I counted and confirmed that I have moved over 25 times in my life, averaging over once every two years. I have had several supposedly-permanent homes in my life, and just now moved into my third purchased "forever" home in my adulthood. No wonder I have developed a strong distaste for moving and a pessimistic outlook on longterm plans.
At least we have fully vacated our rental home of the past two years and have everything out of storage; we have everything we own on the current premises. We need to finish unpacking and find places for what we want to keep and discard what we do not want to keep, but at least everything is in one house again.
Dogtober Results
Prepare yourself for a shock: I actually managed an art goal. o.O
Yes, I managed to sketch 31 canid characters in the month of October, which I dubbed "Dogtober" after completely failing to even start what was meant to be "Dogust." Most sketches are just rough doodles, a form in a bland pose, but I still managed them, and it gave me insights for how I want to approach future art challenges.
The above links go to polls with batches of four sketches per poll, asking you which character sketch of each batch you would like to see inked and colored.
November Art Challenge
On that topic, I decided to continue the daily drawing challenge and looked for November challenges. I found three concepts I liked so much that I decided I would do a mix of them: Grateful November, Novembug, and Posevember.
Grateful November: I have been sour and preoccupied with stresses in recent months, and would like to turn around my mood -- even if I cannot turn around my circumstances -- by focusing on the good things in my life, rather than the bad things.
Novembug: I never draw insects, so doing so would be a complete change of pace.
Posevember: I do need to study figure drawing more than I do and have already been trying to improve the habit.
Questions:
For what things are you grateful?
Do you have an insect that you especially like? Or dislike?
I have some really weird quirks that I doubt are unique to me, but sure feel like it. Here are two:
1. Frequently, after I have put up with something without objecting for days, weeks, or even months, when I finally hit my breaking point and complain about that thing to someone, that thing gets resolved within the next 24 hours by sheer coincidence. Anyone who knows me knows I do not generally suffer issues in silence; these are special cases. Also, my complaint does not cause the issue to be resolved; I generally am griping about some issue well beyond my ability or the ability of others to resolve -- such as a societal trend or the weather -- when this coincidence happens.
2. Conversely, if I express confidence that all is well and I shall be able to accomplish some exciting goal {cough DOGust cough}, then life firmly puts me in my place and reminds me that I know nothing.
I have now bought three houses within my life. The first two were sold (I am not some fancy-pants who can own multiple houses) and I am in the most awkward process of moving into the new purchase that I can imagine. Buying this house was easily the most grueling and drawn-out buying process so far. I do not know whether that is because the real estate business has gotten more laborious for its customers in recent years, because Texas is something really special when it comes to real estate, or both; I suspect both. In August, there was almost not a single day I did not have to sign documents. I counted and signed literally-genuinely-not-exaggerating over 100 documents to buy this freaking house.
In addition, August started with an attempt to buy another house rather than this one, and nearly getting screwed in a pretty dramatic fashion in the process. (That process also involved signing over 100 documents.) The story of buying this house is zany enough that it definitely needs to become a Deer Me story.
Life then said, "Oh, you thought August was draining? Here, have September." To be fair, Hubby dealt with most of the issues related to the house in September, which involved a lot of construction. That has been delaying our actual move, though he has done a remarkable job of bringing over little things (and sometimes not-so-little things) and making an under-construction house quite homey... in parts. Meanwhile, I managed to complete a comic I committed to earlier in the year and had planned to finish before the end of August (but did not start until September).
Heh, I have been vague on the details because I meant for this to be short, and look how long it is already.
Anyway, DOGust was a complete failure... like many of my goals in recent years.
But I do not want to quit. So, despite the fact I absolutely must move to the house this month, I still plan to also try for DOGtober, which is DOGust in October: I shall try to draw a dog each day. Will I manage? Probably not, but I might as well try.
Long ago, people without air conditioning came to this land. Despite having no air conditioning, they said to themselves, "Yes, this seems like a fine place to stay and make a home."
They actually made this decision, despite having no air conditioning, no misting fans, and no refrigerators with chilled beverages.
Humans are amazing creatures and some can be capable of incredible resilience.
As for me, I am melting.
DOGust
As time passes, it seems like I find more things keeping me from drawing, and I decided that it ends now. Yes, my coming month might involve even more chaos (yet another home move would be the good thing to happen in my near future, if that gives you any idea of how life is going) but "what I prioritize reflects my values," or something to that effect.
I saw that the first Friday of August is DOGust, a shared birthday for all shelter dogs. "Adopt, don't shop!" I thought that DOGust would make a great drawing month theme, too. So, I aim to at least doodle a dog each day. Considering Deer Me is now populated by anthro pooches and Sharpclaw characters are all mainly dogs and cats (and only dogs have been introduced in the Book 1 so far), I can even draw my characters while doing this challenge. Whoot!
This is also going to be a trial run. If I can stick with this commitment and get back into drawing (along with a few related art commitments I shall share next month, assuming all goes well), then I shall open commissions this autumn, probably starting with Halloween-themed ones.
The middle of the year seems like a good check-in point. The following explains where I post and what I post nowadays.
