I really think i should take the idea of scheduling recovery from things more seriously. The past couple of weeks knocked the crap out of me more than i think i’m willing to admit, and I found that creating coherent work out of the creative fog yesterday was not in the real schedule of my subconscious brain, no matter how much the conscious brain forced the idea.
Another problem yesterday really came down to the simple fact that writing and creating are not conducive to multi-tasking. Drawing, and especially writing, really requires uninterrupted stretches of time to do effectively. You can’t be jumping up to deal with things every half hour and get comics done. Usually, there is a kind of momentum you have that can help, but right now i’m trying to bring chapter 6 back online from a dead stop and all the distractions of running a busy online store during the holiday season just was not helping this happen. Ironic, because its important to do the comics or else why the hell would anyone want to buy anything? 
I won’t list the distractions yesterday, nor the minor (and some major) disasters, some of which i still need to follow up on today, but i do know i had to admit defeat when Momo decided at 2am that the freshly cleaned kitty box wasn’t clean enough for him, and that other places in the living area were more appropriate to releive himself. After dealing with that, i just went to bed. I feel a bit more together today, not quite so bone tired, so i think i’ll just plod along here and do my best to get this comic done.
- pirotunes: Free Sound Collective - Foldback Return -
You know, I know of an idea that might be helpful to you. Have you ever read “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron? It’s kind of a 12-week program for “blocked creatives”. In it, she talks about something called “the artist’s date”. Her theory is, since creating is all based in images, you need to go out and “stock the well” when you’ve been drawing from it a lot. So you go out, by yourself, about once a week, and do something fun. It can be anything–seeing a movie, wandering through an aquarium store, taking a walk in a new part of town. Whatever will give you new things to see and enjoy. Maybe if you tried that once in awhile, it would help you avoid the running-on-empty feeling. Good luck, and thank you so much for Megatokyo! I can’t wait for book 3! –Stevie
I know the feeling. Hope Momo didn’t damage the carpet too much. My standard poodle has decided that in her old age she no longer has to travel outside to relieve herself, and I needed to have the carpet cleaned.
Good luck getting the next strip out, and I hope you don’t overdo yourself.
Stevie’s idea is a good one, you should try it. I do something similar when I can’t write. One thing I do during that day is sit and start to narrate what I see, in your case you could draw what you see. I find it helps me relax, you need some of that (yeah, relaxation, no no don’t go there. Damn, now I feel your pain.)
I feel your pain with Momo. Ever heard of Oxy clean, it works real well when used in conjuction with Petzyme.
Thanks for all your hard work.
Fred, I sort of can realate to you. (though I do think you’re worse off than me..) I’ll bore you with my story for a second here. My band class had a student teacher and he’s a really cool gamer/otaku guy. I have my own comic I draw called “Spectacular Insanity” and he’s in it. Well, on December 1st I had the bright idea to take all the finished strips and put them in book-form. I had until tuesday to finish it so it could go to the printers. I did it, but now I’m beat. With the rest of the stuff going on in my life, I’m just drained. Unfortunately, now I have a problem simmilar to yours. Now, I can’t get back into normalcy. I recommend lots of sleep nas long walks. (Even though Michigan is a barren ice land now, I know) Good luck with getting back on track and I’m sorry for being so long winded!
Fred, I sort of can relate to you. (though I do think you’re worse off than me..) I’ll bore you with my story for a second here.
My band class had a student teacher and he’s a really cool gamer/otaku guy. I have my own comic I draw called “Spectacular Insanity” and he’s in it. Well, on December 1st I had the bright idea to take all the finished strips and put them in book-form to give to him at our winter concert as a farewell gift. I had until tuesday to finish it so it could go to the printers. I did it, but now I’m beat. With the rest of the stuff going on in my life, I’m just drained. Unfortunately, now I have a problem simmilar to yours. Now, I can’t get back into normalcy. I recommend lots of sleep and long walks. (Even though Michigan is a barren ice land now, I know) Good luck with getting back on track and I’m sorry for being so long winded!
