· comic of the day

#57 Comic of the Day

January 11, 2008 in agents, comic of the day, comics, publishing, query letters, rejection, writing | 8 comments

Ack. I think we, and by we I mean the insanely talented but tortured writers out there (joke), all feel this way about the query letter process. I don’t know about many other actual personal experiences outside of my own (except what I read about on my best friend ‘the interwebs’) but for me I can’t decide if I’ve been blessed or cursed.

I had the advantage/disadvantage of having my very first agent query letter (to the agent I researched and really really thought I wanted) come back within a week with an email request for a partial (the first 50 pages). JOY! This partial was rejected by email about 2 months later with some helpful (and some less than helpful) notes. Less than joy.

I have sent two queries since – one has been out there for almost three months with no response and the other for three weeks with no response. I completely recognize that this is not exactly a “wide net” to cast. I also recognize that I already have great statistics considering what I’ve actually put out there and the response I’ve gotten. It it still a completely frustrating and self destructive process. Also, I felt good initially that though my first agent didn’t want me or my book he apparently thought I had a good query letter. Good right? A good query letter is almost as good as a good novel…yet no response to my new queries, which though tailored to the specific agents, were largely the same as the first. *SIGH* Apparently my query letter was not made of magic.

I often wish I could be one of those writers that is totally convinced they are brilliant – and that their novel is the best novel ever written. Although agents, and agent assistants, and really everyone, hates those kind of people and nine times out of ten (okay ten times out of ten) they’re delusional anyway, it still must be nice to just feel so confident in your work. I have doubts about my work every moment…actually that’s a lie, I vacillate wildly (especially when I’m actually writing) between “I AM A GOLDEN GOD! I AM A GENIUS!” to ten minutes later “I AM THE WORST OF HACKS. I AM THE HACKIEST HACKY HACK HACK THAT EVER DARED SIT AT A COMPUTER”. These two thoughts can be about the exact same sentence, plot, arc, character, or even title, merely ten minutes apart.

I think I’m also pretty realistic about the state of ‘the process’ and the state of publishing in general. The reality is that you CAN actually have written a great book and that STILL does not mean you are ever getting published…so what hope is there for those of us that maybe have a great book idea that is maybe well written or is maybe timely…it’s pretty debilitating.

I am making a concerted effort this weekend though, no excuses and “sad pile of low self-esteem and mania” be damned, to cast a wide net of query letters. Look out world…a mediocre bi-polar mess is comin’ out…

#56 Comic of the Day

January 10, 2008 in comic of the day, comics, seafood, travel | 9 comments

This one is a bit misleading”fact-wise”, though I like it.

In the end we decided not to go anywhere in an effort to save money, and so that we could perhaps go on a “big trip” to Europe (or somewhere out of country) in 2009…2010…well, someday, and not just because we couldn’t agree on a location. It’s ironic that Adam and I actually both love to travel and have very similar interests, they just never seem to kind of perfectly line up…when I feel like Greece he’s feeling Ireland…when I feel like Philly he’s feeling like Vermont…it’s frustrating.

We had actually agreed to go to Boston for our Anniversary this year and were both quite excited about it (me maybe just for the seafood – clam chowder and lobster rolls – whee!) but we pulled out at the last minute, deciding that the grand we would probably spend on a two or three day trip was better left in our savings accounts considering the year we have ahead (and the never-ending writer’s strike). It was a good choice. I don’t think either of us regret it…especially since I ended up getting sick for part of the time we would have been gone.

What about you guys…any dream destinations? Best places you have already visited?

#55 Comic of the Day

January 9, 2008 in comic of the day, comics, food, relationships, seafood | 5 comments

It’s true.

#54 Comic of the Day

January 8, 2008 in comic of the day, comics, entertainment | 5 comments

How I love/hate Law & Order. I think it is the definition of an addiction…in the sense that I don’t even really like it and it makes me feel terrible, yet I feel compelled to watch…unable to stop. And damn TNT for playing them so cleverly back to back the way they do, which is the whole reason I’m unable to turn it off. The only saving grace I suppose is that I don’t actually LIKE the show, so I don’t turn the tv on looking for it…but it definitely preys on me if it happens to be on…which is ALL THE TIME.

Damn this show. I resolve to watch like 80% less than last year. SIGH. That will never happen.

#53 Comic of the Day

January 7, 2008 in comic of the day, comics, holidays, travel, vacation | 7 comments

Ah, so true. So sad.

I’m finding getting into 2008 (despite my productive and massive 2008 priorities list) to be quite a drag, which is the opposite of what I was hoping for. I’m getting some things done, but I’m definitely not “having more fun” as I noted I should try hard to do in 2008. I also did a preliminary 2008 budget and cannot believe how strict and horrible it is. What was I doing before? Oh yeah, credit cards. Great. Anyway, how are you guys faring with 2008? Better I hope…

#52 Comic of the Day

January 4, 2008 in comic of the day, comics, relationships | 5 comments

This is SO sad. Just a few short months after my blissful discovery, and a few short weeks after I told the world (er uh, you guys) about it, and it has vanished like so much mist. The snoring is not constant, thank goodness, but man is it an adjustment to go from blissful silence to occasional abrupt loud ass log sawing right next to you. It doesn’t help that I’m a terribly light sleeper and Adam is a terribly deep sleeper. Oh woe is me. Suggestions? Other than not bragging anymore of course…

#51 Comic of the Day

January 3, 2008 in art, comic of the day, comics, james jean | 4 comments

They look FANTASTIC. And I’m so happy to finally have them up…most importantly because this “art cluster” hides a giant grey metal switch box in my living room wall that I’ve been staring at angrily for the last six months. Yea for art on walls!

