A Year in Review

Of course my latest update is at the end of the year, because like a bread basket, that’s how I roll.

I feel that while I haven’t yet finished my first novel, The Patch, I’ve learned a few new things this year when it comes to short story writing and submitting to places. I have three short stories in the chamber waiting to be published, but I’ve been pitching one for the past several months with no success (so far), and the other one I’m giving a final polish to before I start submitting it to places en masse. The third is non-fiction, but I’m not trying desperately to be David Sedaris quite yet. It’s somewhat new to me to write about my past experiences (in this case, horrible dates). If the first story doesn’t get accepted at the last few places I’ve submitted to, it’ll wind up being an exclusive piece for the website. I’ve even started talks with an artist friend of mine of imagery to include. Stay tuned!

That’s been my process when I’ve been uninterrupted in my writing schedule: focus on the novel, writing a page or two every few days when I have time to write, and when I’m feeling a little tired or uninspired, I switch over to a short story idea I’ve have on the back-burner. As you can see, I have a big folder of ideas, all waiting for a little time and attention that they so desperately need. And I thought Dinah was needy!

I’ve also been attempting to be more active in illustrating more of my Fugu Comix this year. I’m in the very early stages of creating a zine filled with some of my favorite Fugu Comix redrawn and resized. If that’s not enough, I’ve also been inspired to create an underground comics anthology featuring my incredibly talented friends from all over the internets, and new works/styles by me. Believe me, if I had the time and energy, I’d do the same thing for prose anthologies as well. I’m the kind of person who is used to creating things on my own, but it’s definitely a major commitment.

I started my own weekly newspaper in high school because I didn’t like how the regular school paper came out quarterly and was pretty bland. My news stories were much more exciting and topical, and you could read all about it (along with interviews and CD/movie reviews) for only a quarter. I’d create it every weekend in Photoshop, and then off to Kinko's to print. It ran for a few months before being shut down by the administration for using one of the school logos in the header. But they encouraged me to write to our own school paper if I had any issues or thoughts on the matter. How thoughtful of them.

Same thing with the podcast. I felt like I had better views on the comic titles that were coming out every week than the rest of the schmucks online, so I set up a crappy studio in my room with my bookcases of comics as the backdrop, and hit record. A few years later and I was doing both a video and audio edition of the show, getting press copies and scoring some major interviews. As you know, the audio podcast has recently made a return, but because of the sporadic schedules of both Jeremy and I, its audience is primarily us while we play catch-up. Don’t tell anyone, but I’ve had an itch to bring back video as well, focusing on indie comic titles that I’ve been enjoying. I don’t read mainstream comics as much anymore, so my ‘hot takes’ wouldn’t be interesting.

All these ambitions I’ve described to you take time and effort. Perhaps in 2020 I can move some things around to make a few of them happen. My current job unfortunately takes up most of my time (including driving to and from), so I just have to work with what I have. My wife is the most amazing person ever and I love spending time with her. I don’t get to spend enough time with her I feel, so I have to find the time elsewhere. At the end of the day, who really needs sleep?

Dear reader, thanks for reading and following my endeavors. I’ll never force you to sign-up for a Patreon or anything (I’m not doing it for the money), but I do promise to attempt more posts like this one more frequently. I’m incredibly active on Twitter and Instagram, but sometimes it’s nice to read a post like this and feel like you’re actually catching up. Let’s do it more often, shall we?