On Streamlining And Sanity

The Key To Good Work Is Finding The Time To Do It

As comic artists, we all know the importance of taking time for our art. But what do you do when you love many arts?

It's a question I've had to ask many times. Currently, I have 2(or 3, depending on how you count) blogs. A book series for sale. A webcomic. And a business.

For many of us, our creations are like flesh and blood children. We love them. We work for their wellbeing. We take care of them.

But sometimes the kids wear mom/dad out. What to do?

Here's some ideas:

• Write up a to-do list with solid deadlines (or semi-solid deadlines). Seeing the things that need work puts them in perspective. Many times, your tasks seem overwhelming partly because they're nebulous. Checking the tasks off one by one is a good morale boost.
• Prioritize. Are you getting enough out of each thing you're working on? What is it bringing you? Really ask yourself what it's worth.
• Streamline and Combine. I found myself that, many times, you will realize you're running redundant projects. Have a blog and a book series? A blog and a comic? Consider hosting one on the other unless you have a definite reason to avoid that. This is a plus for a number of reasons:
• More content in one place=more viewers
• Less pressure to keep up social media presence for multiple projects
• More peace of mind for you!
• Be Realistic. If you say you're going to get nine things done in a day and pull off four, you're going to feel down. Of course you are. So schedule yourself for doing four things. If you get more done, great! If not, you have time.
• Schedule. Plan your schedule out, with realistic time slots. A) it helps keep things in perspective, and B) things don't fall through the cracks. I do mine months in advance!
• Use A Post Scheduler For Social Media. I like Buffer, personally. Through the year I collect neat articles in a saved collection. On a weekend in January, I set up the social media for all my projects. My blogs are linked to their pages, so they feed directly into social media. This is such a weight off the creative mind!
• Take Care Of Yourself. If you feel like crap, you're probably going to produce crap. Athletes train and rest between training. Do the same, mental athlete.

To that end, I'm taking my own advice. As of February 28, the Strip Show will no longer have its own social media presence. All its posts and content will appear in the social media of 'Parmeshen', my personal webcomic. If you'd like to keep up, the content will pop up on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. And, of course, right here. 

See you there!

-The MC