I lied.

I know.   I know.
I lied.
I said I was going to post more.  But I didn't.
Then later, I said I would post more.
And again, I didn't.
Now I've gone about a month with no post.
I'm sorry.

At my birthday, which was recent, I looked at all of the projects I had floating around.
There are a lot.

I have a picture book of the Soft Ninja I want to do.
I have a distopian novel I started.
I have a children's novel I started.
I have two separate concept musical albums I've been wanting to record.
I have sketches I've written that I want to record.
I have poems I've written that I want to compile into a book.

The list actually goes on for a while.

The thing is, every couple of months I realize all of the projects I've begun, but abandoned.  When a project gets hard I start a new one because starting is so much easier than finishing.

But when I hit my most recent birthday I made a promise to myself.  I told myself I would not do anything else until I finished one of these projects.  A specific project, truth be told.  One of my oldest open projects: the children's novel.

So I've been writing.  I am making progress.  But it is slow.  It is hard.  The desire to cry is my partner.  In fact, by writing this blog post I am breaking my promise to do nothing else.

But I am going back to it now.  I don't know how long it will be.  I will not come back to this blog until the first draft of the book is complete.  But when I do return, I will have authored a book.

Even if the book sucks it will be a huge accomplishment for me.

I really hope it doesn't suck.

Submission Declined

So, update:

I submitted my first short to Frederator Studios for consideration as an Internet short animation.  It was declined.  I have to say, I agree with every reason they rejected it.  In fact, as I was reading it I kept thinking to myself, “STUPID! Why did you do that?”  lol

It is what it is.  A failure is a wonderful learning experience.  Unlike just about anyone else in any other medium who has denied my work – and I’ve been denied by some of the very best in many mediums – Frederator actually took the time to tell me why they were denying me.  That’s what’s called Constructive Criticism.  I’m looking at you, Poetry Magazine.

Years ago the webzine Ideomancer also gave me really good advice for a short story I submitted.  Back then I was an idiot and refused to take the editor’s advice and alter my story.  Who knows what could have happened if I had.  But aside from that editor and the people/person at Frederator who reviewed my idea, most places give you nothing.  Some don’t even give you a rejection.

What Frederator gave me was not just one thing, but many things I need to consider.  It’s much more than I could post here without going way into detail about the idea I suggested.  I may do it in the future as a “How Not To” guide.  But for now I’m gonna ruminate on their advice and see if I can work up another of my ideas into a story that is more in line with what Frederator is looking for.

Sigh.  I’m gonna go cry in a corner for about 15 minutes.  Then I’ll grow up and start fresh.

Here’s a pic of a goblin stippling project I’m working on.  I’ll drown my sorrows in lots of dots.

Project Progress

Progress

Ok, I’ve made some progress on some projects that I never told you about.  So here goes:

I finally finished the Dark Link sword that I told my son I would paint.

Actually, I’m not technically done.  I’m done enough that Cole is satisfied, but I’d like to add some silver trim to the handle.

I did this Elvis Costello cup:

And I am about to finally finish a beat sheet for an animation called Survival Shorts.  I’ve been tossing the idea around in my head for the last three years or so.  Then last month I saw that Frederator Studios – producers of cartoons like: Adventure Time, Bee and Puppycat, Fairly Odd Parents and Bravest Warriors – were accepting animation ideas.  So I thought, why not.  I could submit this little toon.  I’m not doing anything with it.  And who knows? I might be able to submit some pics of it later.

I know that NONE of these accomplishment were on the open projects list, but that’s how things go with me.  I’m awful.  You need to know this.