I'm a writer first, a cartoonist second. Maybe third. Comicking didn't come naturally to me.

[dolari]

I'm a writer first, a cartoonist second. Maybe third. Comicking didn't come naturally to me.

I didn't think myself a very good writer, and felt that it would be easier to draw the descriptions, and focus on dialogue, which I think I'm rather good at. So using the Robotech series and the comics from that, I taught myself to draw. Everyone's always told me I have a talent, and I should exploit it. And I tried.

I managed to finagle my way into a comic company for year or so and pitch a few stories. None were taken, but one was "massaged" into something I wasn't happy with and withdrew it.

It was the Sit Down Talk that dashed that career. One of the comic company folks sat me down, and told me I didn't have the talent for comics, and should go find something better. In hindsight, I agree. I wasn't ready - I was a writer, not an artist. There was a brief attempt to get into TV writing, but that too went nowhere (I tried again, just last year, and while I was in the top 20% of BBC Transcomedy Award winners, I wasn't one of the win-winners).

I'm deep into a career in technical support. I actually don't like doing it - I'm just very good at it. I do my online comics as a way to tell my stories. But I'm very slow. And it's taken 13 years to tell 66% of Closetspace and 75% of AWFW. I have so many other stories I want to tell. A man who lives 2000 years. Another forced to fight a way he hates. Han'a's lost tribe. The few writing projects I have moved forward on are stalled due to personal issues. The main reason I have the Deninet "Vault" is just so I can get those scraps read, instead of stagnating in a cabinet or hard drive somewhere.

And instead, I go to work, answer calls for eight hours, go to bed too early, and scribble on paper every so often to make a comic.

I turn 40 this year. My life is roughly half-over. I want to spend that next 40 writing and drawing. And I'd rather not be that person who, years after their death, has an entire cabinet full of stories and novels that were never published.

The question is. Where do I start? Or where do I restart?

All this because I'm dissatisfied in my career, and I don't want to go to work in the morning.

Comments

[amw.livejournal.com]

Yanno, for ages i kept beating myself up that i wasn't spending more time writing music, or just plain writing, or whatever. I'd feel bad whenever i spent a weekend marathoning TV shows or going out dancing to techno instead of making it... Then just recently i realized it doesn't matter. There may be songs or stories or other creative things all tied up in me somewhere, but if i don't get them all out it's not the end of the world. I'm still enjoying my life in between. I think you really have a talent for writing, but i still think you're an interesting and fun person whether i get to hear all your stories or not. It doesn't matter if you are prolific, it doesn't matter if you are successful. Write when you want to, draw when you want to, and don't stress about how you compare to the next guy. Work sucks and that's a given (for everyone!), but as long as you are having fun outside of work there's really nothing to worry about.