G A N Z E E R . T O D A Y

journal

A couple hours after the sense of release/relief following the completion of the TSG chapter that precedes the very last, I started to think about the work ahead: The next and final chapter in THE SOLAR GRID.

According to script and thumbs, the last chapter is a 50-page beast. Between pencils, inks, and letters, we're looking at an average of 3 days per page, and that's if I work fast and assuming no pages require color, but there are in fact quite a few that do. In fact in fact, some even require what might best be described as ill-advised mixed media madness that I'm not entirely sure I can adequately assess the time it would need to make before trying to work on one or two such pages first. Which means we can be sure that 3 pages a day is way too optimistic and things will probably not work out that way. But even if we were to make use of this ludicrously optimistic calculation, we would be looking at 150 days of work. Five months basically, and that's if I work weekends and take on no other projects whatsoever, however small.

This is a terribly depressing realization and wholly unrealistic. I can't not have this chapter finished before year's end, I just can't. I will kill myself. The only logical thing to do at this point would be to go back to script and thumbs, see if there's anything I can cut or at least compress. And perhaps do without any unpredictable visual experiments that could potentially multiply execution time, no matter how strong the creative itch is. I really shouldn't spend more than three months on the thing, so that means I need to see if I can bring the page-count down to 30. That's a lot of fucking cutting and compressing.

Shit.

On a completely different note, I have done absolutely nothing towards this week's newsletter which typically goes out every other Friday at 11:59 pm. It is now 9:45 pm.

Fml.

#journal #comix #tsg

Ooof.

Okay, off to New York for a few days.

#journal #tsg

You know you're stressed when all your rules concerning carb intake are out the window.

Good morning.

#journal

I'm sure I will regret this 11:00pm coffee, but I need to push to get this chapter in the can.

It's true what they say, the last 10% of any project is always the hardest. No idea who “they” are, but I'm pretty sure it's a thing.

#journal #work #comix #tsg #resistdystopia

“Why are you so tired, daddy?”

Well, Mr. Moony, I was working all day today, and the work is still not finished, and I have so much more work to do still.

“Are you gonna work while I sleep?”

Probably.


“Why do old people die, daddy?”

Well... because they've been alive for so long, their body's been working so long, and after so many years of their body working, everything gets real tired; their heart gets tired, their chest gets tired, their tummies get tired, their legs get tired, and their eyes get tired, and their heads too. Everything gets so tired to the point where it's ready to say, All done, bye now.

Laughter, and then: “Are we gonna die soon?”, asked with a smile and a trail of laughter still.

Hopefully not you, Moony, because you're still very young.

“But you're gonna die soon.” The voice of conclusion, not a question.

Sooner than most, I think, but hopefully not too soon.

He then nodded in silence and after a beat or two changed the subject before drifting off to sleep.

#journal #moony

Promised myself I wouldn't travel until the entire TSG is in the can, but this chapter has genuinely sapped the lifeforce out of me and I think a recharge is very much in order. Considering fucking off for a few days as soon as its wrapped. Either Mexico City or NYC, can't decide. Mexico City is closer, more my vibe, and kinder on the wallet. I do know more people in New York though, some of whom I haven't seen in a couple years.

#work #TSG #comix #journal

Another day of surviving on a mere three hours sleep after awaking at 3:00am for no good reason. Orders dropped off at post office though, and a quick visit to the lab for bloodwork checked off (I'm rather particular about my health and try to get tested fairly regularly). These are now the very last remaining copies of THE SOLAR GRID #1 in existence:

Cover for the print edition of #9 underway today.

#work #comix #TSG #journal

Ordered by accident and almost tempted to keep it just for the terrible mis-registration on this copy's print job. Snooping around online and I'm not seeing any publicly available evidence of anyone else having come across such a terribly misprinted copy.

Almost want to send a picture directly to Dan Clowes just to ruin his day/week/life. But no, what good would that do without getting to see the look on his face?

#journal #reads

“Siphonophores are colonial marine organisms made up of specialised but genetically identical units, zooids, that undertake different functions, such as feeding or reproduction. The best-known species is the Portuguese man o'war, which resembles a large jellyfish but is actually seven different kinds of zooid that cooperate so that the colony acts like a single organism.”

From Paul McAuley's THE SECRET OF LIFE.

I note that he does the thing that I love when its done in fiction: including actual non-fiction knowledge. Chuck Palahniuk will almost always slide a little nugget of knowledge in his novels (i.e. how soap is made in FIGHT CLUB or how long it takes to choke in CHOKE, and I think there was something about airplanes or bodybuilding or both in SURVIVAL). This strikes me as an essential function of storytelling: using story to ever so slyly act as a vector for knowledge. It isn't the only function, but it seems to be one of several essential functions. It is after all a tradition as old as time itself. The oldest story known to humankind, THE EPIC OF GILGAMESH, lets it be known that wood obtained from Cedar trees is ideal for shipbuilding (and indeed, the oldest known surviving boat, excavated in Egypt, is built out of Cedar). The myth of Osiris contains mumification instructions. Story is carrier wave for philosophical pondering, parable, moral compass tuning, and factual knowledge. Drama is, for the most part, a really great delivery system.

At least that's how I like it.

#journal #reads #story

STATUS:

Awoke at 2:30 am for no good reason. It is now noon and I am dead and delirious, but I know not how to sleep during the day so I will continue to be dead and delirious till sundown. This always happens whenever I'm close to finishing a big thing, any big thing.

Trying to wriggle away from TSG for just an hour or two to tend to a few other things, but the Grid has me firmly in its grip right now.

Thoroughly enjoying Paul McAuley's SECRET OF LIFE in the very short reading breaks I manage to steal every now and again.

Now that I have fully shaken off the incessant doom-scrolling of all social media by not being on it at all, I am now more active on RESTRICTED.ACADEMY again, catching up on some fantastic threads that go back a couple years (!) but also starting a few new ones. Some of my favorites are:

#journal #work