I read with interest that Louis CK has a special computer (I heard he disabled it with a bolt) he uses to do his work on.
"When it's time to write, I have one computer that has no ability to get on the Internet. Because the ability to just move your finger less than a millimeter and be looking straight into someone's pussy or at the new Porsche, or a whole movie—To Kill A Mockingbird, let's just sit here and watch the whole thing!—it's too much. So if you put a couple of moves between you and that, you've got a fighting chance."
—Louis CK in Rolling Stone
He goes on to say when you reach that moment of agitation, you need to stay there, not bail and go buy something or look at porn.
It's so easy to do now, which makes it tougher to actually grow, or get to a place where inspiration can strike, which, he claims is waiting for us, just on the other side of agitation.
It was with this idea in mind, I once again challenged myself "to stay in the moment". For me I need to bypass, or at least forestall, the addiction to email and posting right here! Hey, it's fun, it's actually part of my business plan and it's helpful in many ways, but if you're trying to write and draw a graphic novel, it's, well, wayyyyyyyyyy off purpose.
Like I did when I went on my quest to do 10,000 bad drawings, I basically told myself I need to do six drawings every morning before I can look at my email. Here's today's sketchbook page:
The feral dogs notes are from my walk this morning when a neighbor's dog got out and attacked me. As for the drawings, I didn't say they had to make sense. I made the commitment to do six sketches. And, of course, as random as these scenes are, they somehow start becoming a story. Isn't that crazy?
Long live agitation, the basic fuel for creativity.
"Treat mom to a margarita this Mother's Day. Remember, you're the reason she drinks."
—Old Vaquero Saying
