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Dragon Comics 86

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In the short term, though, it seems to work out pretty well. Blood to the brain and all that.

In the short term, though, it seems to work out pretty well. Blood to the brain and all that.

Inversion is good for the spirit. A lot of yogis will tell you that every minute you spend upside down adds a minute to the end of your life, but don’t repeat this information in a room full of military dudes, because they will tell you how long a person can reasonably be suspended upside down before it kills you. So, I would say that, in theory, time spent upside down under your own power may improve your health. Or not. I have no studies on the subject.

When I taught a lot of yoga, I did a lot of handstands. These days, my wrists are not as reliable as they used to be, so I don’t do as many. Instead, I have an inversion table. My friend found it next to a Dumpster and, knowing my affinity for inversion, grabbed it for me.

Another fun fact about inversion is that it can decompress your spine, effectively making you taller.

But being upside down is just fun.

Dragon Comics 84

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Some people smell what they want to smell.

Some people smell what they want to smell.

Hooray Friday! This one seems to have been a long time coming, but it’s here at last. Finally, I’ll be able to catch up on the rest of my life. Anyway, it’s 1:30 in the morning. I have drawn a comic and now I am tired and I don’t have 100 words to describe this comic, my process, or anything else concerning my art or my life. Happy Friday.

Dragon Comics 82

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Throw some sauteed garlic and onions into the mix and you have the olfactory equivalent of a whole meal.

Throw some sautéed garlic and onions into the mix and you have the olfactory equivalent of a whole meal.

Honestly, as I was finishing this comic, the kids were in the kitchen without me, baking a cake, which they are able to do more or less on their own at this point in time. The gag came to me when they weren’t even here. They are really connoisseurs of vanilla and double it every single recipe they make, meaning the kitchen smells like a bakery when they made a half recipe of waffles. They already had churros and banana bread today, but The Man is also a sugar junkie and he gave them permission. I don’t really bake at all anymore, except for birthdays and such.

It’s too much cake. I don’t know how we survive.

This weekend was the Tucson Festival of Books, which is in its 7th year, but has apparently become the largest book festival America in that short time. This is not especially surprising, given that Tucson is one of the few places where you can schedule a fair outdoors in mid-March with the assurance that there is almost 100% chance that the weather cooperates with your plans. Who wouldn’t want to spend this weekend here, in the sun?

I didn’t really spend any money this year, primarily because I didn’t have any. In fact, I found $5 on the ground and used it to buy myself dinner. Otherwise, all I bought was a $2 unicorn button for the Girl. This year, I spent a lot more time in panels. I got my copy of Bridge to Terabithia signed by Katherine Paterson and took the kids to 2 back-to-back session with Tom Angleberger, author of The Strange Case of Origami Yoda, who is something of a superstar as far as entertaining a lecture hall full of kids goes. I also got to see Jacqueline Woodson, as well as Marilyn Nelson, both of whom were great speakers.

The book fair is always magical, although it always makes me a little wistful. When do I get to the other side of the table? It’s a busy weekend. I had to bow out of some other engagements to spend as much time as I spent there. I’m always happy to be there (at any fair, really; I like fairs a lot) but I also realize I could spend a lot more time working.

Dragon Comics 80

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The 1952 Ford Bus, the most elegant of classic transport

The 1952 Ford Bus, the most elegant of classic transport

The story behind the 1952 Ford Bus is that a few year ago friend of mine posted a picture of herself in one in some salvage yard somewhere. Something like that. And the man saw the image of the bus coveted the bus. He wished to purchase the bus and restore the bus and then, I guess, travel around the country in the bus. The bus echoes in his memory. The bus seems to represent some kind of idyllic dream.

As far as crazy ambitions go, I’d rather the bus than a skydiving school.

Dragon Comics 79

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And they'll do it, too.

And they’ll do it, too.

Today was the Girl’s 10th birthday, so here’s a special bonus design to celebrate: it’s her as a My Little Pony. Usually I don’t do fan art, of course, but she really liked it. She asked if we could get it framed 🙂

My Little Pony: Birthdays Are Magic

My Little Pony: Birthdays Are Magic

The Girl in the comic is supposed to be about 5 years old. The first thing the real life girl said to me this morning was, “I’m really a tween now.” So this picture is a more accurate spiritual representation of who she is now: an optimistic young person with a sense of style and passion, poised to take the world by storm.

As for the comic, it’s just a small gag, but I think it speaks to a lot of people I know, not just the Fox and the Rabbit. Sometimes you’re just waiting for inspiration. But really, inspiration is always in you.

Dragon Comics 76

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It's like deciding to ignore your lungs's need for oxygen.

It’s like deciding to ignore your lungs’s need for oxygen.

You know how you sometimes have these eye-opening dreams where everything seems infused with wonder and meaning and there’s some kind of message or idea you want to carry back to the real world but once you wake up and try to explain it to other people, even if you can actually remember the dream in its entirety, you still can’t communicate the deep and sublime feelings that it instilled in you as you slept? It’s like that.

