Today - May 6, 2018 - I had my first paddle of the season. I've been aching and dying to do so, and it was glorious(ly simple) and lovely.
Yesterday - May 5th, probably - I deactivated y FB account and passed administration of the Misterjep FB page to Marjan while I figure it out. I've struggled for years with my relationship with Facebook, just like everybody else, and don't want to blab on about the reasons, except to say that it isn't because of Privacy concerns. I have no idea how to think about that. But I DO miss the old internet, the one that wasn't like a mall.
I THINK I'd like to just leave the mall. I like the idea of having an internet home, and of sharing and opining and remarking. It isn't superimportant to me that anyone reads any of it. I think the rest of the near future for me is here. If you like what I do, please visit this website once in a while.
Other news: I've finished two comics this Spring, and am working on publishing them. SQUAREHEAD is my first long story (not done in episodes, but across 32 pages). It took about three years to figure out and create, and I'm a bit proud of it. It's the story of my Cultural Exchange trip to Trois Rivieres in the Summer of 1983.
(more below)
The other is the eighth issue of JepComix, my mini, which continues and collects the latest Fights story - about Elizabeth, an evil wizard lady Marjan and I fought about 20 years ago. I like that too.
I have been building towards this moment for years: I am more or less happy with the crappy comics I'm making, and approaching a level where I might show them off a bit. Both comics will be properly printed and bigger than the 5.5 x 8.5 mini size, with colour and better paper. I'll make a proper effort to promote them a bit, and will try and get into TCAF in 2019. That'll be 15 years since I started trying to do this for real. I've got solid ideas for at least three other books, and have developed a routine. Let's see how this goes.
It's Spring, and after a rough couple of years, I feel like I've got my head on right. I'm focussing on small things and near things, with the hope that enjoying and loving life will somehow help with the strange and possibly disastrous context we find ourselves in. The whole catastrophe, as a man said. Hope you're doing well too.
Onward and upward -
jep
