Remember Yuri’s remote control. (Also here)

Well, I was planning on making Yuri blue, mixing Flineous (she she recently killed) and Kali the Hindu goddess of power. I was even going to post a venn diagram of Kali, Flineous, and a housecat with Yuri being where they all overlap. BUT, I couldn’t make it work without her looking like Neytiri the blue Pandorian from the movie “Avatar” (or Zhaan from “Farscape” if you’d rather). After much fussing and fidgeting and playing with various hues I decided on her new color scheme. Not what I had planned, but I am very pleased with it nonetheless.

Oh, and Dustin is back. You’d be amazed how many times I count the humans in each strip as I draw them (I know there’s SIX! SIX humas!) and then make sure I know where each character is. So easy to forget.

Let’s see… a few links. Tom Walker posted a new SS Myra, of course. And I received the amazing collection of Dicebox in the mail this week (with my own short comic of the charcaters in it), and am champing the bit to read it. Erika Moen and Jeff Parker finished their 102 page webcomic “Bucko” which is a very fun read (and they’re having a store sale to celebrate).

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Psst. Martina is pressing The Detonator.

Saw The Sun Of The Quince on Sunday, a two hour movie about the painter Antonio López García (and his friend Enrique Gran, a painter-ex-cartoonist). It was a tad dull, not much happened except him working on his painting of a quince tree, but I love the slowness, I love things that change my perspective even if just for the duration of a movie and a short time afterwards.

A couple confirmed dates for me and conventions (also listed in the right-hand side-bar widget).

March 30-April 1, Seattle, WA
Emerald City Comic Con (with TopatoCo)

April 5-8, Seatac, WA
Norwescon (with Dan Wolff)

April 28-29, Portland OR
Stumptown Comics Fest (with Kevin Moore)

July 5-8, Minneapolis, MN
Convergence Sci-Fi Con

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I can’t even think about what to blog about. Just trying to catch up on work. haven’t been online enough to have much idea what’s happening online.

Tom Walker has a new (NSFW) SS Myra up, can’t forget that.

If you like Krazy Kat, Calvin & Hobbes, and Little Dee, go read the whole archive of Road Apples Almanac. You won’t be disappointed.

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I think in the autumn I guessed book 2 will end sometime in early February. My best estimate now is March 5th. I think I have each of the final strips planned out, but you never know which ones will need more than one strip to cover their content once I write them down.

Having fun reading romance novels lately, studying (and really enjoying) the form. You can follow my reading (which is mostly audiobooks) over on my Goodreads account. (Although I’m currently reading “The Book of Three” from Lloyd Alexander’s Prydain series, inspired by Jenn and Kips‘ charming Taran Jack).

Racquetball continues. No collapse, heart-attack, or injuries (touch wood). It has inspired me to take up the gauntlet of granola bar making for my after-racquetball snack (batch is in the over right now). Yum!

And segue here, my friend Dan just posted a new recipe over at cookrookery for cold meat pie, inspired by Roald Dahl’s “Danny The Champion of the World” (one of my favorite novels by him). I just find Dan’s passion for food, curiosity for life, and amazing writing style compelling to no end. I also can’t wait: he’s finishing up a novel which, for the first time, he plans to release maybe this spring. And when he does, I’ll let you know.

My friend-and-often-collaborator Mike Peterson had some nice words to say about me in his really good daily blog on comics comicstripoftheday.com. I’m more mentioning this because it’s an excellent blog than the fact that he mentions me.

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Hey, by request: a new wallpaper! Just donate any amount (even a penny) with that yellow button right there, and it will send you to chosen wallpaper (more are HERE).

A few bloggy things. Over at MAD Magazine’s blog “The Idiotical” they’ve posted another “It Only Hurts When I Laugh” strip by me. Tom Walker has, as ever, asked me to again let you know a new strip has been posted (NSFW) of SS Myra.

And in webcomic news, Jeff Zugale has joined the team with artwork for “Not Invented Here,” looks great!

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Been really busy here. Been doing lots of freelance, and am fighting to not fall behind while trying to get extra done, mostly involving Spacetrawler book#2, but some regarding writig other comics and novels. But, here we are, 10 minutes before Spacetrawler’s update time, and I’m done. Dammit. Eat that, self-doubting self.

And of course it’s worth it when you get Pierrot, Defender of Awesome riding in on his lone horse. Good times. And nicely timed to post one of Pierrrot’s big strips on Martin Luther King Day (happy Martin Luther King Day, btw).

Been a fun week too. Started playing racquetball with a friend, which I’ve wanted to play for years. And I survived! No injuries even! Whoot!

A couple of links: If you speak Portuguese, some nice things were said about Spacetrawler over at pinkvader.com. Tom Walker, the lucky bastard, had some nice things said about his comic SS Myra over at io9.

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Had a very nice anniversary Monday with my sweetie. We walked to the movies (we saw “Hugo,” which was lovely), made a special dinner, and toasted with champagne so awful it was corked with a bottlecap.

Not a lot otherwise. Beth and I turned the garden on Sunday. There’s a new Faraday The Blob up, that always cracks me up. Tom Walker has a new SS Myra, sigh. The Kindle arrived in the mail, and I’ve been waiting anxiously all day to finish this Spacetrawler so I can sit down and fiddle with it. Good times.

