It will travel at a speed of one hour per hour, one day per day. Once you begin reading this entry, it is already over. When I started writing it, the events outlined below had already taken place. And once you reach the end of this entry, you will be catapulted back in time to the next one. At the end of that entry, it will happen again. And again. And so on. Read far enough and you will watch me fold up into the person I used to be. See the things I used to do. The relationships I used to have. You can watch me scrape graphite off paper with a pencil. Un-type the words I’ve written. Un-say, the things I’ve said. Un-be the person I am.

Blogging is temporally recursive.

Perhaps, this is why I don’t blog as often as I could. I am a forward-looking person and anxious for what might or will happen. I’m fearful and sometimes embarrassed of the past and it’s easier to keep my eyes on that which I can still affect.

Today is February 3, 2009 and I have not written a personal blog entry in many months.

A lot has happened, so I’ll skip the detail-work and do this in broad strokes:

The big news… Joanna broke up with me. I’m single now. She and I are still good friends and there are no hard feelings, but for obvious reasons it is more comfortable for us to keep our distance from each other. It was a good four years.

…And that’s it. There’s really no more to say. The details are personal, sparse and frankly uninteresting. I won’t be offended if you ask for more, but how forthcoming I will be depends upon my mood. And condolences are not necessary — the traumatic moments have passed and the world is looking new and shiny to me.

Beyond that, the holidays were mostly painless. My aunt, uncle and cousin came into town from DC and it’s always great to see them. The best part, however, was spending some time with my brother. We have never been very close, but that’s slowly changing. We have a lot more in common than we ever realized. Perhaps we just didn’t see it, but the more likely scenario is that we didn’t allow ourselves to see it. And perhaps, I’m projecting my own hang-ups and saying “we” when I should be saying “I”.

My company, Turnstyle Creative, turned four years old yesterday and business has been great. I feel like the only person in the world that is thriving in this economic MELTDOWN-PANIC-WTF-AAHHH-RUN-WE’RE-ALL-GONNA-DIE. Can’t explain why. We just got lucky with the timing. Lots of big, fun, lucrative projects in the queue. Things are truly the best they’ve ever been.

That said, I am obviously concerned things could take a turn for the worse. As the rest of the world crumbles, chances are something heavy will land on us. So, I’m taking steps to bring as much new business into the office as possible and, unfortunately, I have to make some time sacrifices on the comics front…

I’m pushing back the release of LACKLUSTER WORLD #6 and #7. My intention was to release #6 in time for S.P.A.C.E. in April, but that’s is no longer the case. The new release date is undetermined, but rest assured I am still working hard on them. I simply won’t be beating myself up to complete them for a self-imposed deadline. And while I’m on the subject… I’m just not willing to sacrifice quality again. I’ve done that with the past 3 or 4 issues and it irks me to no end. I intend to enjoy these last two issues. In a way, it is my long goodbye to these characters. The scripts are written and every time I read them in reference to what I’m drawing, I’m a little sad. In a way, they are already gone.

Anyway, I will still have some new items for S.P.A.C.E.. REFLECTION came out last Autumn, but it’ll be new to the S.P.A.C.E. crowd and, of course, the infamous JESUS & TALKING BEAR shirts. I’m also contemplating a S.P.A.C.E.-only LW mini-comic of some kind. We’ll see.

On the whole, I’m trying to make wiser and more constructive use of my time — vanquishing laziness without vanquishing fun.

So, I bought a violin! I just had this overwhelming urge to suck at something. Kidding. About the urge part. Not the suck part. I definitely suck at it.

My only lessons have come from YouTube, but I intend to take ‘real’ lessons with a personal instructor this Spring. For now, I’m keeping things very wax-on-wax-off as I learn the motions, build calluses, learn to read sheet music, etc.

Overall, I’m happy! I believe I’m at my best when I feel challenged, so I’m challenging myself to learn new skills, improve myself, meet new people, test myself, set demanding goals, experience new things, LIVE A LITTLE A LOT.

