Meanwhile...

Took a week off after getting to 55k for NaNoWriMo. Turns out, writing all that text in under 25 days didn't all that healthy for you. I mean, physically, I'm great. Emotionally, I was a scrambled egg, with pressure valves rupturing throughout my yellow submarine*. Subjected my wife and cats to embarrassing fits of low self-esteem and gibbering panic about being unoriginal and "not good enough." Sucks. Been through this crap for too long, and about four months ago I thought I got a handle on it. Last week was one of those weeks where all the stars were aligned against me, if you believe that sort of thing. So, I kept away from the laptop and chained myself to the Xbox and my new DS, where I danced with pixels for hours.

About three days ago, I started back to writing, feeling the urge to create, or maybe just stave off some guilt for being a slacker-gamer again. Sat down and fleshed out the first issue of a graphic novel I'd love to do one day. Completely in the other direction of the text-novel in nearly every way. Different structure, the details are largely fleeting (more like notes to the artist-to-be-named), sparse dialogue. Everything has to count, given the smaller space involved. Feels a lot like storyboarding than writing. I'm not writing it with the idea of panel by panel, but more of a narrative. I know when I go to submit the scripts, it'll have to be better formatted, revised to each house's style. As of now, the only major publisher that has submission guidelines online is Dark Horse, which is a mixed blessing. They make it easy to submit scripts, but I'm not sure if they will go for the subject matter. Vertigo feels like a better fit, but I can't get a read on how they pick up new writers. Oh well. Writing the graphic novel is one of those fun challenges, a la thousand-piece puzzle on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

All things considered, the stress is easing off. Mario Kart DS, Battlefront 2, a loving wife, and a little time all work wonders. Nothing more therapeutic than virtually manning an AT-AT and blowing everything in your path to hell. Very Godzilla. Should be getting back to the novel in a couple weeks. For now, enjoying my DIY superhero adventures.



*Obligatory John Lennon reference for the occasion. If I could choose one modern-era English artist to bring back from the dead for sage commentary, it would be a tough call between Douglas Adams and Lennon.