Anyway, the gears of my brain and time and space and the vastness of the interwebbings are working in tandem for the first time in a while.  What’s that, you say?  Well, I’ve been busy at work on this here graphic novel for the better part of three months.  Reading, researching, crying, writing, crying some more, outright weeping, and now, success.  Problem is, I can’t tell you about it yet.  It’s a secret.  For at last the next month.  Then I’ll tell you all about it.  And you’ll all be happy in your little happy hats.

With that said, I can offer up the following information: the book hasn’t been halted, it’s been transformed, in a manner of speaking.  Also, there has been a vast change in the production, people translating and lettering it.  It went from a book I was concerned would never be penciled, inked, colored, and birthed into something that, at this very moment, looks incredibly pretty.  Oh.  So. Pretty.

So yeah, more will be disseminated in the coming weeks and month.  Maybe little pearls of awesome will find their way onto this very page.  Who knows?  I don’t…probably.

Bye!

There’s this phenomenon with creative types where they need to keep themselves going.  That’s to say, when everything around them is crushing or there’s little to be excited or have faith in but something keeps them going.  Fuels them.

I’ll explain what I mean in the form of a story:
Nearly a year ago, I finally graduated from college.  When I left, I was flown out to Nashville by Devon and Golriz of the fantastic site SoulPancake.com to work on content and help them manage their volunteer work force.  While there, I saw Dev’s drive and passion for the site.  He stayed up until two in the morning to make sure work was edited and ready for release the next day and pushed himself to wake up early to witness each posts response.

At some point, I thought I might be able to get a job out of SoulPancake.  That I’d be able to, eventually, earn some money from editing or some such work. When I first arrived in Nashville the prospect of a job was suggested to Devon.  He told me that he absolutely expected SoulPancake to earn money, that it would have cash flow from sponsors and other avenues within the next few months and that I would be one of the first to get paid.  This pushed me to do everything I could for the site.  The problem was, it didn’t happen.

Before I left, I wanted to know that this job possibility was still there.  On my second to last day I had a conversation with Golriz about their situation.  In the shadow of their trampoline, she told me that while she had complete faith in Devon and the growth seen on the site, it would be irresponsible to believe that she’d be paid.  After all, the economy wasn’t doing well and advertisers weren’t giving money out to everyone.

I eventually asked why she and Devon pushed themselves so hard if they knew it wouldn’t produce any monetary fruit and she explained that Devon had to.  If he didn’t believe that, eventually, things would work out the site would invariably never have been made or launched.  If he didn’t have faith that writers were talented and capable, it would have been a similar situation.  It was his faith and blind hope that drove the site, and now, it’s remarkably successful with a book on the way.

That might be a difficult concept for a lot of people to understand.  Throwing yourself headlong into a project with the knowledge that it could blow up in your face isn’t logical.  It’s the opposite.  And yet, I’m doing it right now.

I’ve been working on this graphic novel fr the last four months.  I’ve pushed myself by looking at a 6-page short comic I wrote as my motivation thinking, “if this 6-pager is published, publishers will read it and be more likely to give me a change.”  And it kept me going.  I wrote the 6-pager and, when it was done and edited, focused again on the graphic novel.  Now, two chapters in, things have started to fall apart.

There are problems with the artist, and I’m not sure if he’ll finish any of the work he agreed to. I spent two days wallowing in self-pity, talking with Lindsay about how horrible things were and how I should just give up, but somewhere inside me a loud voice responded, “Write the damn thing.”  Despite the anger that I deservedly feel, I want to continue.  I have to.  If I don’t stick my fingers in my ears and shout everything will be drowned out by the overwhelming prospect of failure.  And failure will not happen.  I don’t care if this 6-page story isn’t published.  I’ll try a different venue and a different artist.  I don’t care if the first six publishers shoot down the 6-pager and the graphic novel because someone, eventually, will read it and recognize what I’m trying to do.

Is it egotistical to think this way?  Of course it is.  But, really, there’s nothing else I or nearly anyone else with a dream can do but think we’re awesome and capable and that our idea is worth it.  Because, without that ego, we would sit in cubicles like I used to and bemoan the opportunity we let split.  And I’ve already spent six years in cubicles, working at jobs I had no desire to be doing.  It’s time to buckle down.  My stories will be published, dammit.  Not because I think so, but because they’re pretty damned good.  And when that day comes, I’ll feel vindicated for all my slamming into walls and verbose prose and pontifications.

This is what creative people have to do to keep themselves sane and get work done, put on the blinders, have faith in yourself, and hope.

Create your own crap at Wordle.  And now I’m back to work.

After two computer problems, two visits to the Apple genius bar, being sick for a week, packing, and flying to the other end of the world we’re alive.  And that’s figurative and realistic…or something.

We’re here in Songpa-Gu, Seoul, South Korea settling into our second apartment in a week and trying to rearrange and clean the dust bin that it once was.  Sounds dramatic?  Yeah, we found a computer caked with dust, and five Korean trash bags (they’re small) full of various crap through out the apartment.  Not to mention the odd stuffed animal, dust under the bed, and caked grime on the refrigerator in the laundry room.  If that sounded strange to anyone, you should try coming out here.  Things are different.  Very different.  Shower head attached to the bathroom sink different.

