Monday - November 22, 2004:

It was just over three months ago that I started this blog, and I am only partially pleased with where I find myself. I have had to spend far too much time adjusting to this space and not enough time using it. Of course, the site and my artwork has had to take a back burner to paying work, but I have not always been good at balancing those two worlds. I have some trouble putting aside one project to work on another, particularly coding projects. My brain won't stop working on them. In that respect, creating comics is a refreshing diversion. I have tons of material waiting to be drawn and I'm excited about every page that gets done. I have to be careful though about getting involved in too many projects. Between "More Fun", "HB" and "My Lord Bag of Rice", I'm have to produce at least six pages of artwork every week. There's one more project I'd really like to throw into the mix, but I'm worried about a decline in quality. I'm also worried about leaving too much paying work on the back burner.

What does any of this have to do with Today's strip? it's all about the creative impulse. I'm fairly sure I'll never make much money from any of these projects, but I admit there's some need to do them. Pink's need is lust or love or at least infatuation. Mine is desperation. This year is my chance to get better at this, comics, art, story-telling. I'm no college student able to squeeze strips into an already busy course-load. I am a teacher with a year away from the classroom. The problem is that comics aren't my only non-paying ambition. I've been working on building several tools to help teachers use computer technology. I can't say much about them until they're further along, but they too are part of this creative impulse that controls my life at the moment. To be honest, the tools I'm building for teachers have the potential to be much more important than my work on comics, but it's the same impulse that drives both kinds of work. Thanks for sharing the comics half. I'll keep you posted on the other as I can. Can I keep this up another three months? We shall see.

Also, thanks to all of you who sent in your strips for review by Pink and HB. The boys'll start airing their opinions next Monday. There's still room for more if any creators are interested. Just submit the form in the reviews section.

-Bob Stevenson