TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE August/09 - My concentration is
Another Two Fisted Therapy Session. And friends.
♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2021 -- beyond.
The struggle is [sur]real.
I talk about the struggle of the process of writing stories, as that struggle is waged as a full battle inside my head. Over time, with enough battles fought, both won and lost, I’ve come to realise some truths.
~I do not write fast. I overthink every word and line that comes out. I edit panels and pages as they are constructed. It’s a slow process. I do not seem capable of blasting out effective Vomit Drafts anymore.
~I have my best breakthroughs in tighter circumstances. In the shower, while waiting for my kids to finish martial arts, mowing the lawn, five minutes before I’m due for bed or to prepare breakfast. Give me a 4 hour block of time, and I feel like so much of it produces nothing [I’m sure it’s not nothing, but I also haven’t scientifically quantified it, so I cannot guarantee this].
~Dumb shit trips me up. “Wait, why would the mother suddenly want to walk into that room?” becomes a question that begets a two hour note-taking session of the mother’s back story and another plot point inserted to ensure she would indeed *need* to walk into that room. I’m then also left with another plot point to consider and resolve.
~My concentration feels shot. I feel like ever since Covid, my brain is a little more scatter shot. It Tiggers around my to do list and sundry other things and I actively have to corral it and focus on the Big Thing that day.
As such, I’m left wondering a few things:
Should I work away from the internet - no Chromebook or phone in reach? The notebook is a good place to be for all the planning and plotting and preparing.
Should I find a way to repair my hyperactive brain? Or would the above help? It’s not like I can’t concentrate, I get my job done just fine, I do end up tackling jobs head on, but I feel like I’m working against something I’d like to eliminate.
Should I write *less* into my stories? Working more with that I have. Been thinking again recently about Taylor Sheridan’s scripts, thinking about streamlining that narrative drive.
Should I continue to trust the process? Or shift my hopes from it all? I know my process produces good stories - or, at least, stories I’m exceptionally proud of, and which seem to resonate with readers. Should I keep that going, and then focus on the fun part. I’m in my office to enjoy it.
Hell, should I enjoy getting the stories out more. I feel like I haven’t been able to properly celebrate releasing two mammoth sci fi comics this year because my brain won’t properly let me. I keep shifting expectations, demanding more of myself, and so the mere act of releasing a comic isn’t enough anymore. I’ve won awards, sold tv rights, sold stacks at conventions, and this past year hasn’t seen me do any of that, so my brain is quick to equate it with failure.
But 8 years ago, getting a comic on the stands would have been cause for celebration. Maybe I need to just enjoy and appreciate that a few thousand people went out and picked up my snowbound story of heartbreak and big swords, and I should see how damn cool that is.
Never let it be said I don’t know I’m my own worst enemy, ha.
Maybe if my brain slows down, I’ll see how awesome it is to produce anything out of your head and into the hands and heads of others.
Thank you for attending another Two Fisted Therapy Session. Always appreciated.
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Conventions, I think, nah.
Man, I love going to conventions. It’s a group therapy session I can get behind. Chatting with creators/friends, talking about comics [and other stuff], and selling some comics. Oh, and always finding at least one burger joint in which to consume something full of flavour and non-meat patties. There are so many ways it gives me a dopamine hit.
I’ve been lucky to squeak in two shows this year, and both went well, and were covid-free - but I don’t know what the rest of the year brings. Shows I’m attached to keep getting pushed back, and if they do happen to go ahead, I’ll be risking buying flights [though I will always go for refundable/changeable ones], and then risking that the Delta doesn’t come along for a fist bump ride or something.
I won’t lie, I’m hesitant to do another show this year the way Australia’s cases have sloppily spread over the past two months. It feels like a much bigger risk, and one I’m definitely taking seriously. I guess we’ll see what November starts to look like.
