EarBliss, 09aug2021: AER, by Nik Bärtsch’s Mobile.
A brilliant mail day to start the week.
Chronicle of a Project's Death Foretold
Had a feeling that it would happen, that I would return from a project break and find myself in the loop: nowhere to go, nothing to say on the novella. Perhaps I released too much too soon or perhaps it’s a byproduct of having turned 40 over the weekend or perhaps it’s nothing but a recognition long in the making (the novella having been with me in some form for the last ten years), a recognition of an iterative evolution in my creative sensibilities over the last several months (for better or for worse) that precludes the writer who would have written it or the simple truth that I’m fearful of falling once again into the DESCANSO trap (seven years for a paragraph, six years and eleven months being spent realizing it wasn’t a novel but a paragraph which took a month to release).
Thanks to Nick Sousanis for the kind mention of our Socialized Recluse interview on his essential blog, Spin, Weave, and Cut, our interview being an eye-opening discussion that, I’m certain, contributed to my shift in this direction, whatever that direction might be. Be sure to check out the info about 12 August’s Comics for Blind and Low Vision Readers symposium, which we talk about in the interview as well.
As for what’s next, I’m not hurting for potential ideas, a folder-full of illegible scraps waiting – and I do think that, if any time is right to push off into new directions, it’s now, being nascently 40 and all. But then again, I’ve proclaimed a project to be spent before only to have it come back to life at some point or another.
Weekends are exhausting.
Reading:
For now I am 40.
Project Board: clear, more or less
With the launch of this second story, it’s the first time since February that, other than long-term projects and the next batch of Socialized Recluse interviews, my projects board is mostly empty. (Since Feb: Five TSR episodes, 11 Ground Loop episodes, three re/emergence episodes, two short stories, and umpteen daily Informalities (which are going whenever/whatever, like this one)… plus Kirby.)
I’ve already started filling it back up, of course - more news on that later…
Post-launch brain mush.
EarBliss, 06aug2021: RICHTER: EXILES, by the Baltic Sea Philharmonic and Kristjan Järvi.
THE SUICIDE SQUAD was the most fun I’ve had watching a comic book film in ages (since SCOTT PILGRIM?). Brilliance all around.
Incoming: my new short story, SPOKENSOFTLY, will be arriving later this morning for newsletter subscribers. You can sign up here, if so inclined…
Morning dance routine.
Kirby just caught the frisbee with a tennis ball in his mouth. Consider me impressed, dog-child.
Meanwhile, in “better late than never” news: that whole “submit your show to Apple Podcasts” thing that I’d been avoiding for so long because I thought it would take forever? Done. In five minutes: The Socialized Recluse is, apparently, now available through Apple Podcasts.
My least favorite running season is chipseal season.
The hills are alive with the screams of the feral neighbor-children and my brain is already at overflow capacity.
New: UNFLATTENING creator Nick Sousanis joins me on THE SOCIALIZED RECLUSE to discuss his work, his process, and the joys and pains of drawing 500 babies. Also: Bertrand Russell and Batman.
Update from pod-land: my interview with Nick Sousanis is assembled and ready to go for tomorrow. Earlier episodes live here. Also: I’ll be releasing a new short story - one that found its form, its missing piece after my conversation with Nick - to newsletter subscribers on Saturday (birthday gift of self-respect to myself, start my new decade right).
Status.
My brain is adrift in pod-land.
Anesthetized Jorkies / Incoming Outputs
The Jorkie is presently sedated and having her teeth cleaned. Much consternation and trembling this morning, but all will be well.
In keeping with the promise of the title (sorry – eventually these will return to their status as pieces of general randomness and thoughts but for now – in keeping with being a semi-accurate accounting of my thinking in the moment of their creation – they’re ProgressNotes on The Work):
First thing: I can tell that I’ve been thinking “big picture” for too long. Wrapping up the recording of the next SOCIALIZED RECLUSE episode today and publishing tomorrow will be a perfect end to the break from the main project. Will return on Thursday to those essential “small assignments,” the “bird-by-birding” of HUM into its final form, for release in May 2022.
Second: the big picture time hasn’t been without its fruits: aforementioned SOCIALIZED RECLUSE episode, featuring my interview with Nick Sousanis, drops tomorrow. On Saturday – in keeping with my designs on releasing SOMETHING when I turn 40 – the second short story arrives for newsletter subscribers.
And third: unintended fruits of pod-interview research and thinking have yielded a form for a comics project and, most importantly, a path forward comprised of small assignments.
Potentially fourth: I may – may – have convinced myself that THE GROUND LOOP needs to make a return but I’m not there yet. The learning requirements of it might be needed again as I press on with the new pod-recording setup and editing workflow. Still considering a secondary show type for THE SOCIALIZED RECLUSE, but we’ll see.
The day – and an emergent-though-nonetheless-anesthetized Jorkie – awaits.
Six months old.
Next TSR interview - and first edited in Ferrite - is done. The process will still take a bit of getting used to (as will the new recorder), but I can breathe a sigh of relief. Next: record intro / outro, write the post, and publish. So far, Wednesday holds.