Tag Archives: comic

September 25, 2014 · 12:41 PM

How I’m Procrastinating

A little while back, I came to the inevitable conclusion that I can’t put off editing Grotesque any longer. It’s been years since I took a real look at it. Aside from Hellbound, Grotesque is the only decent book I’ve ever written. And judging by how difficult it’s been to get editors to pay attention to Hellbound, it is becoming increasingly apparent that I am going to need a Plan B. This isn’t surprising. It just means that I’m in for a lot of hard work.

The problem is that when I am faced with hard work, I like to retreat into my little Bubble of Happiness where there are Disney movies and warm blankets and Skittles. The Bubble protects me from all my adult responsibilities.

Happy Bubble

I am really good at procrastinating.

For instance…I’m writing this blog post right now. That does not count as editing. Also I drew that picture of the Bubble of Happiness.

And have you heard of Netflix?? It should be called Procrastination…flix.

So I’m having a rough time of it. But…I have done a little. It’s not enough, but it’s a start.

The reason I’m saying any of this is…well…some other projects are going to have to be put on hold. No more of my chapter updates for that other book I was writing. Although I have some good ideas for it. I’m still going on with the Support Hellbound Initiative, of course. The more support I can gather, the better. It’s never too late to join in!

But for now I must buckle down. I must.

I must….

I wonder what’s on Netflix?

Hey look I drew a comic!

Writer's-Block-Strip-43

Chapter Four

Chugging right along. Here are the links for those who need to catch up:

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Annnd noooooow…

Chapter-Four

“Do you know where your husband is tonight?”

“Hm?” Paxton’s mother wiped sleepily at her face as she tried to think. “He’s…well he’s at work. He works every night.”

Paxton cowered in the corner. He wasn’t sure his mother knew he was there. She’d put him to bed hours ago, but he’d woken up and snuck out when he heard the banging on the door.

“Your husband’s workplace has been searched. He is not present. You do know the penalty for missing work, don’t you?”

“No…I mean yes I do, but…but please understand…he’s got to be there.” Her voice started to get higher, her speech faster. “My husband…he would never. He wouldn’t do something like that. We have a son to think of.”

“He is not at work and he is not at home. We have no other facts to consider. If your husband returns home tonight, your first action will be to call us. If you fail to do so, well…” The large man in the scary armor paused and turned to stare right into Paxton’s eyes. “There are penalties for that as well.”

Paxton’s mother followed the Enforcer’s gaze and saw her son crouching in the corner. She burst into tears, much to Paxton’s confusion. He couldn’t understand it. Had they hurt her? He only ever cried like that when he fell down.

“Please! I’m sure there’s an explanation!”

“Call us the moment you hear from him.”

They turned and left.

Paxton’s father did not come back that night. Or the next day. Paxton had no idea how to make his mother feel better. She stared out the window most of the day, jumping up and running to the door every time she heard a noise.

He tried everything he could think of – games of hide-and-seek, sitting in her lap, asking her to tell him a story – but nothing seemed to work.

On the third day of this, there was a knock at the door. Both Paxton and his mother ran to answer it.

Nobody was standing outside, but there was a package on their front step.

Paxton’s mother opened it. On top of the packing material was a work schedule with a note that said she would be expected to begin at the factory that very night. She set the papers aside and Paxton watched as she dug beneath the crumpled packaging. Her eyes filled with tears as she drew a hand out of the box. The bloodied stump of a wrist was still dripping. An old, dirty wedding band clung to the ring finger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, so…that was fun, huh? Chapter Five tomorrow. And guess what? I’m back to occasionally drawing comics! Here’s one for you now!

Writer's-Block-Strip-42

Paper Rambling

As I said in a previous post, I recently began work on my newest version of The Dreamcatchers. For those who are new here, you might want to go over to the convenient search bar I put in for you on the right side of the page and type “The Dreamcatchers” into it. I’ve written about it a great deal in the past, so you should be able to become quite the expert on this particular book of mine.

Rewriting this book (again) has been a very difficult job for me. I keep starting and restarting, never liking anything I write. It seemed like I was never going to get my footing. And then the SCBWI conference came. I really do have to apologize to Nikki Grimes because I missed half her speech. I also have to thank her because something about hearing her speech must have been what inspired me to start writing. My notebook was open in my lap, my purple pen ready, and when inspiration struck, it struck hard. I wrote nearly 5,000 words in a day, all in that notebook. At first I thought I’d transfer what I wrote in the notebook to my computer and then continue the book on Word. But I found that I was too tempted to edit when I was on Word. I was even more inclined to overthink what I was about to type before I typed it. So I went back to the notebook. Lo and behold, more words came.

That is how I stumbled upon my strategy for getting this book written. Write and write – by hand – without editing. Get it out, get it on paper. Don’t go back and reread until the whole book is done.

Paper rambling.

This is not my usual style. But it seems to be working for me, and I’d be willing to share a bit of the process but it has to wait until the book is done. Otherwise how can I do a Before and After? In other words: I’m writing. It’ll take a while. But I’m going to share some of my writing when it’s done.

That’s all for now!

This comic took me hours to draw, so you’d better appreciate it.

Writer's-Block-Strip-40

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How I’m Procrastinating

Chapter Four

Paper Rambling

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