I'm Good Enough... I'm Smart Enough...and Doggone It...

I’m now in Week 4 of the six weeks that I've got scheduled for writing. I wrote last week about how I used the corkboard and post-its to outline the overall 4-volume story. The corkboard method really served its purpose well, and once I was happy with where it’s at, the next step was to open up Google Docs and get started on a much more detailed, scene-by-scene outline for Book 1.

I also mentioned last week a recommendation for writing tactics and inspiration, Stephen King’s book On Writing. While I found much of it to be very helpful in setting a strong mindset for creating, one aspect that I differ with King is that of plotting. King writes about how he hates to plot, hates to know how the book will progress, or even end. He prefers to just stick his characters in a situation and let them “show” him how they deal with it. It's probably a very fun way to write.

I understand how this loose form of writing could be valuable to writers who tend to rely on plotting or outlining too much, and end up with a rigid or lifeless story, but that’s a risk I’ll need to take, because I feel that I NEED to create an outline to properly plot my story. What’s more, it’s turned out to be really helpful to work out the story beats, the flow, the arc, all that good stuff. I guess that’s what it’s intended to do! :)

I found that as I fleshed out the outline, that it really required me to figure out so many little aspects of the story. How can this happen there, if that hasn't happened there, and how will this affect this and that, and wow, I need to write another this so that can take place. It was really illuminating and a lot of fun, and I'm happy to say that the story is really taking shape.

Stephen King also writes in his book how -- and I’m paraphrasing here-- though it’s NOT possible to go from being a bad writer to a good writer, and it’s NOT possible to go from being a good writer to a GREAT writer (the Shakespeares, etc.), it IS possible to go from being an adequate writer to a really good writer. That’s good enough for me to try. I think I’m probably an adequate writer now. But I think, through lots of practice and passion, I could be really good (or at least, the project could be really good). Sounds good to me. OK, maybe I should work on my vocabulary.

I haven't written in ages and have never written a story that will actually be published. I have no idea how it'll turn out, and it's a little dauting, but I'll just have to trust that it'll be good enough to be worth doing. It doesn't have to be “great”, just “kinda good”. Kinda good is enough. It doesn't have to be perfect. Google tells me that it was Voltaire that said “Perfection is the Enemy of the Good.” I’ve recently read a slightly different version, one that said that "Perfection is the enemy of the Possible". So, I'm not focusing on, or striving for, perfection- just “Possible”. Possible = Kinda Good = Good Enough.

Creating Order Out of Chaos- The Corkboard Outline

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m happy to report that (as of yet) I do not owe Jordan any of my money.

I’m currently in Week Three of a 6-week period dedicated to writing the script. I suspected that 6 weeks is a pretty intense deadline for a first-time scriptwriter who's writing in their free time, and I was right. That being said, the story is proving to be a TON of fun to create.

During Week One, I outlined the whole overarching story for ALL the books in my new series. That’s right, the whole story is completely plotted in outline form! This is a big step for me. The first time I’ve ever done so much plotting work (or really, this much story work of any kind).


For the last couple years, I've kept a gigantic (and chaotically disorganized) google doc that I'd use to "brain dump" anytime I had a new thought, story moment, or inspiration. I'd use it to keep track of all the little ideas I didn't want to forget (which I totally would, without fail, if I didn't log them in the doc). Using this doc, I began the work of translating it into something cohesive.

I used the corkboard pin-up method used by most old-school animation houses, movie studios, and other storywriters. I'd write each story moment in the google doc on a post-it note, and pin it up and see how it fit together. I found it to be amazingly easy to create this way. Nothing was lost track of, story beats were added, deleted, arranged and re-arranged. Then, they were color-coded with the following tags:

• Character’s age (as it progresses)
• Year (as they progress)
• Introduction of an important character
• Important character/emotional moment
• Action beat
• Romantic or humor beat

There are a couple other tags I used, but those are the important ones. Using these tags allowed me to see how events flowed, if they were balanced, if they made sense. It also enabled me to keep the timeline straight, and plan it out so the character’s age and the dates all worked. I’d rearrange, replace, and brainstorm new story moments on the spot, refining until it all came together. I had a pretty solid little tale plotted, and most importantly, it kept me engaged and excited. Momentum and enthusiasm kept springing forth, the more and more the plot came together.

