Origins

You have a dream. There it is, gleaming in your head, waiting to get out. But when? you ask yourself. When is a good time to get started on it? When is it time to take the yellowbrick road?

Now. Now is the time. There is no other time than now. It doesn’t matter if you don’t have a paper education to go with this dream. It doesn’t matter if you’re broke. It doesn’t matter if you can only find one hour a week to devote to it.

There have been a lot of people over the years that have put this conundrum to me in reference to themselves. They see me doing what I do without stopping, and they wanna do things too. So I tell them to get started. But most of them don’t.

One told me she had to research first and get everything perfect before she could do the thing in question. It’s years later, she hasn’t even thought about getting started.

Another told me they had to take care of their families first. The last I’d heard, they’d set the dream aside to die in the end.

Recently, another approached me about what they wanted to do but they didn’t feel their skills were up to par enough to get started. So they were thinking of taking a class to improve their skills, and then maybe they’d be ready. Maybe, I thought, but I wondered if a class would be enough. I felt like they just didn’t have a sense of “now” in them yet more than anything. They’re taking the class. I hope they find their sense of now.

Look at The Heavenly Bride. Seriously, look at it. Page one is clumsy and I’m terrible at knowing where to put my word balloons. By Chapter 4 I’d improved but still had a ways to go. These days the artwork is pretty streamlined as, over the years, I’ve developed my own unique process that’s nowhere near what I used to do in the very beginning. And although the artwork may not look it, I still have a long way to go.

You will always have a long way of learning to go. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t be human.

There have been times that I had to wait weeks, even months to find time to work on the comic. I never set the dream aside to die, though. I simply picked it up when I could find the time. Your life is always going to be filled with things you need to do and take care of. If it isn’t, then your life is empty.

My family always came first (even if they didn’t realize it). There were many times I forwent my plans to work on the comic because I had to go to the school to be there for my child. I took care of my family first. I always found time for Bride later. If you let your dream take over your entire world, it stops being a dream and becomes your en-slaver.

So now I just started a Kickstarter to support Book 2 – the real book 2 with an extra short story and everything – and the book itself will be available for store order on April 1st. I’ve come this far after so long because when the time came, I got started. I didn’t worry if my skills were enough because I knew they’d improve over time. I didn’t let my lack of time stop me from finding a few minutes here and there. And my family didn’t stop me from living. I have stayed true to myself this entire time. And now here I am.

When is a good time to start your dream? Now. There is no other time. Literally. Later never comes. The past is gone and you can’t get it back. There is only now. And now is the moment you live in.