I want to work harder than I’m able to.
This week I was recovering from Ad Adstra. Monday was a wash. Tuesday and Wednesday I knuckled down and pushed out a week of strips, but by Thursday I was burnt out again. Friday I hosted a party for friends.
Saturday morning arrived and I’d done a week of comics, but made exactly NO progress on the next Schlock book. I HAVE to finish it by the end of this month, and losing an entire week at the beginning of the month was a very depressing thought.
I dragged myself out of bed, and dug into the existing pages. The next two pages of bonus story then flowed like water (well… like urine from a drunk if you must know — they HAD to come out, and they poured forth very freely. Oh, and there was a toilet involved.)
I packed my stuff up and headed to Dragons Keep to pencil and ink.
Six hours later I had the pencilling and inking done. Not only that, but the linking material, conclusion, and splash panel for the last two pages of the story had leapt unbidden to mind. I have a plan in which I knock those two pages down on Monday and Tuesday of next week.
This morning I saw only a month’s worth of no progress, and doom for April.
Now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I feel pretty good about it not being a train.
It feels good to work hard.
Good for you Howard!
By the by, I dropped word about Schlock Mercenary on two of my web hangouts recently: http://www.raygunrevival.com/ and http://www.libertywriters.org. Hopefully, it’ll net you some new readers.
I found you via your interview on geek dads and I’m subsequently hooked on Schlock and Writing Excuses. My oldest son is ripping through the schlock archives too.
Cya,
Guerry
Thanks for the plugs, Guerry. I really appreciate it. And it’s nice knowing that some of my marketing activities are bearing the right kinds of fruit.
Thank you!
–Howard
Bordering on TMI, there. Well done on making progress, and yes, it feels good: on my LJ the last couple of entries show what I’ve been doing, which is a bit similar; major re-organisation in the workshop; looks good now it’s starting to come together.
I’ll be poised with my Paypal account for the next book pre-order, then. Not to mention Sandra’s Horses… or are they Gleek’s horses, really?
You gonna get Kiki doing coloring again? Very nice work on the bonus story in “Tub”, I thought, and feel free to tell her I said so, if you want.
Oh, I’m just hoping my breakthrough at work comes the same way. I’m learning two new programming languages as the basis for a new project, and there’s bits of wrapping it all together that I’m struggling with.
It’s programming, so I know how this works. One day, I _get_ it. But at this instant, “a month’s worth of no progress, and doom for April” is a surprisingly apt summary.
Thank you for the work Howard.