My friend and fellow Blank Label Cartoonist Paul Taylor has mounting medical expenses. His first child was born prematurely, and if any of you have had experience with this (or have friends who have) then you know how expensive it can get.

None of us are rich. If we were, we’d throw money at the problem, and pray that medical science can spend it right.

Since we’re not, we’re hoping to throw YOUR money at the problem. Each Blank Label Cartoonist is chipping in originals or other valuables for auctioning. You can find the complete list here. And if you’re interested, there’s an auction for Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management Sketch Edition #293 on the list as well.

Today is Talk Like A Pirate Day. Yarr!

My tribute to this great day will be delayed until Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between hits the streets. Why? Because TLAPD made it into one of the new footnotes.

–Howard “I’m such a scurvy tease” Tayler

With the materials now shipped off for Schlock Mercenary: The Blackness Between, I’ve got a little extra time on my hands. It will require discipline for me to use this time wisely.

Specifically, I need to focus my efforts so that I can get lots of work done during the day, and then NOT DO ANY WORK DURING THE EVENING.

Today went pretty well. I got a late start, but by 4:30pm I had scripted and pencilled a week. So far this evening I’ve spent time with the family, grilled a nice burger for myself, rented a couple of movies, and made plans to play video games for a couple of hours.

Tomorrow I’ll color a week of comics and ink a different week. I expect to be done by 5:00, so I can have play-time in the evening.

Wednesday and Thursday should be spent in the same way, and then Friday I can take a couple of days all the way off for the symposium at Swarthmore College.

In particular, I make me giggle when I come up with utterly disgusting phrases like “refreshing sports energy syrup.“