OMG! I’m sorry, I must have hit the worng button! It’s on here twice now! Gomen!
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A trip to the shore, zoo, downtown, or mall — depending on the quality of said locations and the weather in your locale.
I think what has everyone spinning in circles so fast is the dramatic freeze at the end of the last comic — its almost an “Activate the Omega-13″ moment - no one knows how Erika is going to react or what Largo is going to follow up with or where this takes them. At this point, people are analyzing every little pixel for clues…
Ah well… more christmas shopping to do … I’ve purchased everything from Megagear I can reasonably purchase without incurring wrath from the Little Asian One — so Book 3 IOUs are the stocking stuffer for now.
Your fans truly appreciate all the effort, time and energy you put into your work. We really do.
I look forward to getting the new book…and seeing how the story continues to grow. ^-^
Thanks for everything you do!
Hearing about Fred in this sort of situation really does make me wonder if I’m cut out for properly entering the world of webcomic making… ¬.¬
Maybe I should keep the URL a secret from everyone… At least till I’m way ahead of things…
Ahh well…
Fred, I hope you get better soon!
(don’t know any better way to phrase that…)
Take all the time you need! ^-^
You know, your placeholder would make an awsome poster. Just put on it something like “I HATE THURSDAYS” or better yet “I HATE DEADLINES”.
Im sure we ALL connect with that drawing. REally good by the way.
Ahhh, poor Fred-kun! We really do appreciate all you do, and if you want to just sit and let yoursel go back to ‘caveman fred’ for a day or two to relax we don’t mind having nothing to look at on the main page! ^^ (The question is, would Sarah let you go ‘Caveman Fred’? XP)
I just checked out the ‘Warmth’ page again. I love it, even though there’s nothing there yet.
‘By the end of the year?’ I couldn’t help but laugh a little at that. As much as I’d love to see it, you have MegaTokyo on the go and with Book 3 going out and Christmas… I don’t think that’s looking too good! ^^ But we’re all happy with MT, anywho’s! So just do Warmth for the fun of it and don’t stress yourself.
Don’t push yourself! (I doubt you’ll listen to this. It almost seems like you ENJOY working under pressure. It’s your life force Fred! Feeeeeed on it!) Remember that you can’t conquer the world and that we don’t care if there isn’t even a DPD up because you’re feeling bad. You don’t have to beat yourself up about everything.
I’m sorry to hear about the whole week beating the crap out of you, it seems to happen at the most inappropriate times, well, mostly. Hope you feel better soon and rawk on!
~justme.
Dude, that sucks. I really hope you get better. Those kind of days are hard to go through. I know, I’ve been through them and worse. I would really like to hear that you feel better for the holidays. What fun is Christmas in that kind of mood? Well, anyway, good luck with getting over the week from hell. Happy Holidays!! Cya
Take as much time as you want recovering. I know you hear from the ‘needy’ readers a lot, so I’ll speak up as one who’s just happy that you still provide Megatokyo for free - I’d be alright if it only updated twice a week if it meant that you could keep the quality high and that you wouldn’t get so burnt out.
And on that note of free - I know you’re relying on the Megagear store, and I was just wondering what the FYI was on the Canadian Shipping thing? (speaking as a Canadian who really, really, really wants a flapdoozy bag)
Hee, the new comic’s cute — I really like it. You rock, Fred. ^.^v
Oh, and btw — *huuuuuuuuuuuuuugs* for dealing with all this crap, surviving it (more or less) and still managing to post a good strip.
And you still rock. So there. *nods*
Fascinating twist of POV cutting to Piro… you are most evil…
You have a drawing on here I’ve seen before, that someone said they drew for me. Wrote my and their name on it even. It was http://www.fredart.com/fredart/artpage.php3?src=&ft=co&fn=31
just the sketch of it. Is your name David by chance?
Angelic_Demise, you mean this?
http://www.fredart.com/fredart/artpage.php3?src=&ft=sk&fn=99
If his name was David, the site would be called davidart.com.
I think David was lying to you. Perhaps you should let him know in your own special way.. that you know.