So, that was all Week One. Week Two was taking this general, overarching storyline and breaking it down into further smaller chunks- which would become a more detailed outline for Book One. More on that soon!

Creating a Schedule and Guarding It Ruthlessly

I’m happy to report that the last two weeks have been incredibly productive! In terms of personal work, I’ve created more in the last two weeks than I have in the last ten years. Using the tools I’ve described in previous posts, I’ve forced myself to follow what’s perhaps the most important aspect of working on a project: sticking to a schedule.

Duh. It makes sense. All companies do this (at least in theory- oftentimes schedules become “fluid”). But for after-hours passion projects, it often seems that the schedule is the first thing to be ignored.

I’ve read recently in various sources about how crucial it is to stick to a schedule, but the most helpful of them was Paul Silvia’s “How to Write A Lot” (a book on academic writing, but which proposes many helpful tools) and “On Writing” by Stephen King (King’s appropriately-titled book on the craft of writing). Both books propose that foremost in importance for any writer (and I broaden this to artist, or any creator on a mission) is creating a schedule and sticking to it. Coincidentally, both authors happen to write during their early morning hours, but they encourage the reader to set their schedule to whatever times work best for them.

How best to set and quantify the schedule? Silvia quantifies his goal as a scheduled, uninterrupted block of time for a few hours in the morning, every morning. King quantifies his goal as 2000 words per day, and if that takes him into the afternoon hours, so be it- he doesn’t leave his desk until the goal is reached. In King’s case, he does it 365 days a year (easy to see how he’s so prolific).

Both writers talk about the importance of guarding this time ruthlessly from any outside distraction. They will not allow any appointments or commitments to be scheduled during this time. They do not do anything else during this time. The door to the office shuts and remains shut (and aside from bathroom breaks, I’m guessing) they don’t come out ‘til they meet their goal for the day.

These hours are protected ruthlessly. It’s set aside for writing, and writing is all they do with this time. Of course, “writing” could just as easily be “drawing”, “coloring”, “lettering”, etc., and in my case, will be, soon enough. But for now, I too am writing.

I’ve got a fulltime day job, so I’ve been following this procedure in my early mornings before I report for work. I’ve been getting up really early (6 a.m., or earlier), and after coffee/tea and a quick breakfast, I shower or splash water on my face and sit down to my computer. If I find myself on autopilot, drifting towards the google chrome button, I’m reminded by Stayfocusd that wasting time on the Internet is not allowed right now, and “SHOULDN’T I BE WORKING” (see the last entry on this blog). I set my “FocusBooster” timer, open my google doc, and start typing away.

I’m proud to say that as of now, I’m on track- I don’t yet owe Jordan any of my money.
More on that in a couple days...

That Foul, Time-Sucking Beast... The Internet

Earlier in the week, I posted about my new plan to stay on track- The “Jordan Gets All Trav’s Money, Trav Dies Penniless and Alone” Plan. The long-term plan that I’ve employed to (hopefully) keep my ass on track.

In the shorter-term, day-to-day, hour-to-hour, there’s a small handful of tools that I’ve found very helpful in keeping me focused on that day’s tasks.

Knowing that in addition to being lazy, I am also a gigantic procrastinator (maybe they’re the same thing?), I decided it’s past time that I do my best to destroy my biggest distractions.

So long, Internet.

At least, for most of the day. Though I really didn't have many problems when delivering paid/client work, my personal work was another story. When I should have been working on my passion projects, instead I would frequently let the Internet distract me. The sites I tended to waste time on (HuffPost, Facebook, any number of comics/geek-related sites) had taken up too much of my life already.

