2003-07-28 1:21 p.m.
SD shock

I imagine life after San Diego's always going to be surreal. You go out there for four days, transform into a pimpin', book-pumpin' machine and work the con like no one's business (or at least try), and hopefully have something to come home to.

So far? I've had a lot of friends and family ask for the book, some of them have even bought it (though the total money taken in has bought a little groceries and a few drinks along the way) and a lot of people in the industry have had great things to say about it. Donna Barr, especially, sent me the most beautiful email:

Styx Taxi --

This whole story dances on wires.

So sad, so wonderful, so true.

I've never gotten a compliment like that before.

And now comes the hard part, the part that separates the men from the boys and the wolves from the sheepfuckers: now I get to wait, push, promote, skywrite, and otherwise plaster the world in my comic until people beg me to stop, all the while writing the next one (+ other projects and my play). This is the time when you realize that despite all of your hard work, this could go absolutely NOWHERE, and you've gotta make peace with that possibility in the same way that you do with the everyday threat of getting hit by a bus. (Especially since I just got my first rejection letter today.)

Interest seems to have waned, but then, almost everyone I know has gotten a copy. Now it's time to tap the masses who I don't know yet.

D's back in town, for the long term, it seems. He might be staying in NYC for just a few months or a few years. Either way, he's staying with me for a while, and we may very well finally get some projects written/pitched after the 2-year hiatus we took.

I want other work, though. I'm not going to be able to do another Styx out-of-pocket for a while (as I want to get out of debt before I try this again, and that's going to take at least until the end of the year), and I want more deadlines, more assignments, more WRITING.

I've got a play I want to get back into (especially to get the last fishhooks of a previous life out of my heart), but I'd like a few more demands on my time...seems like I work better that way.

Stephanie, one of my 2000+ coworkers at the Law Firm, told me a story today about a beach club at Brighton Beach that was open when she was a teenager...they had bands, dancing, a swimming pool, drinking in the locker room...basically, lots of juice for a story and a half. I should interview her about it.