….Okay, right off the top, my web wizard Stacy has told me to stop announcing my name at the start of a post, because my name is IN THE NAME AND ADDRESS, so…..yeah, that’s a good point. Anyway, if you’re assuming there’s a new episode this weekend, I appreciate your faith in my dependability, because yes, I do remember what I said in my previous post, and yes, I have been working on it steadily since that time, but here’s where it gets a little complicated….as you’ve probably noticed -ESPECIALLY based on the last episode- continuity is playing a progressively more crucial role in Shapes of Things. Also larger-scale execution. In order to make this work well, I have had to start splitting my concentration between a much greater number of individual episodes at a time, which means that I find myself now in a position where I have, on the one hand, elements of episodes 37-40 in varying states of semi-completion, but on the other hand, 37 still incomplete. Now, part of the problem also stems from the NATURE of 37 – This particular episode presents an especially intense set of challenges, brought on by the occasionally messy business of liberally mixing frank autobiography with pure fantasy. Without giving too much away, I can tell you that this is where we get an earful from Rafool about Lolly and Unjar’s childhood and preteen years from his -and, more indirectly, Starla’s – point of view. So right off the bat, this one is a) even more total work than usual, b) subject to a potentially greater-than-usual number of revisions to ensure that it works as a whole, and c) requires – EVEN by the standards of a comic in which one of the main characters once said, and I quote: “I am supposed to be miserable, it is what God intended for me”- an EXTREMELY delicate balance between self-examination and self-flagellation that can only be achieved if I’m able to step away from it and work on something else from time to time. So my new objective is to have episodes 37-40 ready to be published within 2 weeks of each other by mid-January. Insert witty closing remarks here. STRONG SOUL SOY SAUCE.
That was an abrupt ending, wasn’t it?