I found a good widget for Google Chrome called StayFocusd, installed it, and set my options so that it blocks Internet sites for much of the day (I get a two-hour window at lunch, and another few hours in the evening). Thus, I'm now forced to do all my emailing/correspondance, facebooking, blogging, and (most importantly) photoreference-gathering within those windows. I can tell you, it definitely cuts down on needless surfing. The widget makes it very hard to cheat, and I also uninstalled all other browsers, like Firefox, to keep myself from doing so. So, except for a couple hours a day, I’m completely Internet-free.

It’s been a little odd being Internet-free- it feels weird, like I’m going through some kind of withdrawal. But, the upside is that I’m slowly recalling that wondrous, glorious time-- the 90’s-- back when I did most of my art traditionally, and certainly without the help of the Internet.

As for staying focused on my current task, the other widget I’m using is a timer called Focus Booster, which is based on “the Pomodoro Technique”, which alleges that the best allotted time for focusing on a task is 25 minutes, then a 5 minute break. Then repeat. So far, I have to admit that even if it IS the placebo effect working, I do find myself significantly more focused when I use it.

So, that’s it in a nutshell. Basically, 1. do away with beers (and subsequent hangovers), 2. pay a painful amount of money if I slack off, 3. kill the internet, and 4. use a timer. The lush that lives in me definitely misses my beloved evening beers, but the procrastinator/lazy couch potato in me doesn’t particularly miss the slacking and the internet (probably because, as expected, I still find plenty of time for both most evenings).

If I'm totally honest, it's slightly embarrasing that I even need all these steps. I'd love to say that I have willpower of steel, but I'm just not that awesome. So, it's my intention to get my ass in gear, and those are the tools that I've put in place to make sure I do.

More next week about the incredibly productive weeks I’ve had, tackling the process of storywriting for the project...

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

My newest goal- ensure that my brother doesn't take all my hard-earned money.

Let me back up and explain...

I’ve always admired artists who are driven, consistent, and resolute. Artists that follow through, finish their projects and show them to the world. I have many artist friends who have these qualities in spades. It was a hard realization to swallow when I admitted to myself that I was, historically speaking, not one of them.

Back to Lyla and I-- We agreed it was obvious that a new tactic was needed to keep me motivated and on track. I needed deadlines that mattered.

Our idea- what if I were to set up deadlines for my new project, as most creators do, but what if I was to ensure that I lose money each time I missed one? This is how it often works for companies, when they miss a deadline milestone-- why not me?

And I’m not talking 20 bucks or something, ‘cuz the honest and embarrasing truth is that I’ll “lazy” my way right through 20 bucks if given the chance. No, the missed deadline fee had to hurt.

I drew up my schedule, complete with all my projected deadlines, and then enlisted the help of my brother Jordan to act as Mr. Consequences. The agreement is, basically, every time I miss a deadline, I have to pay him $500. Ouch.

Holy shit, $500 for every missed deadline??? Yup. That's the point-- it has to hurt if I miss the deadline (and, it’s a win-win for Jordan- either I make the progress that both he and I want to see, or he gets all my money. Win-win). I call it the “Jordan Gets All Trav’s Money, Trav Dies Penniless and Alone Plan”.

I know, it sounds weird. Wacky. A bit extreme. Definitely outside the norm... But the norm just wasn’t working for me, and I need something does work.

I can assure you all, I don’t just have five hundred dollar stacks laying around. Far from it. This will be painful if I miss a deadline. Even ruinous, if I miss multiple. (Though, if it ends up that I choose to pay out multiple payments of $500 rather than get my ass in gear creating stories, then maybe I’m not the guy I thought I was, and it’s time for some serious soul-searching).

The good news is, thus far, I’ve had an unbelievably productive week! Honest. Swear to God. I’ll post more in detail (and with proof, no less!) on that, very soon...

