DC Conspiracy[dots pattern]

8.11.2005

Here's the Thing... #8 - Stop Wasting Time

Last time, on Here’s the Thing…

I’m following up Matt’s article from this week. I have this crazy feeling that, despite how different our approaches are, we’re going to meet up at the exact same place. Which would be awesome when we publish our flip-book.

Scheduling is indeed important, even if you don’t have a book to put out yet. If you’re just hustling and trying to get your book put together, it’s important that you impose deadlines on yourself, on your day to day, fall into a routine. I kind of look at my own schedule – I do the Hoarse & Buggy stuff (which is pretty time consuming), I try to get books put together when inspiration strikes, I have my website which I write a lot for every week, I’m taking free-lance gigs, I edit my friends’ stuff and I work my 9-5 (which is more like a 9-7). And I get the question all of the time, “Where do you find the time?”

A lot of people think I have no life; I know this because they told me this. But no, that’s not it. I go out four or five nights a week, have the girlfriend, the friends, and the borderline alcohol problem. I go away for entire weekends and leave the computer home. I go to the gym, I cook, I clean, I play fetch with my dog and I occasionally spend an hour unwinding in the coffee shop. And I get about six hours of sleep a night.

The thing is, I give myself about one to two hours every Monday through Thursday and at least two hours every Saturday and Sunday (when I’m home) to create. I never work on Friday unless we have a hard deadline. But it’s the whole falling into a routine that matters.

Prioritizing your time. A couple of months ago I used to post on the Bendis board, Isotope board, Digital Webbing, Scryptic Studios, The Cult and occasionally stopped by Newsarama and SPA. A couple of months ago, I wasn’t getting shit done. And I know comics are 95% networking and when you’re not at cons, you do most of your networking online. But here’s the thing – the more time you spend actually creating and putting something out there – the more people that will come to you instead of you looking for them.

The website is great – it allows you to put out brand new content everyday – you just need to know how to use it properly. People aren’t going to come to you every single day to hear you rant about the comic industry. No one cares. I’m surprised people are reading this article weekly. As a writer or an artist, you need to show that you can write or illustrate something sellable.

Tell stories. Daily. How many comic writers make their living writing comics about comics? So why should you write about comics, you’re a writer. Writers write about life, not somebody else’s interpretation of it. And not fan fiction or science fiction novellas – write something accessible and quick. Something someone can read in five minutes and want more.

If you’re an artist, make a sketch blog – update it every day or so, just a warm up sketch. Something that shows that you are consistent, hard-working and always creating. Draw a range of genres - super-hero, humor, western, comedy – draw in different styles, using different tools. Catch your audience off guard every once and a while.

And they will come. And what’s better, in the end? Networking with people on somebody else’s forum or networking on your own?

Prioritize your time. Sit down every night and create. Don’t go on message boards. Don’t send emails. Turn off AIM. Put your cell phone on silent. And create something and show it to the world as soon as it’s done. Not only will you create a fanbase (provided you’re good at it) but you’ll also grow, immensely, over time.

And then, when you put your project together (a project that will be better than anything you might have written a year ago) and go to talk to a publisher – the publisher may already know you. The publisher may be a fan. I think that’s a much better position to be in than having a cover letter, synopsis and sample packet.

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I’m going to take next week off from this article, I need to build up some new articles. Quality over quantity, know what I’m saying?

Jason at 11:07 PM  |  link to this     

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