So… I hope that one day I’ll find this entry as it travels towards the future. Across the years between now and then, I will stare my future self in the eye and share this valuable advice: “Watch for the future, admire the past, but live in the present.”

And my future self will nod and reply, “And don’t you forget it. Good luck.”

So, why do I perspire. Gather my little ones and I shall tell all. The times have been challenging, but not hard in the least…

The economy is bad, okay, I get that. The past 10 days sure don’t seem that way to me though. My business (TURNSTYLE CREATIVE) is experienceing a surge of new projects from both new and existing clients that is downright astonishing. Great projects too.

I want to start posting some of my graphic design work on here as I finish it. I never think to do that.

LACKLUSTER WORLD is still in motion. Issues #6 and #7 have taken form. They cap off the end of the series with a rock solid finale and an elegant denouement that I almost feel like I didn’t write, rather found. I am so excited for them and thankfully it will never feel finished to me until I see it in print. Still aiming for January and April release dates.

Meanwhile, Joanna and I have been working on a secret project over the past few months. I wrote the script writing, she’s penciling/inking and I’m doing the tones (markers and some mixed media). It’s a little one shot book with a limited run. We plan to release it as part of our convention double header at BALTIMORE COMICON and MID OHIO CON in about seven weeks. We’ll post some art soon.

I wrote a hell of a lot this Summer: Three graphic novel scripts in progress, some novel outlining, new additions to a certain comics column that needs polishing, and a queue of real content filled blog entries lined up. Been holding off on posting/releasing stuff until I redesigned Eric Adams Dot Net and SURPRISE! It’s redesigned. Well, mostly. It’s not the bees knees, but it works for now. I need to flesh out the pages with content. 

In between all of this madness, I’ve been forcing myself to read or watch a movie/tv episode regularly. I’ve found that the more writing I take in, the more I can put out.  Currently, I’m sludging my way through BATTLE ROYALE (the novel, not the manga) and I just got my hands on a copy of SNOW CRASH.  I had listened to the first 30 minutes of SNOW CRASH in audiobook form and was so engaged I stopped and bought a hard copy — It deserves my full reading attention.

I finished Y: THE LAST MAN too.  What a standout comic. I cried my eyes out in that last issue. I don’t know that a comic has ever made me cry before that. It was a manly cry of course.

Speaking of fluids coming out of my face… It’s time to sweat again. I’ll bottle some and save it for you.

Dear Sir/Madam,

Let’s cut through it.

I desire the position you desire to fill.

At the risk of sounding over-confident, I assure you my confidence is not ‘over’ and, well, here goes:

Among all the other candidates in the little stack before you, it is very likely that I am the most resourceful, the most efficient, the most organized, the highest skilled with the highest number of useful skills and mostly punctual. I say ‘mostly punctual’ because –let’s be honest– no one is perfect and if I have a fault it’s that I might be in 15 minutes late a day each week.

I have a degree in graphic design and while I do not refuse to share that information, I have consciously chosen to not include it on my enclosed resume. Frankly, believing there is any worth in weighing education against candidates for a graphic design position is nonsense as any design professional can tell you that one year of real experience is worth five years in college. I have ten years of experience.

To that end I have enclosed what really counts– my portfolio. One look through it is all you should need to make your decision, and in the unlikely event you feel my work doesn’t make the cut, I suspect it will at least impress you. That is, if my candor has not already.

Good luck in your search.

Sincerely,

Eric Adams

- Lackluster World #4 will go to the printers next week.

- Once it’s out of my hands and in the printers, I’ll be posting a preview online, sending out review copies, all that jazz.

- My studio is lined with artwork taped to the walls.

- I’m almost 28 years old now. Hm.

- Watching (or just listening) to television series via the Internets is quite fun while drawing.

- Plane tickets for San Diego Comic Con are purchased. I’m not setting up, but I will be in attendance.