On Getting Started and Staying on Task

So, a few words on what's lead up to this point.

For many months (or years) now, when it comes to my personal work, I've wrestled with managing my time, energy, and productivity. I've never had a problem coming up with story ideas, particularly in the last few years- they seem to flow quite freely. A good thing; but it became frustrating when slowly they piled up, creating a backlog of stories to tell, but no actual work was getting done in the way of telling them.

I've heard it said that execution is more valuable than ideas, and none of my ideas or plans were getting executed. This went on for years. I'd dream up a cool idea and then fantasize about how great it'll be when it's unveiled to the world.



Basically, there was lots of dreaming and fantasizing but very little action or execution.

In the last year or so, after I'd moved from Seattle back to Denver, Colorado (to be closer to family and figure out my next steps), things have started to become clearer in my head about what I needed to do. A number of things lead to this (including doing away with my usual and beloved evening beers), but chief among them is the ongoing talks that my lovely and talented partner-in-crime Lyla Warren and I often have regarding creative projects and how to ensure progress. We seem to never tire of the topic, and it's so much fun. We trade input on each other's current projects (and future ones too), and generally keep each other excited and fired-up to keep working.

In the course of these talks, one pitfall that we'd identified in the creator-owned passion project was a lack of deadlines that matter. I'd never had a problem working on deadlines commercially, whether in games, comics, illustration, whatever. I'd pull the late hours or all-nighters as I needed, and enjoy the satisfaction of pleasing myself and the client. I'd enjoy the high- intensity hours, the creative buzz, and the comradery. But when it came to my own labors-of-love, I'd never been able to stick with it. I'd lapse into laziness or find excuses to stall. There were no actual deadlines that mattered, so I didn't have any motivation.

To that end, Lyla and I formulated a crazy idea... one that would either keep me on task, or else... More on that soon!

Day One of a Bold New Era!

It begins!!

It's 7:11 am, April 9th, 2012, and I've got a hot cup of green tea and my fur-lined slippers warming my feet. The window shade is open, showing off the typically sunny blue Colorado sky. I find myself staring at the blank white screen that we've all seen in so many movies or TV shows, where the writer sits down to write and then stares at the blinking cursor and thinks, "...So now what?"

This post is the first in a series about my newest graphic novel project. I won't reveal much just yet, but I will say that it's a western, and it's a story that I've been formulating in my head for a couple years now.

For much of the remaining year I'll be plugging away at this project, from writing, to art, to lettering and design and everything else, and documenting the process here. I'll be posting pre-production art as it's completed, and blogging about the experience. The inspired moments and the frustrated ones, triumphs and failures, strikes and gutters. All this, along with thoughts on tools and processes that I stumble upon that will, with any luck, help speed the process along.

It's my hope that this blog will serve as a helpful journal of the process of creating a self-published graphic novel story. Or, at least, keep me on track. The blog is in large part inspired by the efforts of Jason Brubaker and Nate Simpson, both of whom took on the same task with amazing results. The other major inspiration has been my brother Jordan Kotzebue, creator of the excellent webcomic Hominids. He's been motivated and consistent, rocking his book week after week, and it's been nothing short of inspiring. Recently I had the honor to contribute to the comic a bit, providing coloring duties for the last 8 pages. It's been a fun way to get my feet wet again after a long perid of inactivity. Thanks to Jordan for that, and more, which I'll talk about more very soon.

On Thursday comes Part Two!

'Til then- here's a sample page of the coloring I did for Jordan's Hominids book.

HOMINIDS INVASION!

Hey all! Just doing a little re-tooling and updating of the site, and realized I should re-post this black-and-white pinup I did a few months back for my brother Jordan Kotzebue's awesome webcomic, HOMINIDS!

Click the link for prehistoric action, adventure, romance, and intrigue, as well as the original drawings from the creator... starting when he was 11 years old! What's not to love?!?