I also made a massive list…not of resolutions, but of priorities for 2008, and there were so many things I wanted to make sure I do this year that I broke the list up into sections (work/art, job, health, money, house, and fun). Onto each of these categories I put a bunch of things I want to accomplish this year and more importantly where I think my priorities should be on a daily basis (funny…tv did not make the list…at all). Anyway, house has by far the most things on the list, although if I just get up and do it the “house” items are also the easiest to accomplish, so that is good. Already two things (hanging those pictures was number one) have been accomplished…so that’s not too bad for January 3rd right?

#50 Comic of the Day

January 2, 2008 in comic of the day, comics, entertainment, holidays | Permalink

But I made it! Whooo! Now I can get back to important things, like drawing decent comics. This is number 50, which seems like it should be a milestone…but next to 52 books it seems minor at best.

I hope you are all digging into work with a happy fervor. I was disappointed to find that I was as miserable as ever at the thought of returning to work. It’s not like I have a horrible job or work with terrible people…the job is not so bad, certainly the most interesting and rewarding work I’ve had the opportunity to do thus far in life and the people are some of the best I’ve ever worked with, but it’s just not what I want to do with my life I guess, so it’s not so great to return to it after almost two weeks of freedom.

With the exception of being sick for several days over my break, I have to say I had an absolutely fantastic time…did exactly what I wanted all the time…hung out with Adam; played games with Adam – mostly lost to Adam ; slept in; made pancakes; went to great restaurants; saw movies; did some home improvements – which were rewarding enough in the end to make it seem not so bad; watched some amazing documentary tv; and just layed around feeling free and happy reading and writing (not enough as usual) and drawing (also not enough). It was so great. I guess that is what made it so difficult to return to work. I just really want to get to a place where life is much closer to the break I just had, rather than getting that two or three weeks out of a year. But I suppose there is nothing original about that.

Damn. I didn’t mean for this to be a downer post…but sadly, that’s where it went. Happy New Years everyone…let’s get back to work I guess…

#49 Comic of the Day

January 1, 2008 in champagne, comic of the day, comics, entertainment, whores | Permalink

There really aren’t words to describe this. I highly suggest looking it up on youtube, as there has got to be something out there on it…certainly by 6am…the world will know the glory of CATHOUSE…THE MUSICAL!!!!!!!

I’m off early today to try to catch There Will Be Blood, after the snafu yesterday. Happy New Day to everyone out thre…hope you’re making the best of it…for most of us it is the last of the paid office holidays for months and months to come…I hate this part.

Sidenote: Adam has a ‘greatest quote of all time’ while watching this “musical” – “these women aren’t just whores, they’re attention whores” never have truer words been spoken my friends.

Update: here’s a youtube clip, though I must say the clip contains what I thought was one of the better performances…by far. Adam didn’t agree, but I found this one to be one of the least embarassing/funny/sad. Have a look.

#48 Comic of the Day

December 31, 2007 in comic of the day, comics, craptastic, holidays, sandwiches, the savages | 5 comments

I didn’t actually take a bite as it had onions in it (yuck! who puts onions in tuna fish? – apparently our diner that’s who!) but it looked just terrible, kind of greasy and like it would just lay down in the pit of your stomach and never digest. Not at all like it looked in the movie, all crunchy and light and delicious.

Anyway, onwards…towards 2008…a year in which I will do everything I said I would do last year. A year in which I will finish my second book (and third! – why stop at two?!). A year in which I will magically become thinner while still happily eating whenever I am hungry. A year in which an agent and publisher will magically appear for me (and will of course want to sign and publish me). A year in which money will come to me easily and leave me never. A year in the which the world will discover my genius…and instantly brand me an overnight sensation, blithely ignoring the fact that I have been toiling in obscurity for years…

What about you guys? Any insane out of control hopes, dreams, and, I hate the word but here it is… “resolutions” for 2008?

My only real true resolution (though I still hold on to those wild hopes and dreams) is that I don’t have a crappy New Years Eve…it is such a lame holiday, built up with too much fantasy and desperation and drama, just waiting in the wings for you to have a lousy night.

Adam and I plan to get out early tomorrow/today to see There Will Be Blood (can’t wait!) and then hope to try a restaurant I’ve been dying to try called The Mermaid Inn (they appear to have delicious lobster rolls – which I adore – what better way to end a year?) and if there is time, finally checking out The Museum of Natural History, which I have been heinously ignoring going on nearly three years here in the city. The ‘Mythic Creatures’ exhibit ends in January, so there is no more time to waste. We’ll probably end up at midnight the same as usual, in the apartment warm and cozy, Adam watching me down champagne and getting a late start on the first thanks to too much of it. But that’s not such a bad tradition I suppose.

What about you…hopes, dreams, resolutions…or just plans for the “big night”?

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