Yes, I’ve been away.
2010 has not been the kindest year. Not to say that good things haven’t happened. I started culinary school, we moved into a house, and… I think those were the big points. My wife will kill me if I missed anything major (aside from our anniversary, which happens every year. That’s why they call them “anniversaries”).
The major events of our lives took place in the last quarter of the year, when we moved and I started school. At the same time. It was a major hassle, but we got through it. Unpacking has been slow, as has been the return to storytelling.
I want to finish my novel. I really, really, really want to finish my novel. Technically, it’s done. I’m just in the middle of doing a second pass to make sure I like what’s been written and to enhance and flesh out some ideas that need it. As far as comics, well, my dark mistress still haunts me and it kills me that I have trouble making time to return to the drawing board, especially since I have new story ideas that I want to draw. I don’t even have my drafting table here at the house yet, and if I did I don’t have room to set it up right now, what with all the boxes.
Excuses, right?
Right.
Just the other day, after about a month-and-a-half delay due to the move, I drew a cover for the story I did with David Hopkins, Fighting David Parrot (see under his published works). It felt great to draw again… even though I drew the thing standing up over stacked comic boxes. The best thing? My hand didn’t hurt. Probably because I wasn’t inking, but, regardless, just to draw something intended for show felt really good and I miss the hell out of doing it. The next drawing project I have to cross off my to-do is list a logo for my sister and her family’s side business, which should be fun.
I will refrain from talking about what ideas I have for future comic work, but I will say that I have a couple really good ideas. Once things settle down over here, I plan to slam out a project that I’ve neglected… a project that I have worked on and have a love/hate relationship with. I want it to be the best thing I’ve done so far, but more than anything I just want to be happy with it enough to show it, even if it’s just an online read.
My intent is to go back to doing comics in the morning, albeit this time before school. I have about 6 more months of going to school at 10:15, then it’s 2:00 PM for the summer, then my externship. Mornings are probably the best feasible time for me to do any sort of storytelling. The music-writing will have to wait until evenings and weekends.
I’m probably an idiot for trying to take on so much work for no money. Most of my work is self-imposed: as much as I would love a career writing and drawing comics, I have decided that if I make comics at all it will be for love and not money. Teaching and writing music? That’s where I’m earning my money right now, and it helps that I love my job, even if it’s not lucrative in the slightest (yet).
Culinary school? People keep asking me what I want to do with it, and my answer is still, “I don’t know.” I can’t stop people from asking, but all I know is, right now, I need a job. It’s been difficult to find an office job and if I’ve learned anything it’s that, if I want to be happy, I need to be happy with what I’m doing. That means finding a job that won’t kill me. I love food, and I love cooking; as I go through culinary school, I find that I really love the act of making food. Do I want a career in it? I don’t know. I don’t know if I want to become an executive chef. I don’t know if I want to own a restaurant. I don’t know if I want to be a private chef or a caterer. Right now, getting into that field as a cook in, hopefully, a decent restaurant is my goal because that means I’ll have a job, which will mean I’ll have a steady paycheck. We’ll see what happens from there. This is one of the few times in my life where I have entered a field with no idea what I want out of it.
What I do know is that storytelling (writing and drawing) and music are my passions. Those are my arts. Food is a passion for me, too, and it can be an art for some, but I don’t think it is an art for me. I don’t know if I will express myself through food. I love the science and the cultural impact of food, just as I love those things about storytelling and music, but I know I can express myself through the latter mediums whereas with food it’s not so much a medium of expression for me as it is a craft.
As 2010 comes to a close, the control freak in me just wants certain things to be taken care of, to be done and over with. The guy who wants to be one with the Tao knows that I will just have to go with the flow and act appropriately. That said, once the new year hits, I hope things will start to go uphill, and I know that trek uphill will be influenced by my choices.