Joe Alterio's blog on illustration, comix, design, animation, and other bouts of total awesomeness.

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Tripping Over Words

My plan was to throw the new episode up by last night, but I was a day late and dollar short: I had just enough time to only just finish, without getting to upload, so it'll be another week until it's up. Sorry. I'm trying to get on a better schedule. Comics is hard work, yo.

We're in Seattle now, "home" for the holidays, and without my requisite toys and drawing boards, so I'm a bit adrift in terms of what to do with myself: I figured, if anything, I could get some writing done, for future projects and self-edification. It would be good for me, a nice, jaunty period of self-improvement, in which I could bang out all those projects I've been wanting to get down for the past four months.

The problem is that I just...can't...seem...to...do it.

And so I pose this problem to you, dear readers: do you need warm up time to? I remember reading about George Orwell, how he could get up at 2 PM, sit down at his typewriter, write steadily for two hours, and then go get drunk. And all I could think was: HOW?!

I need a good two hours of just writing garbage until sentences start coming out right. And with drawing it's even worse: I have "Shame Sketchbooks", where I put all the stuff that will never see the slight of day, until my pencil starts behaving.

Am I the only one?

3 comments:

Kevin O said...

The only way I seem to be able to write consistently is when I wake up in the morning and, without talking to anyone or reading anything, immediately go get a cup of coffee and sit down with a blank sheet of paper/blank screen.

If I look at the internet, or answer my phone, or check my email, I'm pretty much done.

Anonymous said...

Not at all. There are sometimes days that go by when, for whatever reason, it's just not coming to me, either. The important thing is not to force it: it either is there, or it isn't.

Joe said...

It's easy not to force it with no deadlines! :)