Anyway, since my wife has been preparing to teaching 5- to 12-year-olds English, I’ve been trying to write, research, and read.  The research aspect had been difficult before this move as our internet connection was borderline 1995.

I’m currently working on a submission for an anthology being put out by Reading with Pictures that will feature comics by various well-known comic book writers, artists, and teams.  As soon as we hear more I’ll post something up, especially with information on it’s release date and whether this humble duder will be in it.

Aside from that, it’s been a no stop focus on the two new-ish concepts I’m working on.  One with my good friend Kira and the other remains unlinked to any artists.  So, if you’re interested in drawing a sci-fi-esque book, holler at me.

That’s all for now.  We need to relax after a long day of moving and getting a pay-as-you-go phone.  Take care, calm and resilient readers.  I know I keep claiming that posts will come more often but now that we’re here…they will.  BYE.

• We’ll be moving to South Korea by the end of this or early next month to teach English to children.  We’re both really excited as this means we’ll be able to teach, save some money, and attempt to ride out the “recession” that has prevented us from finding any meaningful jobs.  The problem is that I won’t be able to use my iPhone…which is depressing.
• I’m working on a Features comic strip for SoulPancake.  Although I’ve finished the first script and have had good conversations about the jump and jive of the strip we won’t know for certain what changes are necessary/will occur for another couple weeks.  I’ll keep you posted.
• Be on the look out over the next few months for a new section to be added in ‘Short-reaching tentacles’.  It’s a project I’ve been working on for the last two years and might actually come to being.  We’ll see.
• …that wasn’t as many items as I thought.  Meh.

Take care, folks!

We’re in the Denver area, hanging out, attempting to not count our chickens before they’ve hatched, and look for work.  As it stands we haven’t found much on this continent aside from one offer for Lindsay that she’s not keen on but will probably take on the short term.  This has forced us to think “outside the box” and really “utilize other corporate speak” to “maximize our creativity” or something.  I don’t know.

On the writing front, now that I have time, I’ll be focusing more on some comic book projects.  My goal is to have at least a single-shot book done by the time we leave here, perhaps a week or two, and ready to send to an artist.  At least then I’ll feel as though I’ve done something creative.

On that same front, however, I finished up a spec script for “The Office” and am attempting to shop it around.  Problem is, I’ve never written a spec before and probably got a lot wrong.  Like, a lot.  Based on the response so far, it’s not bad but needs quite a bit of work; which is great.  I’m all about feedback.  And while comments from family and friends have been great, it helps to get some from people in the business or who might be more critical then those  with a vested interest in saying such glowingly wonderful things.  So, maybe I’ll work on another spec, an hour-long drama of my own devices or something already on air, and see what I can do with that.  It’ll be a back burner thing, so I don’t expect anything, if ever, to happen from it in the near future (this year).

Going in a direction that I haven’t gone in a while, SoulPancake.com has announced that they’ve signed a book deal and will be putting out their first tomb next fall.  Check out this Entertainment Weekly article for more information on the book to be written by Devon, Golriz, and Shabnam’s incredible minds; their fingers will remain attentive to the SoulPancake site.

With all those updates made, I wish to end this transmission with an awesome image Lindsay found earlier today.
There’s a lot of octopus art out there, including Henry Warren’s beautiful work on the header, but few are as epic as that black and white wall print.  Take care, y’all!

Anyway, I haven’t been able to do much over the last two weeks as we’ve been in “figure things out” and “focus on ourselves/each other” mode.  I have, however, finished the first draft of my first spec script and will begin on the second spec when we arrive in Colorado.  It’s a good feeling, having this written and finished something like this.  And soon I’ll be emailing it out to a friend to see about possible jobs.

There’s not much else I can talk about as I certainly don’t want to get my or anyone else’s hopes up.  I’d rather make announcements when things have been finalized.

In other news, SoulPancake continues to roll on.  Lindsay is now nearly three weeks ahead in her features and I’ve been developing some ideas about marriage for a segment of my own.  I’ll keep you informed as we see what happens.

That’s that.  I’m now off to further pack our studio apartment’s worth of stuff into boxes in preparation for the move.  A maneuver that will no doubt make these knotty, painy feelings in my stomach much, much worse, but the overall feeling of accomplishing something and moving on to a new stage of life drowns those feelings out.  So, I’m back to balancing.  And isn’t that what life’s all about?  …what did I just type?  I think I’ve lost it.

Bye!

There have been many conversations and folks sent my way by way of conversations with folks that have lead me to understand, a bit, of what I’ll need to do in order to present myself before Hollywood. In case there’s confusion, I’ll get you up to speed. I am getting married. Then, we will be moving to L.A. While there, I will need to support my new wife, so I’m looking to accelerate my career path instead of working my tail off on comic books, in hopes that I will eventually be able to break into television. (I liked my approach, but what are you going to do; life makes changes for us, doesn’t it)

With that gobbledegook of a paragraph out of me I’ll give you the plan. Right now, I’m writing a half-hour comedy script. When I’m done with that, I’ll need to write a half-hour cartoon and hour long drama script. Once I’m done with that, I’ll need to purchase what a friend of mine has called “balls” and present said scripts in meetings where I’ll need to use the twin guns of life: confidence (boarding on cockiness) and humility.

