Ah, an update. A day late, at that. I had a very good reason, mostly to do with potential employment, but that’s for Tumblr.

This post is about going on a quasi-hiatus.

When I set out on this blog, I had no clear idea where I was going with it. It was going to be a personal thing, just like a LiveJournal account, only more public. Still, didn’t know exactly what to do with it, how it could help (or hamper) me, blah blah. I tried doing a photoblog; lasted a week. Tried posting things I found obnoxious or weird; lasted a month, if I remember correctly. It wasn’t until I started to get serious about my writing and reading up on self-marketing–pretty vital if you want to build an audience and attract potential agents and editors–that I got an inkling about my blog’s potential.

I still didn’t quite know what I wanted the blog to do, though. What could I talk about? Did it have to be all about my projects? That might get boring after a while. Maybe I could write about the publishing industry… if I felt like doing all that research on a regular basis. (I don’t have my finger on the pulse of the industry, although I am aware of its alleged death throes and the rise of indie publishing.) In the end, the blog would be just about my opinions on publishing, books, and the like. But it wasn’t enough.

Everything I’d read said that you have to find a niche, you have to update at least once a week, and you have to provide engaging content. Otherwise, you can’t effectively market yourself and get yourself known. As a person of too many interests and ambitions, I have a hard enough time narrowing down my objectives. The fact that I finished two drafts of a sci-fi novel and have had a webcomic running for nearly six months says a lot about my attent–hey, Out At Home updated!

I got updating once a week down, pretty much. As for engaging content and a niche… Well, I got to thinking about it, and I realized that I’ve written a handful of posts I can say I’m truly proud of. Everything else is fluff. It’s led me to wonder if I should bother keeping a weekly blog.

Most of my concentration these days is focused on This Is Johnny, which I’m trying to draw three months ahead of schedule, and a novel. I’m also anticipating steady employment in the future, and that definitely will impact any creative output, hence my feverish drawing and plotting. (Exactly when or if I’ll be employed, I can’t tell you. Academic/government employers like to take their time when it comes to filling out paperwork, it seems. I could very well have won the position but not know anything concrete until a few weeks or months from now.)

I can think of topics to blog about. I just don’t think I can do it on a regular basis. (Honestly, weekly columnists’s habits baffle me. How do they do it consistently?) I’d thought about my niche being “exploring the publishing industry and storytelling in all its various forms while working on my own stories.” That’s doable, but really. How do I prevent my blog from becoming a self-masturbatory journal like all the others out there? How do I stay in my niche without getting bored of it? How can I come up with fresh, mostly unbiased content that doesn’t revolve around my projects or myself?

It’s going to take some careful thought, which I’d rather do while the blog rests quietly.

I’m not giving up this blog. I just won’t be updating it regularly as I’ve had in the past. I’d rather devote my energy to actually doing the projects that are “live” now, and post a single thoughtful and engaging entry for my blog, say, once a month than rush a 500-word entry every week.

So what’s going to happen? I’ll keep the blog up, of course. When I can come up with some worthwhile material for it–be it an essay on publishing trends, personal musings on writing/creating/software, or “portfolio bites” from projects, or even a stupid Disney Afternoon comic recap–I’ll post it here. In the meantime, I’m tweeting practically every day. I’m trying to get into the habit of posting on Tumblr on a regular basis without having to vomit a load of stupid fluff just to get a thousand followers. My new Flickr account will be seeing new pieces as I get around to them. Facebook is confined to friends and family, so don’t expect to see much of that account.

So I’m still around. Just not blogging as usual. With that said, I’ll catch you guys later.

Late last month, she turned for the worst. All the chemo in the world couldn’t save her. She threw up whatever she ate, refused to eat even though she looked longingly at the pieces of cheese my mother-in-law held out for her, and couldn’t go to the bathroom properly. She lied on the couch, head hanging off the cushion. Her breathing was becoming labored.

As I tweeted a few days ago, I wasn’t looking forward to this Sunday. That’s because a few days prior, my in-laws had made the brave decision to have Jody put to sleep on this day. I couldn’t begin to imagine planning such a thing, but then, in the two cases when it happened in my own family, they were quick decisions. There was no planning or second guessing. No chances to wonder if maybe there was another way.

I remember struggling with my own decision to have my beloved cat, Pepper, put to sleep a few years ago. Renal failure stole her health. The strict diet she was on gave us two extra years together. Two painful, anxiety-ridden years. There were days when I wondered if I’d come home from school to find her gone on her blue chair. But as long as she could still move, as long as she could hop into my lap while I worked on my computer, I was happy to have her. The day I made that awful but freeing decision came the day she meowed pitifully at me after I’d come home. Holding her in my lap on the car ride to the vet’s, I knew it was the last ride we’d have together. It was the hardest decision of my life, but to let her go on just so I could have her a bit longer would be selfish.

I told her I loved her countless times as she went limp in my arms.

