While I'm Thinking About It

Some thoughts, on ten years

Back in 2001, when I started out on my webcomic journey, I had no idea I would still be drawing this thing, telling this story, a decade later. After all, the strips that were my biggest influence (Sluggy Freelance and GPF had only been running for four years and three years, respectively. Looking at what they had accomplished, and comparing it to the ideas I was compiling in my little blue pocket notebook, I figured I had a couple of years worth of material.

Ten years later, I will tell you that I probably have a couple of years worth of material left. At any point between then and now, I would have told you I have a couple years left before running out of ideas.

What happened? Well, a couple of things, really. First of all, the more I created the actual strip instead of just playing with ideas, the more story I was able to come up with. Even though some of these new bits meant I was no longer able to use some of the original material, I believe the strip overall is stronger for the changes.

Though I have to admit I kind of miss not being able to do Al the alien.

The other thing that kept me pushing through was you, the readers. I got some amazing feedback from some of my earliest readers (one person called this story about as perfect as a comic can get. TRU-Life Adventures has a very quiet fanbase, but knowing you guys are out there encourages me to keep going.

So thank you all. Keep reading, and I'll keep cartooning.And if you'd like to offer some feedback outside the shoutbox, my email link is above and to the left.