On Loss and Continuing On, Part One.

Hello again, friends...

So, I've been away from the blog for a few months now. Previous to this unforeseen hiatus, I was cruising right along, footloose and fancy free, and enjoying the momentum of writing and posting cartoons, not to mention updating on the big mystery project. I was writing, writing, writing... all motivated at least in part by the "deadlines" that I'd set up with my brother Jordan, who was helping me keep them (or else I'd have to pay him a hefty fee).

Motivated by that, I finished my script. It's more like a movie screenplay than a comic script- it follows a 3- act structure and it's about 130 pages. I was, and still am, pretty proud of it, even if it does need a few more drafts to tighten it up. Encouraged by this momentum, I was ready and eager to begin my next draft, and as usual, to document it all on the blog.

And then, my Grandpa suddenly died.

He and I had become quite close in the last couple years. We were good buddies as much as family. Suddenly he was gone from our lives.

I have other friends who've recently lost family members, too. Too many deaths in too short a time. Too many losses.

It's hard to understand the grieving process until you've been in it a while. To say that my Grandpa's death hit hard is a huge understatement. I've written much about him in previous posts, so I'll keep this one short, but needless to say- when it comes to the art projects, blog, etc.,... it just all fell apart.

At least, for a while. I'm getting back on track. It's a process. It feels like re-learning how to ride a bike, in a way. I know how, it's just hard to get back on. But I'm working towards it.

A couple people have asked me if I've yet had to pay Jordan the fee for missing a milestone. I'm happy to say that I haven't. As I said above, the milestone process has so far enabled me to finish a pretty hefty script, so I'm considering it a success enough to keep it going for a while. But, I will say that after we lost our Grandfather, the project and the milestones lost all meaning for a while. We just decided to let them drop until it felt right to pick them back up.

So, that time is now. We've reorganized the milestone deadlines in a way that makes sense going forward, and I intend to stick to them, produce work that's as good as I can make it, maybe work some late nights, and try to keep my money in my pocket.

It's good to be back. I'm a little rusty, a little shaky, a little beat-up, but I'm re-learning how creating can again be fun.

One event, in particular, was SO inspiring and encouraging. So instrumental in reminding me on how to get "back on the bike", back into the swing of things. I had a couple good friends come into town and include me in a fundraising event for the Aurora shooting victims. It was intense at times, but really great, really inspiring. I'll write more on that later this week.