This is actually Jeannie, Bill’s girlfriend/sig o.  I took today off to prepare for our camping trip this weekend and although I have been aware of the significance of this day, it didn’t hit me at a conscious level until just about an hour ago that today is the one year anniversary of the day we lost our cat, Albert.  (more…)

I have whined, begged, pleaded, cajoled, and nearly bribed a number of people to read my script. In return, I have promised to read the work of a handful of other people and as of now, I have met not a single one of those commitments.

If you’re one of those people, do NOT even bother trying to tell me it’s not a big deal. It is a matter of honor. I am going to make the time you made for me. It’s that simple.

I need about a month.

Oh, and Sean Scullion, if you’re reading this, I lost the file for your script again, damn it! Would you mind re-sending? This time I will PRINT IT OUT. Paper doesn’t crash.

The script I posted for the first issue of The Victory Streak? Crap. Complete, utter, stinking crap. So I pulled it from the site.

Before anyone decides to try talking me off the proverbial ledge, you might want to make note of the fact that I’m not ON that proverbial ledge. I believe in myself, and I believe in this project.

But I shouldn’t have posted that script to begin with. That’s what I did in January 2006, when I initiated this project. It was a mistake to post the first version back then, and it was a mistake to post this latest version as well. Both times I was giving into a deep-seated fear that I would never finish the comic. I wanted to get everyone’s attention with what little I felt I could do.

Well, I am through repeating the mistakes of the past. The only way this will work — the only way it should work, and the only way it CAN work — is for me to do things in this order: pencil, ink, letter, post. Repeat 24 times and I have an online comic. Send those 24 files to the printer, and I have a printed book.

Really simple.

I know exactly what was wrong with the script I posted, and how I can fix it. And NO, I am not wasting time tinkering with adverbs as a way of avoiding finishing this comic. If that’s what you think, well, you’re entitled to think that but you’re just plain wrong. I know that the best script I’m capable of writing today is going to look like junk to me a year from now. But when I finish the script and five minutes later realize it’s not REMOTELY close to the best work of which I am capable, yeah, I’m revising it.

It doesn’t hurt that this is an amateur, self-published venture and I have some grace time.

Well, except for that $250 grant offered by Colleen Doran. I have to have something to show for by September 15. And I will.

I just posted the script for the first issue. If I don’t sound jubilant it’s because, well, I’m not. I’m just tired. Moreover, I’ve decided it’s time to stop trying to get people excited about “previews.” I’m either going to do this comic or I’m not. Going forward, I’ve decided the drill will be as follows: take blank page, pencil, ink, letter, and then post. Repeat 24 times = finished comic.

If anyone wants to read the script and comment about it here, I would certainly welcome the input. But the script is behind me now, and my sights are set squarely on the finished project.

In between finished pages, I’ll probably post the best drawings from my sketchbook. I think that’s legit. “Real” comic artists do that all the time.

Thanks to everyone who has supported this project so far. Please understand that without that support, I don’t believe any of this would be possible.

I am now going to bed.

My lovely girlfriend, Jeannie, is a published author. The latest issue of Social Work, a journal published by the National Association of Social Workers, features Jeannie’s Critique of a book entitled The Careless Society: Community and its Counterfeits.

I’m taking Jeannie out to a very fancy (and expensive) restaurant for a very nice (and expensive) dinner to celebrate. The next time Jeannie is pissed off at me, I’ll remind her of how thoughtful it was of me to take her out for a nice (and expensive) dinner.

Please join me in congratulating Jeannie.

I am about two-thirds finished with the re-write of issue #1, and perhaps about half-finished with the re-design of the Web site. Unfortunately, last night’s WordPress upgrade debacle didn’t help matters; not only did it cost me an entire evening of productivity last night, but the resulting sleep deprivation has made it harder than hell to write anything decent today as well.

Then there are the character designs, which I haven’t touched yet.

Factor in that I’m going out to dinner tomorrow and having company over on Saturday, and making my self-imposed deadline is going to be a strain. But I am NOT giving up now. The script is shaping up really well — better than I’d hoped, in fact – and I know I can polish off the character sketches in a few hours. Finally, a great deal of the site re-design from here on will consist of re-using elements I’ve already designed.

I am NOT punking out. Somehow, some way, I’m seeing this one through. Why? Because, if I do say so myself, I think The Victory Streak is a story that deserves to be told. And I owe it to myself to see my dream come to fruition.

Yesterday I attempted to install a security plug-in that worked so well it kept ME out of my blog. I thought upgrading to the latest version of WordPress might help, but the upgrade busted my blog but good. I was up until 2 a.m. fixing it.

The result? I scrapped the security plug-in (it’s called “Bad Behavior,” an ironically apt name) and had to change my blog’s theme to one that is compatible with the upgrade to WordPress 2.2.

All better. All better.

Colleen Doran is a talented writer and artist who is perhaps best known as the creative force behind A Distant Soil, a comic-book series published by Image but owned by Colleen. Her artwork has also graced a variety of other titles, including Sandman and Book of Lost Souls. Her other credits are too numerous to mention in the space and time I have at the moment.

Colleen has decided to run a contest through her blog to encourage anyone engaged in any sort of artistic endeavor. (more…)

Today begins the trial of Gordon Lee, owner of Legends, a comics shop in Rome, GA. (more…)

… and my girlfriend, the beautiful Jeannie, is going to make me a dinner consisting of barbecued ribs, sweet potato fries, and beer. I am the luckiest man in the world.