Not doing conventions certainly gives me a kick in the nethers when it comes to income, for sure. But it also means I have boxes of comics piling up here at RKL HQ, SKYSCRAPER, the SHE HC, and EVERFROST single issues. I’m not getting a chance to put these awesome comics into hands, I’m not getting the chance to share the stories, which is really the focus. Plus: the boxes are ugly to have around.
As such, I’m going to link to my online store so you can get your hands on my stories, the way my brain intended it.
CLICK HERE TO GO BUY SOME RKL COMICS!
I’ll make sure I sign ‘em and send ‘em off with love.
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August 25 is coming.
At this stage, it looks like it’ll be an RKLx2 release day in 2 weeks as EVERFROST #3 and BLACK BEACON #2 drop on the same day.
I’m assuming one will change the date, just because that’s what seems to happen, and I think it’ll be BB, but let’s all wait and see. I’m excited about both issues because they each explode the story into new directions. EVERFROST #3 particularly goes to some wild places as Sami illustrates one of my favourite locations of all time.
It’s crazy to have two big sci fi stories coming out at the same time, no less possibly the same day, so I appreciate everyone that’s along for the ride on both of them for me. Each story means the world to me, and represents the past 3 years of hard, hard work.
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ASD&D.
My school players love the game, and are doing well with it, but they find delving into the Player’s Handbook to really learn their options difficult. I get it, it’s a dense text, but I keep telling them if they want the full experience, then they gotta add to their character with those level up opportunities. So last week I mentioned to them that Fighters can choose to become Eldritch Knights, and then they have a weapon they can just make appear in their hand. They were excited.
Then I explained that your sorcerer should go one of two ways: into draconic magic or wild magic. I explained that the Wild Magic table comes into play, and read off a few of the possibilities from it, and their eyes lit up. Once we broke into groups to play, those not playing got the Player’s Handbook in front of them and I could hear them excitedly exploring the options of their classes, and it felt like a great teaching moment. And when you teach for two decades, you really jump on those pure moments of brain exploration and you appreciate them for every formative experience you hope they yield.
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
Noir in the 80s and the 40s - both great decades, this article contains a list of classics and you should see them all.
History of THE INDIAN RUNNER - a flick about a Springsteen song, I still haven’t been able to track this down to watch it. This article was a reminder that I still want to.
PYRE on Kickstarter - this looks really interesting. Mental health and superheroism.
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
WARLIGHT - just finished this and absolutely loved it. Ondaatje writes in a different way, his characters and plot more obscured, and with reasons in the story. But it helps him get his themes across so effectively, too. It’s nice to read something that’s just aside from the norm, and definitely different from how I do it. It also helps when the language and flow of the story are completely captivating.
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Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
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POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
What to buy in a windfall?
I recently had the good luck to have some payments come in for imaginative story script pages rendered, and I wondered what to do with this sudden increase in my skyrocket.
I thought about a comic I might like to buy, or a Lego set I could build with my children, or...I dunno, maybe there was something else, something extravagant I’d want to lash out and treat myself to. Hell, just a fancy pie or a six pack of sour ales, something, right?
In the end, I couldn’t think of any specific thing. There’s not much in the world I’m hunting for [besides old Philip K. Dick paperbacks] and those things I tend to find and help myself to at the time so I don’t miss out, so I guess I’m lucky like that. So I’d like to keep that luck alive, make it so when I see something in the wild, I can have the advantage of treating myself and not overly worrying about it. There’s nothing today, but in a month I might be at a bookstore, or out with my wife, and I want to pick up a strange novel, or buy some empanadas, and I want to do so without financial worry weighing me down.
It was an interesting thing to note, both that I feel fairly financially comfortable, but that I also am not sitting around desperately wanting for things I don’t have. About the only things I wish for desperately are stories that flow out of me smoothly, and time to read each day. Other than that, if I can keep an existence where I have time to play with my kids, and kids who want to play with me, and \me and my people are healthy...that’s honestly all I need.
Awesome read man! I feel the pain on having all my great moments of inspiration occur at the least convenient parts of my day.
Keep up the awesome work! 🙌🍻🔥