A few years back I came to the realization that I was a novelist. I finished writing my sixth novel and it dawned on me—I am not only a writer, I am a novelist.
I have been a writer for a very long time. I have notebooks full of stories and drawings that date back somewhere to the first grade level. I had a little empty journal that I wrote in at a very young age that really is just the beginning of my imagination and creativity.
In 2001, I self-produced a film, at the dawn of the digital age, based on my first screenplay from 1998. “The Other Half of Me” premiered at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in 2001 to a small audience. It was my freshman effort and was very amateur, but It still played on a big screen in LA. It was the beginning of my filmmaking career.
In 2005, I wrote, produced, directed, and edited the feature The Coldest Winter, a WWII epic western (that I got to the screen before Tarantino could) that was filmed on a budget under $500.
I continued on writing and digitally producing features for the next few years. I focused on writing and selling screenplays in 2007-2010. I pitched in LA. I even traveled to Japan to try and sell a samurai story.
Around that time, I began to scheme ideas for a novel, something that ultimately would be too big for the indie screen. In 2011, I put my fingers to the keyboard and pounded out The Seven Isaacs as the Muse took control of my mind, body, and soul to write a very touching story of young human cloning experiments as they are let loose into the world around them.
In 2017, I wrote two novels. The Samurai and the Mountain is based on my screenplay from a few years back. And, while stranded in a hotel in Syracuse, NY, in the middle of a late March Nor’easter… and instead of flying to Mexico like we were supposed to, I came up with the idea and inspiration for my third novel, Alice the Fifth. After that… the novels kept coming.
I am constantly writing, even when I’m not sitting behind a laptop screen.
In terms of filmmaking, GALAXIE is well underway. I will post more on that in the future and add a menu tab with more details and stories. For now… Galaxie is a screenplay that I’ve worked on for some years, and it’s under early pre-production. You can take a peek at http://www.galaxiemovie.com.
That is where I stand today. A jack of all trades. A renaissance man.
Writer. Filmmaker. At home pizza chef and sometimes musician.
Michael Mustizer 