With apologies to Dave the Thune
(as well as Mike Baron & Steve Rude).
WRITING:
Every day. 1000 words.
That’s the goal.
But sometimes, the goal needs to be
set aside. One of the things that has
pushed me with my writing is that feeling of irritability I get when I go a few
days without writing. And this isn’t
something I notice, consciously—at least, not for quite a few years. It would take me those few days to notice
that I was snapping in frustration at things that did not merit such a
response. I’d then roll through reasons
for this, eventually falling on the fact that I hadn’t written anything for a
number of days, realizing that was the crux of my frustrations. Greg Rucka expressed a similar sentiment at a
convention panel I attended a number of years back, and that was the lightbulb
that clued me into this aspect of myself, but it’s still taken me years to lock
onto that lack of writing as the basis of my crappy mood, at the top of my
internal Google search. So, it was odd
that I was feeling that same sense of frustration a few weeks back, since this
year has been my most productive, as far as hitting my daily goal. I’d only taken three days off from writing
all of 2015, at the mid-point of April.
I’m not one who balks at pressure—I
tend to relish it. But I was feeling the
pressure of needing to keep on my writing streak. So, I took a break to recharge, to read some,
to watch some TV, to just take it easy.
And it felt good. Ultimately, it
only ended up being two days off from writing, but that’s what it took, because
by the third day the voices were sliding around in my brain again, begging to
be let out. And that’s what I did. I jumped back on the horse and started
writing.
Best piece of advice I’ve ever
heard on being a writer—which I’ve read in numerous places and mentioned
multiple times here—is that one needs to write.
But you also need balance.
READING:
Finished up Tom Sawyer this week. What
more can I say? It’s a classic, and there’s
a reason for that. The characters, the
dialogue, Twain’s way with words, it all works fantastically. Glad I finally took the plunge.
As for comics, I’ve been wading in
nostalgia over the past couple years, and it’s been great. Not that there aren’t comics being made today
that don’t interest me, but there aren’t many that necessitate my seeking them
out upon publication—most of them I’m fine reading in collected form, long
after they’ve hit the stands (the prime exceptions are Ed Brubaker’s book, Velvet
& The Fade Out, and the upcoming Providence from Alan Moore
& Jacen Burrows). But the pile next
to the bed has included early issues of G.I. Joe, Suicide Squad
(Ostrander et al.), and, lately, The Badger. I started reading Baron & Butler’s Badger a few years back, when I put
together a full run of the book, across all its publishers, but I stopped at
some point around the mid-30s. But with
my hankering for 80s comics, to really excite my inner child, I picked it up
again from the start, and it’s been a great ride. This book is crazy, in that it doesn’t follow
anything resembling a “traditional” take on superheroes. It’s not just the Badger, who suffers from
multiple-personality disorder, or his supporting cast, which includes a
500-year-old wizard, but it’s the plots that Mike Baron and his artistic
collaborators conceive—an adventure seeking out a truffle hunting pig, an issue
where the Badger rides a buffalo in search of a rampaging rhino, and other “out
of left field” concepts. It basks in the
glory of being a comic book, which makes it such a fun book to read. If you like your superheroes a bit
off-center, you should definitely dig into the back issue bins for these books.
WATCHING:
So, everyone was going on about
Daredevil on Netflix (did anyone find any
fault with the show?), which led me to head back to Central City and catch up
with Barry Allen, The Flash! I watched the
big time travel story—comprised of “Out of Time” and “Rogue Time”—which had
people going crazy on the internet about a month and a half ago. And they were great. I go into more detail at this post here, but these two episodes really leveled up this series for me, and I’m back on
board until the season finale. The
creators are infusing so many concepts from the comic books into this series,
while tweaking others, and it all works so well for me. And the brightness of the show and the
positive outlook of the character of Barry Allen just adds to much to it, and
is the right comic book TV series for me, right now. It’s the difference between the real
take on these over-the-top characters so often taken in both film and comics
today, and this aspirational take, which is what I want from my superheroes and
leads right back to why I’ve been reading so many comics from my
childhood. Not that you can’t have
brooding, serious characterizations (especially for heroes like Batman or
Daredevil), but you need to have variety (hear that, DC comics?) in order to
not just appeal to a broader audience, but also to better define these
characters—because if they are all “grim ‘n gritty” how can you tell them
apart? (other than their four-color
costumes)
MISCELLANY:
Put down a stone walkway at the house
this weekend. (homeowner win) I need to make them flush with the
ground. But that’s for another
weekend. (let’s not get ahead of
ourselves here)
SIGN OFF:
As always, check out my friends – Brad& Matt and Darren Smith (with Bryan Young on accompaniment, when he’s
available) and Don McMillan, as well as
Dan’s foray into podcastdom, the Potato League Podcast, for their own weekly recaps on things comic-y and
geeky, and we'll see what's what in seven.
-chris
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