When Do I Start?

Right now. I write this between thoughts, actually. I've started up another novel, one that will be, I hope, a tad better than the last. Which is the way things should work.

(A slight divergence here: time is improving my opinion of some of the elements of the first one and I think in March sometime I'll print myself a copy and start looking for ways to salvage it. It can't be submitted in its current form, but maybe...)

Iffin there are gaps in updates this month, blame the novel. I hope not - I feel guilty about missing days when I don't have to - but at least it's not computer foul ups.

Something of a Serpent

As a change of pace, more pictures.

Of late I've changed my style a bit. Rather than drawing small, as was my wont, I've began draining big, covering most of the page. I think it's improved things, leaving more room for working on details. I should have done this long ago, but habit seemed stronger.

Anyhoo, the image is of a snake.

---

This is the original, shrunk to fit. It has more detail work done than I usual do. I wasn't going to go that far, but after getting so close, I couldn't help myself.

This image, incidentally, is based on one I found in a How-To book I picked up a little while ago. The snake's mouth was closed in it; the tongue I guessed at from another picture on the same page.

While there are faults here and there, it's not a bad job.

---

Here is the same image touched up with Jasc. One of the things I thought about after the fact was fangs. Not that I'm planning on adding them, but the thought popped in there. I don't think he needs them In face, he looks darn cheerful to me. In the middle of a conversation, no less.

Perhaps something to this effect...

"Good Morning. Hhhow are you? Ssseemsss like a nisss day, dosssent it?"

"Um. Yeah."

"You ever read 'Rikki Tikki Tavi'?"

"Er. Maybe. Once."

"Good ssstory. Sssad ending, though. I hhhad hhhoped thingsss would hhhave turned out better."

"Em. I can see that."

"Why are you picking up that thunder ssstick? Are you planning to ssshoot me?"

"Ah. Yes. Yes I am. Sorry about that."

"It'sss hhhokay. I wasss planning to bite you with my fangsss."

"Right." BLAM!

Picture and a bit of fiction. Nice.

Something I Wish I Had Thought of.

The Theme for Doctor Strange as a parody of the Theme from Shaft.

While the initial post is good, it's the comment below it that knocks it out of the park for me. Just can't help smiling about it.

I've never been good at parodies like that. Years of listening to Weird Al Yankovic haven't helped me as much as I would have liked...

Nothing - a Something

Nothing is easy to aquire.
Nothing is easy to keep.
Nothing is easy to learn.

Nothing is hard to forget.
Nothing is hard to lose.
Nothing is hard to dirty.

Something is better than nothing.
Something is worse than nothing.

Anything is nothing to something.

Somethin - a Poem

somethin movin in the dark
somethin followin in the park

evenin stroll turns to a run
lookin back reveals no one

somethin movin all the same
somethin playin a nasty game

runnin down an empty street
somethin nippin at sneakered feet

nearin front door; almost there
leapin up over every stair

slammin shut the old oak door
hopin that there'll be no more

slumpin silent, scared to death
tryin hard to catch a breath

waitin brings no further fear
strainin now for sound to hear

nothin out there now but the night
nothin there to give a fright

---

I can't help but feel that there should be more to this, but this is as far as I can go. The style I chose for this limits me too much, to the point I can't say yea or nay to whether something was chasing the subject of this poem or even what that something was. More detail, I think, might have been nice.

I may come back to this at a later date. Or redo it using a less restrictive style of writing. There something about the rhythm that I like...

Block

Let's get this one out of the way quick. No use dwelling on the nasty, right?

As far as I can see, there are three types of Writer's Block. All of them share the same result, namely the writer doesn't write when it occurs.

(Small note: This could just as easily be called Creator's Block. I think it happens to everyone at one point or another. As I am more a writer than anything else, I'll use the usual name.)

The three blocks are:

1. Drought - Nothing comes. You stare at the page, at the screen, and not a damn thing comes. Sometimes the idea is just there, just out of reach. Damn frustrating. I've found that doing something different can help. More often than not, for me, the drought passes and I'm at it again.
2. Flood - So many ideas all at once and no way to get to them all. You want to do this one no that one no the other one. You start one project and as you try to go through it an idea for the other project creeps up, so cool, you should do that one, that one, that one. I know, I know, we should be so lucky to be that creative. But flipping back and forth isn't getting anything done. At all.
3. Something Else - You're all set to do the deed and all of a sudden you want to do something else. Doesn't matter what. Just something else. Play a game, watch a movie, something. More often than not, that's a passing thing. But I've had days when I knew is should be working and I just didn't do it. Not laziness, exactly, or even apathy. Just wanting to do something else.

Doesn't seem like much of an essay, now that it's done. Just some ideas rattling in my head that needed cleaning out.

My Always Remember

Keeping in touch with what's going on in the comic world, I hit a site the other day called (postmondernbarney.com) and see this little image here. Kind of funny, especially the little bit at the end. A day or so later I see on the site a list of others that have followed suit with other characters. As I'm not above following others (and I'm having a bit of trouble coming up with my own essays), I thought I'd try my own hand at the things.

And so, always remember:Sure he crushes a few building, lays waste to villages, smashes cars and buses, and does untoward things with boats. Sure he spits radioactive fire that causes cancer, sterilization and blisters. Sure his table manners are not worth speaking of and the creatures he hangs with are sometimes worse than he is.

It doesn't matter.

Godzilla loves you.

He wants to see you every day. 'Cause he thinks you're special.