Meanwhile in San Diego

We shot some photo reference for Not Another Comic Book on our sunny walk, some settings in which to place Celestia, Gabby Pepper, and other characters. Nice to go for a walk with nothing but the camera and the need to get out---"larking" Eldon likes to call it. We went out twice. Today, I stayed in to provide some layouts for a scene in DNA #2. Are you ready for the FREE Stux Preview? I'm uploading it tonight.

Best yet, Integr8d Soul is really becoming a two-guitar group. "I can't wait to see where I'll be on guitar in a year," she's saying. She has practiced daily for all but two days in the past month; that's the way to get it done!

Marc Kane's becoming a rhythm player, actually interested in sitting with me and watching guitar players play! We sat and watched a couple of videos of Buck Dharma playing "Don't Fear the Reaper" and "Veteran of the Psychic Wars" that I found earlier.

This evolution means our songs will have more rhythm and texture and feeling.I'm showing her more parts she can play in our existing songs and, from me, there's been four wonderful days of not letting any worry remain and just feeling my good emotions expanding, blossoming. My perspective on hassles, in relationship to the number of choices I'm free to make, has distanced me from the stressed-out, hot blowing pressure cooker of my own expectations.


I have a lot of fun, too, plotting and organizing the short stories that will become the basis for our own Portal Immortal comic book. There's more excitement now in the plots of the early issues, and even if there's lots left to consider, I've found time to create the emotional tests and examine the lives of a huge number of original characters. Easily one of the very most fun things to do!

I like to include others in the creative process, though; it adds to the random places that may give birth to some terrific detail, or maybe even something that can't be used in a story but becomes part of some other knowledge. I didn't push it hard; we walked over to the nearby grocery store as I mentioned the Tsunami story "one" regarding the mother whose child is ripped away from her arms. She discussed the possible health of the mother, four months after giving birth. The child's story is bound to rush out now in one of those hour sit-downs...if the other one doesn't rush out first! And there's an alternative version in my mind, too, so it will be writing two stories at once...I have four stories awaiting me, like that.

I realized I could celebrate the life of my friend's baby, which I've seen in so many photographs, and let those precious memories become the body of the new story, "One Small Miracle." (The Two dogs story has an alternative, too; it's a scene in Portal Immortal, as are all these alternatives.) I sit back and look at these stories and see how I've got something for very different readers, yet it's still true to myself. Now...to find the time they come to life! (I imagine the next three weeks will be full of these stories coming to completion, mixed in with my other activities.)

I hope we can put together some donations with our online auction, which should be available this week: the change in the news cycle doesn't mean Tuscaloosa and other Southern cities are not recovering, as can be seen locally.

Hello, tiny green spider!

So, the other element is finding a way to develop our business further. I feel less pressure, but I have actually begun taking the shirts and comic out where they can be further discovered, and really enjoy people stopping to look. The pressure of preparing for another convention is gradually deferred by the discovery of Alburquerque's Comics and Sci-Fi Convention, which looks full of interesting creators (including Stan Lee himself) and the opening to smaller retail opportunities available close by. That's seven weeks away. We can't wait to finish at least one new comic book by then! Maybe two (!)...



Let's face it, the real break is not just the happy person who gets a terrific shirt, but the person who's prepared to help take the business to a new level of exposure. Ideas of what to do next come from this interaction, too. That really feeds the creative side; suddenly the amount of time I spend alone feels more urgent and exciting, but it's more peaceful, too, and fun, because I've seen it's going to end up as someone's entertainment in the future---maybe something they really love! So, I'm making it for that future love, within the present. I was concerned with the time taking the things out might take away from potential creation, but Seaport Village is so good for the mind and what an "office" right?

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