Sometimes it’s hard to tell if I’ve done enough work in any given day.

I know, I know… for somebody who’s never missed a day of updating, and for whom updating the comic is now a full-time job, it should be pretty EASY to tell. I mean, as long as the updates are on time and there’s room in the buffer for me to get sick, I’m doing enough, right?

Well, right now there ISN’T enough room in the buffer for me to get sick. It’s down to 12 days, and has dropped to single digits several times in the last month. I’ve been hovering between 8 and 12 for what seems like an eternity, but is really more like “ever since Linucon.”

Thus, I need a system whereby I can tell myself that only after such-and-such is complete can I be done working for the day. Said system must support the concept of “weekend,” too.

Here’s the system I conjured up while driving home from Boise:

Three times every weekday I must take three rows of Schlock Mercenary through one of the three major stages of completion.

Confused?

Stage one is scripting.
Stage two is pencil-and-ink.
Stage three is coloring.

Today I succeeded in my goal. I scripted a three row Sunday (three rows through the scripting stage), pencilled and inked the preceding Thursday-through-Saturday (three rows through the pencil-and-ink stage), and scripted three weekdays (three rows through the scripting stage.)

Tomorrow I have the following on the work-a-la-carte menu:
1) 9 rows await coloring.
2) 6 rows await pencil-and-ink.
3) Scripting… there’s not much limit on that.

This system prevents me from getting bored, helps me keep the various queues full of things to do, and (assuming I stick with it) forces me to add 2/3rds of a week to the buffer with every work week that passes. More importantly, it helps prevent burnout. If I keep the time-consuming pencil-and-ink down to three rows a day, I can have my 9 rows worth of work done in three hours or less.

So… what do I do with the REST of the day? Right now it’s commercial work and the odd commission. Oh, and managing the business, monitoring the forums, and reading, reading, reading so that this strip stays smart and fresh.

I think this system can work. I really, REALLY need to get the buffer back up above 21. If I stick with this systemt for all the November weekdays (except Thanksgiving!) I’ll have cranked out 5 weeks of Schlock in just over three weeks. That’ll add 12 to the current buffer, which brings me back over 21. And I’ll have done it without burning out or going crazy.

–Howard “arguably, I already AM crazy” Tayler

My 2nd batch of Copic Markers arrived today. This is going to kill productivity at a time when I needed it not to.

Then again, the commercial project I’m down to my last week of work on is going to benefit from twice the range of colors.

I’ll just have to work longer hours to get everything done, I guess.

–Howard

I’m back from Idaho. Long drive. We left at 4:55pm, and arrived home at 10:55pm. We stopped for a while at a McDonald’s with a Playplace to let the kids romp.

I have no idea how my parents managed roadtrips without a DVD screen in the vehicle.

–Howard

My father-in-law took all of us (15 of us) to see The Incredibles this morning at 11:00am. The theater was pretty packed, and the movie seriously rocked.

The best part, though… my son Link (age 7) is terrified of movie theaters. They’re big, dark, and loud, and it’s all I can do to drag him into one. I finally got him settled next to me, and during the film he mostly sat curled up with his hands over his ears.

Then “Dash” (the short, fast kid in the previews) started really mixing it up with the bad guys, and Link got into the wish-fulfillment, fantasy-life thing that drags ALL of us who love superheroes into the genre. He giggled. He cheered. He took his hands off his ears and got into the movie. We (me and my boy) made a breakthrough. Sure, there were big, scary robo-monster things in the movie, but by the time they showed up, Link was INTO it, and he stuck it out.

Ahhh…

Right after the movie I ducked the whole family and went to Ann Morrison park for a round of Disc Golf. I ended up wading for my 167g Champion Valkyrie, and that put a bit of a (ahem) damper on things, but overall it was nice to play again. Except for the fact that my game sucked HARD. Sure, I sank a couple of cool putts, and threw a couple of great drives, but mostly I was wandering around muttering at my discs.

*sigh*

I’d have rather gone to see the movie again.

This evening we went to my neice’s baptism. I won’t trouble you with details, save to say that it was wonderful, very spiritual, and my sister-in-law can’t navigate. Fortunately, she navigated badly on the way HOME, so we weren’t late or anything. Just stressed out as we caravanned around Kuna, Idaho in smoky fogs worthy of Minas Morgul.

Oh yeah. This FOG. Wow. Any LJ users in the Boise area are welcome to weigh in with THEIR fog stories. This stuff has been a hazy annoyance all day (except in the center of town, so my wading for the Valkyrie was done in sunshine), but by 8pm it rolled in THICK, and stank of the coal fire from the sugar plant here in the vally. Wow.

–Howard