I Can’t Sit Still. Seriously, Though.

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again: time is an invaluable treasure. It really is. From the day we’re born, it’s counting on, ever-flowing, ever-moving, flying away like a lonesome dove after a Greek wedding, never to be seen again.

I haven’t made the best use of my time of late. There’s simply been too much happening, too many things brewing, that, though I want to work, though I’m desperate to see things through, get that high that only comes when an item is truly complete, I have to make time for myself, for relaxing, for sitting down and not thinking anything more than ‘this is a good comic’ or ‘what do I need to do to earn the next trophy’ or ‘these Australians don’t sound at all like Chris Hemsworth.’

But I have been working. Not on Trezka, the last of the “Procyk Forfeit” trilogy, though. Trezka still needs a good amount of work, and it’s going to take me some time. Unfortunately, though, right now, it’s not going to give me the most bang for my buck. So, I’ll revisit that and wrap the “Procyk Forfeit” saga at some future point, but right now, I’ve set it aside to concentrate on Book Four and the graphic novel.

Book Four is in a great place, though now that I’m rereading it, I see a number of places to tighten and/or embellish the story in fun new ways. I’m going to follow the same road that worked so well for editing The Nobodies: a read-through followed by computer edits, another read-through with on-the-fly edits, and then a print read-through with written mark-up. It’s an extensive process, but makes for the best end product, and I think that’s all that really matters to me.

I’ve a good chunk of the graphic novel complete as well, though I’ve been focusing mostly on finalizing the visual layouts and doing the preliminary inks. I think pros likely go right to final inks, but I’m still honing my look, so while I get most down in the first pass, I try to refine/reshape them in a second and see where sections could use a bit more definition. There’s still much to do, especially with flats, colors, fades and blends still to come, but I enjoy doing it when I can find the time and opportunity to sit down—

—wherein lies the issue. I can only sit in my desk chair for so long before getting pain through my abdomen. I’ve got an ulcer, you see, something I’ve figured about for a few years now but which recently made life pretty fucking painful. So much so, in fact, that half of my recent vacation was basically me pinned to the couch sipping aloe juice or else wishing I was. Back to the issue at hand, I totally need a new chair, but damn can those things get pricey. Even on Black Friday, there was nothing doing, because I’m not rightly about to get me an IKEA chair again, am I? I want some cushion, some back support. One of those spine things, maybe. Yeah, spine thing.

Maybe I’ll work on it tonight. My stomach isn’t terribly thrilled with me just now because I had half an offered chicken cutlet sandwich—which was delicious but a terrible decision—but even if I can manage twenty minutes, that’s twenty minutes closer to being done, right? I just love spending hours looking at different versions of Trump’s face….