Comic Reruns
Reruns of Deer Me, Sharpclaw, and various short stories (most of which fit within one of those two worlds) publish on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays on InkBunny, PixelFed, and X (Twitter). These mostly post in chronological order of completed whole chapters, though there is a bit of switching between the two worlds for the sake of variety. This means that the occasional Sharpclaw chapter posts between two Deer Me chapters that were both completed first.
Current Comics
Ignoring the fact most weeks do not have a current comic update, current Deer Me comics post Fridays on DeerMe.net and current Sharpclaw comics post Wednesdays on Sharpclaw.com.
Current Art
Current art images post as they get finished on Snarkclaw.com. I have no immediate plans to repost old art or current art anywhere else.
WIPs
I do not publicly post WIPs (works-in-progress), though I still like the idea of sharing ones on which you can vote to determine what gets completed next. I announced that idea at the end of 2024 and am still struggling with actual implementation (where, how many potential images at a time, how frequently, at what stage, etc.). (The main struggle right now is actually drawing. {ahem})
Monthly Updates
A monthly update summarizing the previous month's links to current comics and current art, along with whatever news or other rambling I share at the time (like this), posts on (or near) the first of each month in full at Snarkclaw.com and Patreon.
How to Reach Me
I still do not engage in the "social" part of social media. The best way to contact me has always been and continues to be e-mail.
This post makes me sound more officious and stuffy than I really am. I genuinely like to hear from you, really! I just get overwhelmed with all the options available and prefer to focus on just a few communication channels.
New Year, Old Problems
January Update
Happy New Year, Three Weeks In
Among my many bad habits is avoidance. In fact, inaction is probably my greatest weakness.
When I screw up, I feel bad about it, so I avoid the related situation. Eventually, the avoidance can build into a big problem. If it involves reaching out to someone, then the social situation gets more awkward with each postponement. If it involves a chore, then the work required builds until a manageable task gets complicated.
I do not do this for everything and I try to catch myself, but there are times I feel overwhelmed and I let the problem get out of control, particularly if it includes components I just do not know how to handle... particularly social or embarrassing ones.
I have been avoiding posting, because I am still trying to figure out how to move forward with creating and sharing comics and art.
Deer Me has been on hiatus for literally years now. This is not out of lack of interest on my part. I sincerely have more story ideas I genuinely want to create. In fact, I have so many concepts that they overwhelm me; I have previously written about my need for a "Crazy Wall." Last November, I resolved to get existing concepts sorted and written. I did establish a good-if-rough chronology, but not write much. Rather than focus on the success of making a semblance of a timeline, I focused on my failure to write actual chapter scripts.
Focusing on the negative rather than the positive is another big weakness of mine.
Sharpclaw has been progressing ridiculously slowly. In truth, I genuinely stopped enjoying drawing. I did not want to draw. I did not want to want to draw. I am not sure how many levels removed I got, but I think I hit bottom with "I want to want towant to draw."
Yes, I said "hit bottom." Four days ago, I started sketching the current work-in-progress Sharpclaw comic (that I meant to finish and post today, but more griping later) and felt something I had not felt in months. Elated, I sent this to Hubby:
"Happy news!
I actually felt joy in drawing tonight! I did not work for long and did not start until late, but I actually want to continue. And I actually found myself enjoying what I was doing.
Drawing has been strictly a chore lately. I know I often despair about not getting back into it when it has been a while, but to not even enjoy the act at all... Oof. I was happy to finish the page I finished last week, but I did not enjoy doing it.
This time, I actually want to get back to what I was doing, not out of a sense of 'should,' but genuine want."
It was shocking to realize how long I had ceased enjoying what is my life's passion, but exciting to feel that delight again.
But the work does still need doing.
If you are like me, then you are weary of my oft-repeated statements of, "Comics are coming! Deer Me is not dead! The next Sharpclaw page is coming soon!" These assurances are sincere and heartfelt, but feel empty with lack of fulfillment. I feel that way, anyway, and I am the one making them; I am the one who knows what is happening!
As a consumer of entertainment myself, I have mixed feelings about confession-explanations like this one. I generally find them annoying and would prefer some cute "on hiatus" image, but understand that sometimes it is reassuring to know that the creator genuinely does still want to continue the work. I have seen many, many projects abandoned over the years without even an acknowledgment from the creators, who either disappear entirely or move onto other projects (that often also get abandoned).
If you find this kind of announcement annoying, then I apologize and thank you for getting all the way through it. If you find this kind of announcement helpful, then I apologize that you had to wait so long for it and thank you for your patience.
The Important Part: What Now?
Honestly, I am not sure what now. Obviously, I want to write more scripts. I want to draw more comic pages. I want to draw non-comic art. So, those are all "what now," but establishing a production routine and publishing schedule that works... I do not know the details yet.
I still like my recent idea of sharing sketches that can be voted on for "complete this next," but am still figuring out how to do that. You probably know by now that I am terrible at social media. I also have other issues that conflict with creativity, but everyone has those problems and has to find solutions; I need to figure out mine.
That does not give you anything to expect, for which I apologize. While my top hope is to just get back to creating and posting comic pages and art, I shall try to at least provide better insights as to how things are going. Share ideas if you have them.