Oh, and nominate me (and spread the word) for the HUGOS! Spacetrawler book #1 “The Human Seat” in the best Graphic Story category. If not me, then the either Schlock Mercenary’s Force Multiplication, Dr. McNinja’s traveling to the future to defeat intelligent dinosaurs that rule the world,  or Marooned‘s “Mars Wars” would be acceptable I suppooooosse.

Okay, dinner time.

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Well, I ordered a b&w Kindle touch. I probably can’t afford it, but I’ve been reading a lot and need something easier on my eyes. I read a LOT about the various devices and compatibility and such, and took into account all your helpful comments, thank you. In the end, I felt it would most suit my various needs, and that there are plenty of workaround programs to convert most files to show on it. Should arrive any day, can’t wait to read.

I’ve begun slowly re-reading Spacetrawler, and making notes on all the little threads and side-comments I’ve written to make sure I don’t miss anything for tying together book 3 which I’m beginning to write (currently is only vaguely outlined, as the story has taken quite a few unexpected twists and turns).

HUGO Award nomination is open! The Foglio‘s (last I knew) have bowed out, which means others have a chance. I’d be in the best Graphic Story category, although I’m terrible at forms — they ask for “Any science fiction or fantasy story told in graphic form appearing for the first time in 2011″ which I’m not sure if that would be Spacetrawler book#1 which appeared in print for the first time in 2011, or book#2 which began appearing on the web for the first time in 2011. Sigh.

Anyhow, go there, nominate me (if you find me worthy) (even Konrad Gaertner thinks it is), and then spread the word about the strip and nominating it far and wide (please). If not me, then either Schlock Mercenary or Marooned would be acceptable I suppooooosse.

Made seitan this week, as well as several batches of granola, bread, and we’ve recently been playing with growing sprouts. I do so love the kitchen.

I went running for the first time in years on Sunday, inspired because a friend asked me to play racquetball, and I wanted to see if my body would hold together in one piece if moved faster than a stroll. I survived the test jog (barely), racquetball is Wednesday, the resulting wake and funeral will probably be scheduled for the weekend.

Oh, and i got a nasty phonecall from Tom Walker this weekend, asking why the hell I didn’t link to last week’s SS Myra. There you go, Tom.

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(**EDIT** colored and finished version now uploaded) As you may notice, the strip is not all the way colored, seems the queen is still painting the roses red. The finished strip should be up within 2 hours TOPS.

For that reason, I won’t spend too much time blogging today. Thank you for the advice regarding the Kindle (and Nook and Pandigital). I am definitely interested in b&w, for ease on the eyes. But your discussion led me to go to my public library’s website and see what devices their files are compatible on. Every kind of file is compatible on every device except Kindle. Except Kindle files ONLY work on Kindle and no other devices.

It’s an interesting choice on Kindle’s path, and no doubt inspired by MAC who knew their presence was strong enough that they could make buyers feel their way was inevitable (where else will one buy ebooks if not Amazon?). I have a personal/professional reasons why it would be good to get a kindle or to get something else. I’ll continue to ponder.

Heh. not that I can afford to buy, but I might budget it in if I feel it’s useful and warranted enough.

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A night of Bach and Mendelssohn to ring in the New Years (thank goodness for pay-what-you-can events). I must say, I’m used to either drunken parties or just spending the night at home wondering if it’s worth waiting up until midnight — this was a surprisingly nice change.

More and more I’ve been reading longer works either on the computer (which I don’t enjoy doing if it’s of any length) or printing out things to read. I’ve been writing (and re-reading) more prose in general, illustrating more prose work that others write, and have become friends with more writers and have old friends who have been doing more writing. Therefore I’m debating a b&w Kindle touch. Is it Time? Any thoughts?

So, as you may or may not have noticed, it’s 2012. What does that mean to me right now.

A couple weeks ago I had a “eureka” writing moment, mostly having to do with the plotting of a story (finally being able to answer my own questions I’ve been asking myself for twenty years), and so I anticipate this year will be a very different (and perhaps very active) year for writing. So far the eureka moment has sustained itself and has not so far revealed itself to be just a I-thought-that-was-a-eureka-moment-but-in-practice-it-really-wasn’t. Happiness for that.

Spacetrawler book 2 will wrap up in February, and Spacetrawler-the-project will end (with book 3) probably in the beginning of 2013, so essentially (in my mind) I’ll be finishing Spacetrawler up this year — which means it will be an intense couple of months plotting book 3 (as book 2 wraps up), and then an intense year writing and drawing it. And it feels somewhat momentous, it’s been an exciting world to create and it’s a project I’m proud of and a project people really enjoy, which makes me happy.

This ALSO means that I have to be ready to start whatever webcomic I do next AFTER Spacetrawler, and I’m already on my 3rd or 4th partly-developed idea, not sure which dark horse will pull ahead, but it’s a fun exploration which I’ll be fiddling with throughout 2012.

Anyhow, thank you all for the support and for enjoying my work. I”m thinking this year will be great, and hope it is for you too.

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