♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2021 -- beyond.
Turning the RKL HQ on and off again.
It is the end of the year and I think I’m gonna let the lights in the offices turn off for a week or two while I set my brain into a cooler full of ice and maybe let my eyes close for a minute. It’s been a pretty good year, but this still seems like the smart choice for my current version of operating system.
Looking back on the year, it’s been alright. I released some new comics [EVERFROST and BLACK BEACON] and both got very good reviews. I also need to acknowledge how much time launching a comic takes with all of the prep and press and pressure. I didn’t write much - I finished BLACK BEACON, wrote the script for the second volume of SHE, wrote a first issue of a new pitch, and I cooked up 5 new pitches [and pitches are bloody hard work for me, weeks of slogging to get them into the kind of decent shape I’m happy with]. I’ve pitched my ass off, and currently have 3 pitches with 2 different publishers, so am in a waiting game on that one. I kept my Patreon writing up, always fun.
Alas, I don’t feel like I’ve lined up my new next big thing this year. I don’t have that big project to work on as I enter 2022. I have a graphic novel to release next year with Louie Joyce that I’m insanely excited about, and SPEED REPUBLIC launches in February, but both are already written, so I’m looking for the next big script to land on my desk and I’m still searching. It feels like a failure, but then I had this thought based on a recent discussion…
We were talking about how Mr Crystal, the villain in the new SING 2 [which is good fun], is a Trump analogue [he calls people “loser” a lot, and his vocabulary is very limited in the range of superlatives he gives] and his biggest fear is being made to look stupid in front of other people. He doesn’t want to look like a loser, and will avoid it at any cost. Very Trump. Whereas the rest of the cast gets a story arc where they see that life is good in their small bubble, but if they want more success on a bigger scale it’s going to take a lot of hard work and risk a lot of failure and maybe it’ll lead to something more, but you gotta go through the fire first.
This got me thinking about my comics. I see it as a success/fail venture a lot of the times, and I need to shift that thinking. I write comics because it’s fun. I like it to make money because that allows me to write more, but I don’t write for the money, I write because it’s therapy for me. Writing is a compulsion and one I enjoy, win/win.
So looking at the year, it’s easy to feel like a failure in my mind. But only with the silly success metrics I put in place. As far as enjoying my writing, yeah, I did. Releasing comics I enjoyed, yeah, I did. Still being able to transition into a new job I absolutely love, yep. Improving my overall mental health, yeah. Still getting two new comics ready and on the table for 2022, oh, yeah.
Every year, I put myself out there. If I stopped doing it because of a fear of failure, or a fear of looking like a loser, then I’d have to consider what company I’d be keeping with that mentality. Sometimes I’m gonna be a loser - you pitch half a dozen stories, to everyone, and no one picks up. Cool, then what? I can’t worry about what that looks like, I just need to worry about whether I still enjoy writing or not. Then just keep writing whatever I’m enjoying.
Of course failure comes from trying, but trying leads to the best things. And sometimes it leads to failure, and I gotta be okay with that. It’s not the end of the world.
That’ll be my mindset of 2022. I hope.
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Have a free Writing/Journaling RPG - WELCOME TO FARADY
So I wrote a one-page journaling game, I mentioned it last week, and I’ve typed it and “designed” it and you can have it for free as an early Xmas Present - ooh, imagine a Digital Advent Calendar where every day is a new one-page journaling game? Damn, that’s a killer goal right there.
Anyway, go read about Welcome to Faraday here and get yourself a free PDF
And here’s the jpeg of it:
The “design” of it looks like ass, but the point is the words, always the words, and those i’m pretty happy with. I’m aiming to use this in class in my suburban horror unit and I’m hoping it fits well.
I also want to write more - so far I’m ruminating on:
A sci fi escape story where you run from something coming to get you
A strange single building investigation where very weird things are happening
A fantasy story on an island where creatures and people are dying
Let me know if you think there’s anything else you’d wanna see from me.
Good friend of the ‘pape Jess Pendley runs Oracle Publishing, and just published her own one-pager THE WINTER GUARD and it’s really good - go buy it now and PWYW
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Have a great end to the year.
Whatever you choose to do with yourself leading into 2022, I hope you enjoy it. Make some time for yourself.
I’m aiming to find time to genuinely relax. I just need to work out what that looks like first. Once I do, I’ll be unstoppable [no, I’ll actually stop, that’s the point!].
I hope you’ve survived the year and aren’t just a ghost reading this over someone else’s shoulder. These have been insane times, again, and 2022 doesn’t seem like it’s filled with the hope I thought it might hold from a month ago, but maybe the hope we need is inside us all…? Too sappy?
I’ll take a break week over Xmas - y’know, relaxing! - and I’ll be back in 2022 to delight you with more middle-aged witticisms and pithy comments about helping ourselves one nanometre at a time.
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
Oral History of Lord of the Rings - it’s a bit thin, but has some interesting moments to it.
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
Y: THE LAST MAN tv show - I still have 2 episodes to go, but I’ve been thoroughly enjoying this adaptation. The stuff they’ve added, and the way they’ve fleshed some ideas/character fodder out has been really enjoyable to watch unfold. I’m dying to finish this season and see how they wrap it up.
Hopefully I’ll have a better list in 2022 as I endeavour to relax with reading material a lot more.
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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
I have no idea when the EVERFROST trade paperback collection will hit shelves. If you see it, buy it, because with shipping and paper crises around the globe, who knows what’ll happen if you sleep on it :|
Oh, and also: I wanna put my phone away for two weeks and just carry a paperback in my pocket, and then when my brain wants a wander, I’ll stumble into ‘Salem’s Lot or somewhere else.
Hmm, the Lot is a big novel, might be tricky to back pocket that sucker. Maybe a specially designed vest with interior pockets big enough for my photo illustrated hardcover copy, and maybe some chilli/lime corn chips. So I am ready to stop, drop, and read at a moment’s notice.
Faretheewell 2021, you sucked, but I did alright.
Aw, snap! Thanks for shouting me out, my dude! Means a lot. :)
Thanks for this! It resparked my spirit. Looking towards 2022 with a renewed gusto! 😊