What I Did This Summer

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I remember a Seth Godin quote about coming up with a lot of bad ideas so eventually, good ones have to show up. I’m sharing one of my most recent bad ideas, that took quite of bit of research time, and then in an instant it crash-landed.

I'm going to save you, and me, from having to go through how the idea came up, but I had the idea that it would be fun to write a book of quotes by Herman Munster. Why Herman? Well, a few years ago I read a quote by Herman that went like this:

“The lesson I want you to learn. It doesn’t matter what you look like- you can be tall or short, or fat or thin, or ugly or handsome, like your father, or you can be black or yellow or white – it doesn’t matter. What does matter is the size of your heart… and the strength of your character.”

I figured if his writers had given him this great quote there must be much more depth in this character than I realized. I could just imagine bringing the wit and wisdom of a Frankenstein character from the 60s, to a new audience in the 21st Century.

Believing this to be a fun idea, I spent part of my summer watching all 70, 1-hr episodes of The Munsters t.v. series. I diligently wrote down, word for word, the pearls of wisdom that I thought might resonate in today's time of anger and intolerance. I ended up with about 50 pretty good quotes…nothing as stellar as the one mentioned above, but still, pretty good.

(Before I go any further, I had checked on copyrights and read that much of the series was not copyrighted and in the “public domain.”) (P.S. Not to give away the plot, but don’t believe everything you read in a Google search).

Recently then, when I met a publisher at one of the many workshops I attend I thought it was a sign! I WAS meant to write this book...I mean, my gosh!...here was the publisher who would make it happen! We made an appointment to discuss my book of Herman’s quotes. Long story short…she was a super sweet person…but most if not all the quotes are copyrighted in one way or another. It would take a small fortune to find out which ones I could use, and in the end it just wouldn't be feasible (lawyer costs) nor would I have many quotes remaining to write a book around.

Was it a waste? Not really. I may not have enjoyed most of the 70 episodes that I watched, but it was time spent with hubby, away from our computers. We enjoyed listening to Herman’s big guffaw laugh. I loved watching how those laughs totally changed his face and just made me feel good. We watched an hour-long documentary about the cast and came away respecting them so much more than when we began. And, I met a publisher and learned a lot about self-publishing. All in all, not too bad of a way to pass a summer.

What does this mean for you? Not a lot, I guess...except that probably most of my future posts will have quotes by Herman Munster and now you know why.

To learn more about The Munsters, there's actually a website: munsters.com. Check it out, the documentary is there too.

And so, I'll end this post with a quote that's appropriate:

“I guess I’ll just go upstairs and put on my Al Jolson record of Sonny Boy and cry myself to sleep.” Quoted by: Herman Munster, The Munsters, Episode 45, Season 2, Produced by: Joe Connelly & Bob Mosher. Teleplay by: Joe Connelly & Bob Mosher. Story by: Dick Conway. Directed by: Norman Abbott

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