- This video makes me happy:

That’s not to be taken as ‘woe is me’ or ‘someone please help’. Point in fact, I am perfectly okay. Busy and poor, but okay.

Cue the flashback music and effects.

About two months ago it became painfully evident that I could no longer put off filing my taxes because my extension was coming to pass on October 15. In addition to taxes, I had slacked on my personal paperwork/bookkeeping altogether for whoknowshowlong. So, I sorted the numbers into their little patterns and it turned out that the result of those little patterns was: I OWED THE IRS A LOT OF MONEY.

It came as no surprise though. Granted, it was a higher amount than I had anticipated, but my deductions didn’t add-up (or is it subtract-down?) as much as I had expected. Regardless, I wrote the check and have since been living the Micawberesque lifestyle as I wait for my payroll to catch up.

Luckily, it was right round this time, that the workload at Turnstyle picked up. After a long lull in business activity this Summer and the recent decimation of my bank account, I welcomed the sudden spike as did my partners.

About a month goes by and the spike triples. All manner of design projects and clients are crawling out of the guff. Flash-forward to now and the spike is started to look more like a vertical horizon – we are inundated with great projects and taking every job we can get our hands on.

This kind of condensation of business is truly bizarre, yet it happens often. Basically, the design industry has two modes as demonstrated in the following diagram:

I once heard about something called “like aggregation”. It’s a concept that like objects with similar properties naturally drift into groups via wind, currents, magnetism, etcetera. (I actually heard about the concept via an old Internet joke about a 1.5 mile condom reef floating in the South Pacific.) Anyway, I see a connection between “like aggregation” and the behaviors of people. Zeitgeist is probably the better word for it.

And where the fuck did that come from?

The bottom line: The enormous amount of paying work is a far too fortuitous opportunity to create some financial balance that I could really use right now, and will therefore has been and will continue to be the focus of my devotion for a few months.

In terms of accomplishment, this year has been way under par. Of course, I met some goals, but for the most part I feel 2006 is a failure of my ability to estimate myself and I need to take the steps to prevent that from happening in 2007. So, LACKLUSTER WORLD and the SEQUENTIAL SMARTS book I’ve mentioned have been and are on hiatus for a few more months while I get my shit together.

2006 shall be known as the year that I bit off more than I can chew.

Also, I’m moving in three weeks. Details forthcoming.

During the SS run, I exhibited at two conventions: Heroes Con and Wizard World Chicago. Within the first hours of each show it was clear that SS had been making an impact on people. Person after person approached me to thank me for “the great column”. Half of those, give or take, purchased my comics. Perhaps their purchases were signs of gratitude for “the great column”. Perhaps they were real interest in the story and art as I displayed it though SS. How can I really know?

As I confessed in Sequential Smarts #5 (Public Relations), my decision to write the column boiled down to one factor – my own self-promotion. Without that, I simply would not have had a good enough reason to go through with it. The end results were very inline with my expectations. I had no delusions that I would be some new exploding force on the comics scene, but I did expect (and receive) a very large marketing push, that at the very least, put me on the radar of almost everyone in comics.

Despite, my self-serving reasons for writing SS, I truly did try to write the best column I could, giving away the most honest, no-bullshit marketing information I know when it comes to self publishing comics. In the end, I wrote 22,500+/- words on marketing comics and if the hundreds of comments and emails full of praise and “give me more SS!” are any indication, my time and effort were clearly well spent.

So, the question is: What now?

Well, I intend to write more installments of Sequential Smarts, albeit on a much less frequent basis – maybe every six weeks.

Additionally, the encouraging response has me moving to collect these 10 articles, fill in some of the information gaps that may exist, and edit the whole package into a printed handbook/workbook of sorts. But… it would be dishonest of me to say that the idea wasn’t on my mind from the very beginning.

I’ll spill more info on this as I make progress. And at the moment I have more pressing projects to work on.