At this point, I feel like I have humility. I don’t know what I’m doing and am willing to do anything and ask anyone a plethora of questions to help me along the way. And as far as confidence, well, I can fake it!

Hooray! Give me a job, please.

My editors, who I value as friends and bosses, and the higher-ups have made several comments on script drafts that left me baffled. The first of these comments was “a 12- to 15- year-old isn’t going to know the word ‘tithing’”. Well sure they don’t. They don’t because no one has presented that word to them, but if we do, right now, they’re going to figure it out.

Tweens and children today are more resourceful than I ever was growing up. I say that because of ease of access to knowledge. When I was 13, I’d have to grab the encyclopedia or have my parents drop me off at the library, I was that kid, to learn about Iran’s history and cultural significance or to look at art from Japan. Today, kids can sit down at a computer, or their iPhones, and look things up on Wikipedia. Information is so easy to access that new laws are being created every day to prevent our children from accessing the vast amounts of smut on the net. V-chips and parental controls and…well, I’ve gone off topic.

The point here is that if you present a word like “tithing” and offer a short explanation or implied meaning, kids are going to figure it out. And if they don’t figure it out, they’ll go to dictionary.com and look it up; or, they’ll ask their parents; which should happen a lot more, in my opinion, than occurs right now.

Another example is that an editor told me tweens wouldn’t understand the concept of guilt in relation to giving to the poor. But I submit that they do. Unless these children are living in an area with no poverty (I don’t know that such a place exists) or homeless, they’re going to see beggars. And what’s more, seeing beggars allows parents to explain a myriad of things to their children. Off the top of my head: guilt, pity, compassion, love, generosity, several religious stories (if you go that route), and mental illness – ignoring, one would hope, the need for “lessons” on how not to become poor or using them as an example of who is “worthless” as one parent I walked by yesterday put it. Those are important things to learn if you’re growing up. (Truthfully, it wasn’t until I was around 10 or so that I saw my first beggar and I felt awful. It took a conversation with my dad about love and compassion on how to sort out the heft of the emotions I was feeling.)

These kids understand these experiences, they’ve had them. Sure, it might be more simplistic than we might look at it and their sphere of experience is vastly smaller, but they understand the concept. Sociologists have been studying the pit-of-the-stomach feeling children have when they see a homeless person for years and they seem to come to the same conclusion, those children feel terrible. They feel as though they should do something to help that homeless person and that turning away feels even worse. Its important for someone, us if parents don’t, to address these emotions. If we or parents don’t, this leaves our children stunted and confused as to what they should do the next time they see a homeless or downtrodden person. These are things that are imperative for everyone to learn and understand as early in their progression as possible.

My little sister isn’t so little anymore. At 15 she’s learning to drive, enjoying her first summer after her freshman year of high school, and feeling the pull of adulthood. Sure, she might be a tad more mature than some of the other girl’s her age and she may have read more complex books at an early age than other kids her age but that’s because we, and she, pushed her(self). We suggested books that I read in high school and she read them in junior high, books I read in college and she’s reading them right now.

Perhaps this is a direct result of seeing what her older brother and sister are reading or talking about and wanting to be part of that world but I think the real reason is her desire to understand things more quickly than we do right now. We’re growing a generation of incredibly quick kids. They understand concepts faster and with more ease than any generation before them and that must be fostered. If not, they’ll hit a wall and delve into a world of confusing concepts that they may actually not be ready for like sex, drugs, adultery, and that gnashing sound of bills and a lack of funds and concern about pay. These are subjects that they may not, or may I don’t know, be ready for, and that’s where we should draw the line.

Obviously, twitter has been incredible. I’m following some tapped in folks, all relaying information the second they receive it; I’ll usually retweet was fascinates me.
Aside from using the twitter hash-tag search, twazzup does a fantastic job of aggregating all the pertinent tweets, minute-by-minute.
Another great aggregated source is The Lede from the New York Times. They’ve updating their feed every few minutes with comments, quotes, and information. An excerpt:

As we noted on The Lede last week, a source in Tehran told us that of 20 people surveyed at a large opposition rally in south Tehran last Thursday, not one of them said they had heard about it through Twitter. For all the discussion by bloggers and journalists outside Iran of the way the micro-blogging service has helped to inform the rest of the world about opposition protests over the past two weeks, the tool seems to have been less important inside Iran, where many people have heard about rallies through text messaging on cellphones or simple word of mouth.

Still, since so many bloggers and journalists have been glued to Twitter feeds that appear to be coming from inside Iran, it is interesting to read this analysis by a company called Sysomos, which concluded that, of Iran’s 65 million citizens, “there are now 19,235 Twitter users in Iran, compared with 8,654 in mid-May.”

If you’re looking for some interesting reads from various sites, I’ve been adding links to my del.icio.us stream (found on the bottom right of this page), so watch that as well.