Why am I trapped in my apartment? Well, I suppose I’m not technically. First there was the crazy LA rain that made me want to just stay in, and now that it’s sunny again, I’ve been feeling under the weather and figure I should take it easy and let my body heal via drinking beverages with vitamin C instead of alcohol, getting decent sleep, and just generally taking it easy. I predict by tomorrow I’ll be feeling back to normal… at least I hope so. Right now I’m so antsy and bored that it’s making my skin itch. Ack! Just… TRAPPED.

Like I said, I’ve managed to be somewhat productive. Edited a big chunk of this crazy Mark Smith and James Stokoe graphic novel called SULLIVAN’S SLUGGERS. Pages 35 to 71… it somehow took me almost half the day, and I still fear I missed a punctuation or spelling error somewhere. It’s coming along nicely, though. I also worked on getting the POPGUN 4 word out. That’s fun, though this whole “pimping” role doesn’t come naturally to me, but hopefully it’s working. And in the writing department, which is where I hope to end up on a more permanent basis, I had some good conversations with my frequent co-writer, Adam P. Knave, on a new project too early to name, for which he found a great artist (also too early to name). Good times! And I got some great feedback on the SOULLESS, MAN WITHOUT A SOUL pitch I’m working on with artist Anjin Anhut… gotta get my revision writing on for that one.

That’s some work, right? And it’s good to keep busy. And I know I need to get even busier. The one problem I have with this writing and editing work that I am doing is that it, as of yet, does not pay the bills. And after the rough economy resulting in day job work layoffs last year and an ill-advised decision to go into freelance post-production that has resulted in no jobs for the past, holy crap, five months, I really need regular paying work.

Ideally, this would come from the comic book work I’m doing. Maybe one day it will. Either way, I’ll keep writing comics (and short stories, essays, maybe I’ll finally get my novel on soon) as long as I can because I really love it and apparently need to do it to feel worth a damn for some reason. But, in that practical bitch called “reality,” I also have to start earning some cold, hard cash.

Once again, I begin to question my Fine Arts degree from a rural Ohio college – or at least how I’ve used this degree (which is, not at all). A friend of mine double-majored in Chemistry and Biology. He’s now a scientist! He makes good money and wears a lab coat to work! If, even with this poofy Fine Arts degree I earned, I still need a day job and will just write on the side, well… maybe I should’ve gotten a more practical degree. I mean, I could write on the side while making a living as a lab coat-wearing scientist! Why didn’t 18-year-old me think of that, because, honestly, never have I gotten a job as a result of my degree… Of course, I no longer paint, act, and have forgotten most of the art history I learned. Hm. I had fun in college and met lots of cool people and learned a lot, but the main point is to help one get a career going… but writing isn’t like most careers, is it? I don’t know. I’m babbling and still feeling antsy despite trying to distract myself with the writing of this blog.

Okay, now my shut in mind is just wandering, and I’m babbling. Maybe I should wear a lab coat when I write. That way I’d at least feel important, you know? Kinda like a… WORD SCIENTIST! Yes!