Waffle

Rogues of Clwyd-Rhan is going on indefinite hiatus starting today. All the stuff I need to do in preparation for my wedding has a lot to do with it but the main reason for calling it quits for now is that my motivation has gotten very low.

Actually, come to think of it, those two factors work in concert. Imagine waking up on a Saturday knowing that this, the weekend, is the time you have to work on your hobby. But it's a nice, sunny day, maybe the last of the year, there are friends you haven't seen in months and may soon never be able to see again. There are unread books on the shelves, unwatched videos on your hard drive. There are vague ideas for new comics buzzing around in your head, that you haven't developed but they seem fresher than your project of the past 18 years, and may have wider appeal. There is maintenance to do on your existing, 1400-comic archive. There is grocery shopping, chores around the house, and all the time you were planning to work on the comic, your attention goes to those things. Oh, and it won't be long before that short time window opens when both you and you fiancee in a different time zone are both up and available to talk.

Doesn't seem like a whole weekend is all that long anymore? Those four or five hours for a comic suddenly look like a big chunk of your free time. Now imagine all that, plus being aware that you need to get off your ass to prepare for a big, permanent change to your life.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not complaining or making excuses. I know perfectly well that if I really wanted to, if I was really driven, I'd sacrifice all the other stuff I want to do, the stuff that normal people do on a weekend, to get my art out for you to read. But right now, unlike say four or five years ago, I'm not that driven. I want to do it, but at my own leisure. And as a result, making myself sit at home working on comics over a weekend makes me feel like a rat in a cage. So I'm calling the schedule off until my head is clearer and the drive returns.

Again, don't get me wrong. It is a very good time to be me. I'm not fed up with my comic just yet, and I'm happier than I've been in a long time. I'm just adjusting to some new realities in my life and one of them is that if you're going to maintain a webcomic on a regular schedule at my age, you can only do that if it's the number one thing you're obsessed about. I'm not, so I won't.

The one thing that will continue on schedule is the Drunk Duck re-runs. As much of a pain in the ass as working on that can be, this situation is a big part of what the re-run project is for: to keep the comic in the back of my mind when for one reason or another, I have to take a break from it. It doesn't take nearly as much time as it used to, and I can do it in small time increments without harming the art quality because all the art work is already drawn. So go there for your daily fix - there have been changes from the comics as originally run.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 17th, 2009 at 8:02 am and is filed under Life, Work: ROCR discussion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.