Remember This Part
I’ve been working on a secret project (I know — that’s such an annoying thing to say) just about every night for the past couple of months. I typically spend four-seven hours on it in the evenings and get to bed between midnight and two. Then I get up at six, work for an hour or so, then get ready for my day job. It’s been a storm of researching and writing and sketching and drawing and inking and scanning and touching up and coloring and doing lots of things multiple times. Talking to printers, doing a bunch of math. Demoing.
At about one in the morning a few nights ago, I woke up my wife Karina to show her some progress. As I was clicking through files and hearing her feedback and suggestions (which I take about 95% of the time, by the way), I mentioned that the bulk of the hard work was done and how awesome it was going to be to get it out in the world.
She said, “That’s great, but remember this part. Coming up with everything and working on this stuff is so fun for you. This part is important.”
Of course she’s so right. It’s not about having had done something or having had made something. Anyway, that’s really weird grammar. It’s about making something and doing something. Ah, the simplicity and… presence… of present tense.
That’s the part we’re supposed to love, right? The journey or whatever? Somebody should make a poster about this. It’s the journey, not the… etc. etc. etc.
Conversation with a corpse:
“What do you do?”
“I made comics, I wrote stories, I built apps, I danced.”
Conversation with a living person:
“What do you do?”
“I make comics, I write stories, I build apps, I dance.”
This idea is neither new nor original. But apparently it’s super necessary to repeat and repeat and refresh and refresh the sentiment. Because when Karina said remember this part, it was a re-blast of re-realization and re-awareness. It’s not about the projects you have out. It’s about the act of creating. That’s where the joy is. That’s where the fulfillment is. That’s where you’re doing what you love. I’m neeever this skin-crawlingly earnest, so I really mean it. Oh, GOD. I’m writing one of those motivational posts about the creative process, aren’t I?
Click here to buy my six-week course on creating the life you want. Act now and receive a bottle of mind-sharpening supplements with micro-vita-nodules!
If you’re just in it for a book release or a launch party, you’re chasing recognition and celebrity. That might get you a show on Bravo (oh, how biting), but if acclaim doesn’t come to you, you will not be a happy corpse.
I’m not saying — not by any means — that it’s enough to for me to write something or draw something and tuck it away in a filing cabinet. I’m not there yet, and I most likely never will be. I want you to see this stuff.
But I am going to try harder to remember this part. And I hope you will too.
