest power we would ever know and, therefore, were to be handled like a dangerous and highly unstable explosive concoction.
I left that class open-mouthed and aware that my rebellious nature had changed. I was going to be A WRITER, a man who handled, toyed with, played with and mastered words! I would possess them all. Could there be anything cooler?
My first novel is on Amazon right now. A few people have liked it. One really hated it. You should check it out. In the days to come, I’ll share a few short stories, some novel excerpts and other things here at this site. If you like my work, thank my first mentor. He did a good job with me. If you hate my work, leave him out of it. He meant the world no harm by telling me, many years later, “I am proud of you, keep writing.”
On Music
Music rescued me a long time after I grew up. It happened in the middle of a rain storm north of Chicago. I was down on my luck that night, staggering from a bad break-up that ended a bad relationship with a bad match. I’m not saying a bad person, just not the right person for me. The break up was like getting punched in the face and the relationship had been like getting kicked in the ribs by a couple of thugs wearing steel toed Doc Martens. Love is like that sometimes. I was still kind of bloody on the inside and trying to work the ache out of my bones. A quick move from Fort Lauderdale to Chicago had seemed like a great idea, but had not brought about the instant recovery I had hoped for.
Kiss your guitar at least once a day
So there I was, driving in this Chicago rain storm, lost in both a real sense and a symbolic one when I saw the giant red sign for a Guitar Center. I pulled over thinking I’d waste a few minutes staring up at the guitars, then get some directions and find my way home. Forty minutes later I had a bran new Stratocaster guitar in the back seat and a thousand dollars of debt on my Master Card. That night I wrote a country song about a small-town-boy who grew up to get his ass whooped in one bad relationship after the other. Man, that was sweet…
Now, I can’t imagine going a single day without steel strings under my fingertips. So if God’s willing – and I believe God is always willing when it comes to guitar players - I’ll have a few songs for you, too.
On Social Media
Few of us find careers that fit us like a glove. I am one of the lucky few. As a writer, I fell hard for the power of WordPress and its instant publishing capabilities. I found the Facebook was not just for the young; and I believe Twitter is the cool thing since Gutenberg’s press. It’s one of the few professions that requires constant study and daily learning. The rules change every day and new challenges pop up by the dozens. I like that in a job.
That’s it for now, my new friend and hopefully frequent reader. I’m really looking forward to knowing you and learning more about you. Life’s an amazing journey, you know, if you allow it to be one. And I hope that every now and then we can spend a few moments of it together.
My best to you,
Lake
