White-Rose-Brian

It is unfortunately typical for me to take a long time to get to sleep at night as I lie in bed.  In recent days, however, I have often had even more difficulty with getting to sleep.  I’ve had many thoughts running through my mind well into the wee hours of the morning. 

Most recently, I thought long and hard yet again about which comics I want to focus upon in the coming year. 

After revising and rewriting the first string of chapters in Strong Woman several times I lost all motivation to work on it.  I do wonder if I approached the concept from the entirely wrong angle.  I’m not even a fan of pro wrestling—I just thought it would make for an interesting launching pad for a graphic novel.  The story that developed ballooned into a long, multi-volume affair.  It’s likely that Ximena Ortega will either have a smaller-scale story of her own or have a smaller role in a larger one. 

I know that many of you are fans of the masked Mexican pro wrestler.  That’s one reason why I decided to sleep on that choice.   I apologize to those who are disappointed.  Ultimately, this might be for the best.  I did gain experience as I kept on working on writing and revising and rewriting and planning and plotting and sketching.  I don’t dismiss that experience at all.  I can always take a few basic ideas from one story and transplant them into the next.

With what I have been thinking, feeling, and expressing lately, I’ve wondered if I should in fact focus on a story designed to explore magic, mysticism, and nature alongside the joys, sorrows, and occasional terrors of mundane life.  Moreover, I’ve begun to think that instead of trying to create one grand sweeping story I should simply focus on a string of “novellas” (or single-volume stories) that nonetheless build upon each other.  That type of story could very well be the type of project that could more easily hold my attention and passion for eight to nine years. 

I very well might turn back towards the story of the penguin and the druidess.  If you’ve followed me before, you might feel whiplash from my inability to make up my mind for long.  I suppose that’s something that I have to learn with experience.  I suppose I have to learn where I can truly devote my time and energy.   To spoof a phrase from Walt Disney, it could indeed all be started by a penguin. 

I do hope that I’ll find the time and energy to work on the Penguin of Alfheim (a working title which would refer to Pengee and the fictional sub-Antarctic island where he was born).  Please send prayers and good wishes on my behalf.