Ephemera 01 - I Am a Baaaaaaad Cartoonist

I did not quit cartooning. Seriously. And no, my artistic inspiration didn't shrivel up and die. I have simply been too dang busy for words. Honestly. Right now, I'm trying to finish edits on my next book, get the cover artwork done for said book, get my podcast out the door, prep to participate in TEN panels at a science fiction convention coming up this weekend, and put together a workshop outline on podcasting for EPICon 2009 (Vegas, March, be there, baby!). Not to mention trying to recover the house from the holidays, recover the kids from the holidays, and oh, I've been sick the last week and a half.

Yeah, yeah, I know. Whine, whine, whine. Quit being such a big cry-baby, Helen, and get with the cartoons already! Well, I don't have a Cynical Woman cartoon done right now (although I already have the next few episodes scripted out and they will be funny, I promise!). What I do have is this…

I know, it's freaky, but this comes from my current sketchbook, which I carry around with me and doodle in whenever I get a free moment (free time? Ha! What's that?). This was mostly done in the dojo our family attends, during Princess' karate classes. The Saturday morning classes, that is, when Saint Michael the Magnificent takes Pixie shopping so I don't have to keep an eye on that hyperactive little busybody who gets into everything.

So, every now and then, when I get a sketch done (or as I find a few old ones I've got lying around), I'll scan it in and present it here. These will be called 'Ephemera' and they will be a nice little bonus to the usual comics. Or they will be a way for me to buy some time when my sorry ass gets behind in my work again.

What I want to do this year.

I had meant to post my New Year's resolutions the very first day of the year, but I'm still sort of stuck in 2008 thanks to a project I'm working on that won't be over until next weekend. I hate this project, and can't wait to get past it. It's been taking up so much of my time at a point when I really need to be working on other things. I won't say what said project is, but those of you that know me well know what I'm talking about. It's something I volunteered for and I will never volunteer for this particular project ever again. Nope, no sir, couldn't pay me to suffer through this misery another year.

Any way, let's take a moment to look past next week and into the time when 2009 will finally start for me. I've been thinking about what I really want to do this year, things I'd like to change, things I'd like to start, things I'd like to finish, and here are some of my goals.

• I want to work less and spend more time with my family. I spent several weekends in the library slaving away over this project I hate so much and missed a lot of time that I could have spent with my husband and kids. I don't want to do that this year. Plus having a kid in school has turned out to be more demanding of my time than I thought, and I have no choice but to quit working at 3PM so I can focus on the kids.


• I want to lose 10 lbs. Yeah, yeah, I know, everyone thinks I'm skinny and I've got nothing to complain about, but I'm starting to get that middle-age creep in my weight, and I swear, I don't want to be 40 this year and be 10 lbs. over weight. I can lose the weight if I make a few changes, so that's what I'm going to do. And I'm going to reward myself with a new summer wardrobe because for once, I'd really like to have something to wear in the summer that I can enjoy.


• I want to read more. I got the mini-laptop for Christmas and promptly bought two erotica e-books. I was enjoying the first one very much, but the dreaded project I hate reared its ugly head and ate up all my reading time in addition to my work and family time. So after next weekend, when the dreaded project finally dies-- er, I mean is finished, I want to go back to reading half an hour a night before going to bed. Just today I bought three more e-books through Fictionwise.com, and I can't wait to sit and read them. Plus, I want to go to the library once a week as a family so we can all have a chance to browse and pick out books to read. I love the library. When I was a kid we used to go there every Friday night, and I want to start doing that again.


• I want to play more games. We spent a week over the holidays with Michael's family, and those guys play a lot of games! Cassie is old enough now to sit in a lap and play with someone, and on ocassion, she can even play a game herself (she's not bad at Uno). I want to pick up some games to play with the kids and then some games I can play with Michael and other adults when they come over (I'm looking at you, Mary, John, Patricia, Vince, Patty, Lloyd, Rick, Cindy...). Games would be good!


• I want to watch more TV. Not kidding on this one. I watch almost no TV these days beyond the ocassional half-hour of kids programs during the day. I had to give it up to do some of this work I've had all year, and it sucks. I miss watching all the cool sci-fi shows, and I'd really like to start watching some of the history and science programs that show up on PBS, Discovery channel, etc. I love those things. Plus I'm way behind on watching 'Coupling.' That show is such a scream! So yeah, I'd like to get in a little more tube time, just a couple of hours to vegitate and enjoy myself each week.


• I want my hobbies back, at least one or two of them. I want to get back into sketching again, and maybe either beading or polymer clay again. I'm thinking polymer clay is more likely, since I can sit with the kids on a Friday afternoon and make little figurines with them (with Cassie anyway; Sam could make beads). It would be fun to have a hobby again.


• I want to take the kids out to play more - swimming at the Y, hula-hooping in the backyard, long walks, hiking, working in the garden, etc. We don't get outside nearly often enough, and I want to change that. I'm thinking I want to surprise Cassie and Sam by picking Cass up for school and then taking the three of us straight to the pool for an afternoon swim. That would be fun! And it wouldn't take a lot of work either, just grabbing the swimsuits, towels, and shower stuff and tossing it in the car before Sam and I head down to the bus stop. I think we'd all really enjoy that.

Anyway, so those are my ideas for this year. More fun, a little less work. I still need to sit down and figure out the work schedule, because I do have things I need to accomplish writing-wise and art-wise this year, but I won't be taking on anything that eats up all my time again, and I'll work on just one project at a time, so this could work. One more week until I can get started. I can't wait.