So, if you’ve been reading, thank you.

If you’re signed up for a free comic, it will be there soon.

And if you want more Sequential Smarts, just wait while I reload the cannons.

Last but not least, I want to thank my SS editor, comic collaborator, and friend Chris Arrant (his Livejournal and his website). Without him, SS would have never found its home at the comic-news-mothership, Newsarama, and very possibly might not have ever been written.

Here is the first page, unlettered:

Babbling about comics, time and such behind this cut:
(And this cut thing is experimental, so let’s see if it works)

It took much longer than expected to finish the marker work on this story. It’s a big reminder that I’m out of practice and an even bigger reminder that LW#4 is still lying here waiting to be finished and that I need to get back to it. This 6-pager was the perfect warm-up.

It’s been like clockwork. Every time I’ve tried to get back into LW, I’ve been interrupted by client work and blown every release date I’ve announced for the past – jeezus YEAR. It’s discouraged me and as a result the art has just sat, untouched. There is clearly no way I can wrap it up and have it printed before HeroesCon, but there is still time before Chicago.

It won’t be easy. Other responsibilities are still in progress: continuing my Newsarama column, finishing the big LW web redesign, and then a few smaller things I’m not at liberty to discuss. Fortunately, work is slow. So, I’m taking two or three weeks off client work over the next six.

Arg, six weeks to Chicago. That’s not much time.

Living, eating, and breathing comics all day, every day for a six week period. I’ve done this before. I can do it again.

It’s strange. There is something enjoyable about putting myself through the trauma of sleep deprivation, the intense focus on a project, and racing to meet a difficult deadline. I guess it all comes down to one thing in the end – a feeling of accomplishment. Accomplishment is my crack.

Wish me luck in my coming zombietude.

Anyway, I’m incredibly aggravated and embarrassed to say I will not have Lackluster World #4 ready to go for APE. I blame Turnstyle and some big complications with some big projects in the past month. Gah. If I can avoid the usual distractions, it may be ready for Pittsburgh Comicon, two weeks later. Gah. Gah. Gah.

Amidst the pain of responsibilities, I finished this commission piece for Mr. WithCheese recently.

It’s Herman (Cog) Cogswell from LW. As if you didn’t know.

Despite the lack of new content, this little outlet of mine has been in my thoughts. I’ve come to realize that I need a shtick or two for this site – something kind of daily/weekly/regularly thing that I can whip out in dire times when content is stale and I have nothing newsworthy and all of you will say, “Oh, he’s doing his thing again.” Besides, many of the things that myself or anyone might consider non-news, usually can be if you add a little entertainment to it.

So, I’ve been collecting my thoughts. Some I’ll use. Some I never will…

Podcasting
This is intimidating. Podcasts are actually a recent addiction of mine and I have a strange fascination with broadcasting, but in my current state of BUSYASFUCK, I will never find the time needed to do this. It’s not the back-burner. It’s still in the box in the pantry attracting household insects and waiting, perhaps for years, to be mixed and baked up into some kind of… thing.

Music
Finding good music is easiest when you share your own good music. Maybe I’ll add a little radio or something into this site. Or share some mp3′s. For evaluation purposes only, of course.

Essays
Another time-consuming idea. Maybe write about the state of the comic industry. Or maybe thoughts on business. Or on art. Hm, this is starting to sound like a fancy way to make an excuse for posting whatever the fuck I want. Nevermind.

30-minute fiction
BUSIERTHANGOD or not, I can manage to put aside 30 minutes of time each week for pure free-flow writing. I tend to come up with good ideas when writing pointless things. It would be a good excuse for me to squeeze in a little extra practice too.

Photos
Perhaps I can pull off some kind of weekly photo stunt. Such as, “What’s on Your Plate today?” with a pic of whatever might be on my desk. I don’t know. Yes.

Anyway, I’ve been thinking about ways to be interesting.