Several hiatuses at once, apparently
Yep I’ve been inactive, creativity-wise…and actually reading the last thing I wrote here, whoo that’s a bit maudlin. Well, these days I’m a lot better, but instead of going the “okay! I’m going to create things again!” route, I appear to have gone the “you know, maybe it doesn’t bother me if I don’t create things” route.
I appreciate the concern and appreciation of those of you who had written things here. Thanks. I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the last few months thinking about…oh, the point of it all, I guess. Creatively I think I’ve historically been driven by a need to be heard, to be appreciated, and to get an audience; but I’m coming around to the question, do I really need to? And I’m kinda thinking no. Which for me, in terms of the typical turmoil in my head, is a good thing, because the turmoil’s been pretty calm lately, and I’m thinking of my life less as stresses I create to force myself in certain directions, and more as taking myself in directions because I feel like it.
So I really feel like I let myself down, as far as SpinnWebe is concerned — for a while I had a pretty good audience, and if I had more tenacity I probably could’ve held on to it. So when I think about A1AAA or AV1D or any other number of projects I half-started or barely started or didn’t start, it generally makes me feel guilty, but I still don’t get it done. So I’m trying to shift to not feeling guilty about it anymore. Kinda sucks for those of you who want to see those things happen, but really this is a major step towards happiness for me.
Though having said that, I drew about five Scribs tonight so I can try to get that last arc finished, at least. And I’ve been thinking more frequently about getting back to the podcast, though I’m requiring myself to think of a way to make it actually interesting first. But I’m letting that come to me on its own terms, no pressure.
June 12th, 2011 14:53
Great entry, my good man. Glad to hear things are moving forward for you. Almost makes me feel bad for bustin’ ya on not updating the site… almost.
And if KBA goes back up and running, I’ll be tuning in.
June 13th, 2011 12:03
Nice to see something from you again. I know I’ll keep checking in for whatever comes up.
June 14th, 2011 19:59
Greg,
I think creativity is a younger man’s game. At 41 I find it much harder to sit down and bang out a good comic or even a single illustration. I still dabble a bit but the moments of inspiration are fewer and further between. I am too content with other thing, I guess… seems like this is about me…
June 16th, 2011 16:09
I kinda thought it was elegant how Spinn set up A1AAA (and earlier incarnations) to use editors to do the bulk of the ongoing work.
I imagine all that traffic to the website must have been expensive.
June 16th, 2011 17:35
Well that’s the thing! I have a new structure in mind that would mean the community, for the most part, edits captions themselves, and they don’t even know. But I just haven’t really had the motivation to actually get that code together.
June 19th, 2011 11:51
At the risk of sounding smarmy, just keep on doing what you want to do– if it’s something the rest of us can enjoy, we’ll enjoy it when you bring it out. No pressure, just keep being awesome.
June 21st, 2011 07:56
I like your ‘place’ because it is/was a nice little island where a bunch of presumably smart people congregated to say what ever the hell they wanted. Nucleated by your example. So, just do what ever the hell you want. …doh. Nyder just said that. Ah, well. ditto.
July 6th, 2011 15:46
Yeah, ditto Nyder’s missive.
Although, I’m kinda glad to see amusing.org is pumping out some stuff now. I have a circle of friends who used to see if we could get entries in there. We would occasionally chat about them. They do not give you much by way of feedback, but I try to occasionally drop a line.
Honestly, I wish I could get some motivation to do something on a regular basis that might amuse people, so I get it.
July 25th, 2011 14:29
Know Your Meme: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/dysfunctional-family-circus
July 29th, 2011 00:30
WHOA. I was reading through that for nostalgia’s sake, and come to find they’re using a graphic that I (crudely) made and featured on an old website of mine. It says “No, Mr. Keane. I expect you to die.”
However, that’s not what matters. The context in which that graphic is placed indicates that it was made out of protest against Bil Keane. That is highly untrue – the graphic was posted well before the sledgehammer was dropped on DFC. It just happened to be one of my favorite captions, so I placed it with the appropriate panel and made a cheap picture in MS Paint.
The old site in question is here: thecheesemaster.tripod.com … it’s a horribly outdated page, but to see the original graphic of the one they’re using, scroll right to the bottom. Booyah.
August 2nd, 2011 11:45
Wow. So I haven’t checked this thing in like over a year and now that I’ve come back there’s less than a page of new updates. Ah well. Can I humbly suggest instead of agonizing over this project and that, being creative, writing a blog, etc. you simply shove it all into one place? You have your little ol’ website, and sometimes there’s a written piece, sometimes a little doodle, sometimes a picture people can submit captions for, whatever you’re feeling at the time. It can all be archived under it’s proper category, but if it’s something that’s kinda like something else, but really more it’s own thing (like a comic, but not Scribs, or whatever) it simply goes in the section that is near enough to it. If you get enough of like things they can have their own, special group. Also every now and again you could just throw an old classic up, like say a Zweckloser Bloddsin (however that was spelled, it’s been a while). Things could change at your will, no pressure to update any particular thing with any regularity. You can throw out new ideas with reckless abandon, try stuff out at will, and people will feel like they get their money’s worth (hehe). But then again what do I know? I’m not on the ol’ intarwebs much anymore. I’m prolly the only college student in the universe who feels like it’s a time suck that gets in my way.
If nothing else it’s not like you’re the only one who’s abandoned the audience. Look at your link list, the whole of Ruffianidom has disappeared. 2002 was so long ago. Nostalgic sigh.
November 11th, 2011 15:26
Bil Keane has now joined his parents as creepy ghosts that only children can see. Goodnight, sweet prince.