My 2 guest essays ran on Panel.net in the last couple days: the first one is about world-building and the graphic novel Aya, and the second is about reading comic books to a blind person. It seems like people liked them and I will be writing more in the future. Pretty excited about that. I’ve also been trying to keep my book review blog updated. I probably only read about 2 adult books a month, but sometimes I read 10 or 20 kids’ books.

This week I have a bulletin board to create, too. Everything depends on whether I have to serve jury duty, though. Ug. I really believe in democracy and the right to a trial by jury, I just don’t like being personally put out to ensure that it happens. I hate the courthouse and I hate being awakened too early and I hate being bossed around and I hate being forced to sit in merciless plastic chairs in huge rooms packed full of strangers. Jurors should be allowed to serve online. I would be much less uncomfortable if I could watch a trial on my laptop in bed.

Dragon Comics 75

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Nothing like a little vacation from reality to make you appreciate vacations from reality.

Nothing like a little vacation from reality to make you appreciate vacations from reality.

I love having a family, but it’s not really possible to get very much done when they’re around. People want feeding, chauffeuring, cuddling, that sort of thing. Art, for me, is an extended and quiet process. It requires long chunks of time in which to think and feel before creation even begins, and then it wants no interruption as the new work unspools.

That’s why I take writing retreats once or twice a year, sometimes with other writers, and sometimes alone. I only use the computer for work-related tasks, avoid all social media, and spend every minute I’m not writing doing something inspiring: cooking, reading, hiking. Talking about writing. It helps keep me sane. I always set a lot of rules and a lot of goals, and I usually do pretty well with both. It’s a special, sacred space and I wish I could enter into it more often.

But having a family to come home to is a beautiful thing. Even though I sometimes miss having days on end filled with nothing but writing and quiet, I would miss my family more if I didn’t have them. the The kids will be able to take care of themselves someday. Not sure about The Man, though.

Dragon Comics 74

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You've got the power!

You’ve got the power!

A long time coming but here it is: comics about self-affirmation and belief in your true core’s strength. The answer was right there all along.

So far this has been a good week! My friend the Owl sent me a job posting for a website looking for someone to blog about non superhero graphic novels. This is my thing! I have a deep background and many ideas to share on this subject, and I am professionally trained to write and to deconstruct texts. Yet, knowing about the process of reading open calls for submission triggers my fear of rejection. What if, despite my knowledge that I am perfect for a job, I fail? What does this say about my belief in my abilities, if I cannot even escape the slush pile? This is the sort of thing that tears me up and prevents me from putting forth the effort.

But I put forth the effort. And I made the cut. My little essays are going up as guest posts and if everything works out I will probably get my own column. To write about non superhero graphic novels. Which is a thing I would be doing anyway.

Another fun thing that just happened was the advent of my 100th follower on this blog. Hello! Everything’s coming up Dragon!

Dragon Comics 71

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It's all kind of up in the air.

It’s all kind of up in the air right now. 

My inner child is older and wiser than she used to be.

About a year ago my brother emailed me to ask my opinion of the “accuracy” of some depictions of the writing process in The World According to Garp: “To begin with, is it true that when you write everything seems connected to everything else?” My short answer: “cf: synchronicity.”

When a story is working, when the characters and their motivations are real and defined, it drives itself, and the world is its fuel. It just keeps shoveling ideas in one end, and plot comes out the other. Sometimes all you have to do is pick the words that keep the ideas in order. Yes, everything feeds writing. Some writers may be more focused in terms of which field they let the machine graze in, but whatever you have, that’s what gets in.

He also asked some intelligent questions about how stories are generated, and this is different for every writer, I think, but they don’t tend to spring fully formed like Athena from the brow of Zeus, unless you are very, very lucky. You still have to put the pieces together and keep the mechanism tuned: now it needs a new character, now a change of scenery.

Writing this comic, at this particular time in my life, has grown enlightening. I’m glad so many people are on this journey with me, but I’m writing it for myself. We wouldn’t have set off on this particular path if not for the unfortunate episode of bullying I wrote about a couple weeks back, which in turn led me to ask myself a series of questions, and the questions went deeper and deeper into the past, but kept dovetailing with questions about the present and future. It speaks to me as a tool for understanding, learning, and accepting.

In short, I’m working through some stuff here. Stay tuned. If you dare.

Dragon Comics 68

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Everyone's a superhero. Everyone's a Captain Kirk.

Everyone’s a superhero. Everyone’s a Captain Kirk.

The first step from the dark to the light can be blinding. And intense. You might see things you’re not ready to see. You might be forced to confront ideas that you’ve been trying to ignore. It’s tempting to keep the scary stuff hidden in the shadows, but you can’t go stumbling around in the dark forever, either.

Fortunately I was able to recycle the background from yesterday, because this weekend was a really busy one, and this comic was started shortly before dinner and finished just after midnight. But here it is. We might hang back for a little bit, scope out the situation before committing.

Have courage, Dragon!