The Demonweasel Speaks

Been a wild summer.

Creatively it’s been immensely successful, finishing up what should be the final major draft of SHADOW OF THE PAST and getting the first issue of GIFTED penciled, but also getting what’s being published in WICKED TALES extended from the ten-page preview to the full 22-page 1st issue. The final pages were drawn in a burst of creativity and deadline drama by Lee, and they turned out really well. This burst at the end (with him drawing 9 pages in 10 days, after only doing about 3 pages in 10 months) really helped solidify our commitment and our confidence in this. With the rest of the issues already written, we have a chance to keep moving forward on this momentum and then get a real shot at submitting it other places as well. The WICKED TALES deal is nice, but we need to have a place where issue 2 can go an live as well. Who knows, maybe it’ll be time to look into on-line publishing.

With SHADOW OF THE PAST “done” I can work on submitting it, and it is in fact sitting with an assistant whose very kind rejection helped push me to really make it work, or at least work as well as it can right now. I have more confidence in sending it out now, but I hope that the edits were enough to push it into being accepted for representation. If not, I can still send it our other places as well.

I haven’t touched THE CORNER in a while, but I can refocus on that, as well as my other comic project that I have an artist working on, INFERNAL VELOCITY. It’s nice having multiple levels of stuff that can be worked on. Hopefully, there will be a dam break and I can start getting all of this stuff out there in waves. I know a lot of that is wishful thinking, but that’s really the only thing that works (when you couple it with hard work, of course).

Much of my work can be attributed to me coming home from the store, eating, napping for an hour or so, and then staying up until 3-4am writing, lettering or researching. It’s become habit to work on stuff, not a chore like I used to see it as, and I’m very thankful for that change in mindset. I used to work a couple of hours a week on stuff and feel like I was really hot shit, but after several long weeks of late nights and really putting it to the grindstone I feel like I’ve finally gotten a work ethic that makes success possible.

Or at the very least I can look at myself in the mirror and say I tried my hardest.

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We’re getting ready for a two-year anniversary party at the store, and when I look at the folks we’re inviting, I’m reminded of all the people that have moved away this summer. Gavin, Lee & Maddi, Jason & Emily, Andrew. It’s weird to have finally gotten to a place where I actually have real friends out here, and now a lot of them are moving. Of course, Travis is moving into town, so that takes some of the bummer out, but still…after almost a decade of pretty solitary living and work only friendships, it’s nice to have a circle of people that I can be friendly with an hang out.

Even better is celebrating two years of being married, and the longest relationship I’ve ever had. Lot’s of wild rides, but Kenzie and I are so very happy that it makes life really worth living. Wanting to provide for her and be ready for when we start a family is what pushes me to work those late nights and work so hard.

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Of course, with the good there is always bad. I’m worried a lot about my folks, the house they live in and my dad’s health. I haven’t seen them in two years, and the house in at least three and it really bums me out. I wish I was in a better position to help them, either financially or geographically, but that’s just not the case. That makes me want to work hard too. I worry about money, and I worry about Kenzie’s job amidst all this health-care reform (knock on wood!). It can’t be all great all the time, I know, but when you’ve been trying to climb out of the broke pit for so long, it gets to be a little depressing.

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I hate to say it, but I miss TV badly. We discovered TOP GEAR this summer, and that’s great, but we’ve already eaten up four seasons and it can be a bit much after a while. TRUE BLOOD and the HBO shows are great, but there hasn’t been anything worthwhile on for forever. Movies have been pretty much shit as well, with the exception of STAR TREK and HP. DISTRICT 9 was good, and I have high hopes for INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. Kenz and I are seeing it tomorrow after an anniversary dinner. Celebrating with violence and swearing; a perfect fit for our marriage. ;)