I had her for nearly eighteen years. Jody’s family had her for twelve.

This Sunday, we all gathered in the family room. My mother-in-law sat on the couch, holding Jody. My father-in-law held her paw. My husband and I held each other as we stood off the side. Seconds after the injection, the light went out in those eyes. “Go to heaven, sweetie,” the vet said softly.

I can’t call myself religious, but it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard a vet say.

So while Jody wasn’t my dog, I was very fond of her. I loved the way she bark-greeted us when we walked past the couch. I loved walking up to the door and seeing her little face in the lower section of the side window. Logically, I’ve prepared myself for this. I continued my projects as usual, spending as much time with her as possible (when I felt like it didn’t cut into my in-laws’ time with her). But now it’s a different matter. I barely got 300 words written in my project, and it took me longer than the usual 2-4 hours to finish a whole TIJ comic.

It just hasn’t been a good day for working is what I’m saying. I just started writing this post the moment I logged in to the site. I’m not going to bother editing it much. The habit-drugged brain is begging for work, but the heart really isn’t into it right now. (And if you think that’s no excuse, I’m going to ask you to kindly go to hell, because you have no place on this blog or in my life.)

Next week won’t see much of an update, either, but it will have do more with the blog itself than any family tragedies (here’s hoping). TIJ will update as usual.

So here’s a list of things I want to do with this blog:

Create new banner

Find more colorful theme

Find better Tumblr widget or a simple icon

For that matter, decide if it’s better to use icons for linking to both Tumblr and Facebook; the Twitter widget can pretty much remain as it is

Create permanent link in menu to webcomic or create “Projects” page

Write more material for “About” page; include better drawing or photo of self

Include more links in the blogroll

As for the webcomic:

Create new banner

Adjust background so it’s lighter

Modify “About” page

Create “Cast” page

Might want to modify archives and RSS feed, too

Include more links in the blogroll

This will keep me busy for… hey, wait, did this thing update itself for Daylight Savings? Because I’m seeing that the draft save time is an hour… off…

Verify that blog settings were set for DST

Not to worry, though. Next Monday is going to be a doozy, what with the entire issue of the next Disney Afternoon comic. More Darkwing fun than you can handle! (I think. He’s on the cover, so I’m assuming it’s yet another DW-centric ish.)

Despite the decided lack of bloggery, I was working in some capacity: drawing concept pages for upcoming storylines in This Is Johnny. Here’s a peek:

If you’ve been reading the comic (AND I KNOW YOU HAVE BEEN, RIGHT?), you’ll know that these three have yet to show up, but the one in the middle should be making his introduction before too long. Say, mid-Marchish, if the next storyline plays out the way I want it to. And the incident portrayed in this image will happen… um.. dunno yet. Let’s say July or onward.

Hooray for sneak previews, even if they’re sketches!

(By the way, did you notice something that the comic in its current state is lacking? A certain something that could put a certain Narrator out of work?…)

It’s kind of odd that this happened. On Mondays, I’m usually trying to figure out what to blog about while trying to write a story at the same time.

I’ll make it up on Saturday: I’ll post a few concept sketches for this novel, and maybe one for another project in the works. Heh, imagine. A writer showing graphics of a non-graphic novel. Because I’m weird that way.

Wednesday and Friday will see the usual TIJ updates.

For now, I think it’s best to update on Mondays and Wednesdays, and keep the other days open for working (and resting after slaving away in the trenches).

Fun stuff coming Monday! I get back on track with a certain comic book series…

I’ll keep them for the laughs, if nothing else. Real post coming later today.

As I heading to the heart of my second draft, I’ve found myself almost neglecting said minor projects. Sure, I’ve more or less been able to regularly update a blog two or three times a week. But the one project that’s always at the front of my mind is my novel. I’m still jotting down details to add to this draft and subsequent drafts (I’m no fool; a novel of this length is going to require maybe at least four or five rewrites). I keep thinking of scenes to delete, better dialogue, and how to write my query letter. I’m looking for better research material.

If I didn’t actually have to, you know, go out and live, I’d let this project consume my whole being. The worst it consumes are my morning hours, which are the best time for me to write. And once I open that file and start typing, I’m in the zone. No other project matters.

Eh, a lot of writers do the same thing when they’re working on a story. So I don’t feel too bad about it. But the point I’m getting at is that I’m not going to be updating this blog as much until… well, let’s say this novel is close to being finished. I’ll do my best to update on Mondays with sketches, general blatherings, and ohmygodohshit maybe even actual snippets from my novel in progress!

So stay tuned, bookbrains. I’ll entertain you all yet!

The only light in this situation is that I’m more motivated than ever to find another job. But at the same time, I just want to mope before I even think about sending my resumé out again.

Obviously, with the storm coming this way, I probably won’t be able to post Friday. So I’ll come up with something short and sweet on Monday.

Bwuh. I don’t want to do this…