BARBARIANS AT THE GATE

One of the most common problems for writers and artists as we create these little pocket worlds is that there's another bigger, meaner, sometimes savage world that wraps around them. You know, the one we're sitting in now with terrible news and seemingly no logical rules. The one where the colours aren't quite as good and a lot of our days are spent waiting and bored, the thing we get to skip past in telling stories. Real life is always there, looming, and sometimes it sweeps in and attacks the villagers. When bad news hits, it can be difficult to focus on anything else. The closer that bad news is to you, the more impossible it becomes to stay on target.

Without going into too much personal detail, the past few months of our linear timeline have been encroaching on our made-up playlands, not just for Wuthering Heights but for seemingly all of our creative efforts. I've been managing to push the script through to a place where the art can begin (more on that to come!) and Rori's been able to fight her way into the thumbnails (see our last blog entry for more) but it's been a battle.

It's the 3 Fs for us at the moment. Number one, Family, those strange idiots who share your upbringing and won't leave you alone with their mistakes and bad ideas. Like, I have enough bad ideas on my own, folks, I don't need yours. A bit harsh, sure, but also more than a bit true. It's hard being related to people, especially when they don't understand you, some fancy art weirdo with your lefty crap.

If you're me, which you're not, you love your family but you don't always like them. And that's fine. You don't have to like them. Sometimes they kinda suck.

Then there are Financial problems. Comics doesn't pay the best, folks, and the time between getting your first advance payment for that graphic novel you're making and the second payment can be a long, long stretch. It's even worse if you're trying to make graphic novels without an advance, but when those deadlines are coming at you faster than the paycheques, it can weigh on the mind.

And of course, if you'll pardon the expression, there's all the “F-ing around.” We get distracted, we get tired, we get bored, we get distracted, what was I talking about? A lot of us are afflicted with something called Executive Dysfunction, which sounds higher brow than it is. Basically, you know what you have to do and you even know how to do it, but then you don't do it. You just don't do it because your brain is busy looking at what else is on.

Rori and I are championship dysfunctionalists, though we're lucky enough to have each other to keep us on task. Or try. From time to time, though, our dysfunctions sync up and we spend too much attention on news stories about which former political figure might be going to jail and when.

It's easy and tempting to see these things as failures, but the truth is it's just part of our process because it's part of who we are, and we are far, far from alone. Artists are weirdos and writers are villains. What are you gonna do? Figure out the path through it.

How we cope with these intrusions, the battle plans if you will, are a personal question for everyone. What works for Rori and me might not work for most others, and what doesn't work for us might be exactly what most people need. For that matter, what works for me and what works for Rori aren't always in sync either.

So I say “This is what we need to do.” so at the very least, we're aware of what's slipping through the cracks. I make a list – or several, I do love a good list – to concentrate my squirrel-brain. I say “I have these ten things to do today. I have to do five of them.” and I call it a victory when I finish three. Some days, it's easier to keep going if you concentrate on the accomplishments rather than recriminations.

We're also kind to each other when we encourage and push lightly on the other. We keep an eye on the other's schedules, we cheer (sometimes literally) for the small wins like sending an email, or find little rewards for checking off tasks like writing a blog post (I'm looking forward to getting a cheeseburger when I finish this one!)

We also try to be kind and supportive when we get less accomplished than we want. We're not forgiving our lack of progress, but understanding that we are human and we need to be loved. There isn't one standard for how we work. We need breaks, we need perspective. We don't extrude art like a factory line. It's okay if I don't quite finish the next graphic novel pitch today. It's okay if I watch a whole season of Ted Lasso in one sitting instead of writing material for a crowdfund.

And maybe the biggest thing we do for each other is say “It'll get better” when the barbarians are at the gate of our tiny frightened minds. Being a team is important, having each other's backs is important, someone believing you can do it even when your faith in yourself wavers is invaluable.

When I think about it, that's a core element of our Wuthering Heights. Despite the stumbles we'll have along the way, we're still having a great time telling that story.

Be nice to yourself today. You're doing fine.