MERRY CHRISTMAS!
over 3 years ago
– Sat, Dec 26, 2020 at 09:15:32 PM
Merry Christmas if you celebrate it! Happy Holidays should you celebrate something other. Or, just have a REALLY good weekend, if none of this applies to you.
The Dork Tower Christmas Cards finally arrived, on Christmas Eve. They’d taken a two-week scenic vacation around these United States before arriving in Madison. All for the low, low price of Priority Mail postage!
This is a very 2020 way to end the year.
BUT IT’S ALMOST OVER!
As I’ve mentioned the last couple of Updates, these previous three weeks have been a bit rough. A couple of good friends lost parents to COVID; another great friend has an incredibly serious (non-COVID) condition: I went through that gastritis thing; my wife's sister had a stroke; and studio cat is not at all well.
My wife, my daughter and I are fine, and we had a lovely Christmas on our own - there's no two people on this earth I'd rather be Safer at Home with. I am privileged in so many ways, and I hope I never take that for granted.
But it's been a tough holiday. I've not seen my parents, nor my brother nor sister, in more than nine months. I know many of you are in the same boat. It sucks. It simply really, really sucks. And this time of year certainly drives that home.
While there’s good news (my parents received the first of their two vaccine shots, last week, in London), I do feel like 2020 has finally caught up with me, mentally, however, this month. And my work suffered for it.
Fortunately, my work is also an escape. I'm going to spend the next week resetting, changing up some work routines. and gearing up for 2021.
I've never produced more Dork Tower comic strips than I have in 2020, and – though it is obviously late – this has been by far the most productive I’ve been on The Tao of Igor since, well, 2007. It’s so close to the finish line, I can almost taste it (it tastes like Igor Bars, btw). And that is all thanks to you folks! I hope you know how deeply appreciative I am of that.
I have so much to be grateful for, and on these, the darkest days of the year, I just want you to know that I am truly and tremendously thankful for you, and your support of Dork Tower.
I hope your day is/was/will be grand (I've never been good at Time Zones), and here's to a 2021 full of grace and greatness.
- John
PS: Here! Have a Christmas comic book!
Or at least, a PDF copy of one.
“The Geeks of the Magi” was one of two Christmas stories that ran in the Dork Tower comic books. It will be included in the Tao of Igor.
I hope you enjoy it!
CLICK HERE TO READ IT.
Have a great weekend!
PPS: Should there be any problems with the PDF link above, let me know, and I'll try and provide a fix in the comments. But it SHOULD work!
Proofreading the Dungeon Bastard’s Deep Dungeon Delve of Dangerous Deathy Death
almost 4 years ago
– Thu, Dec 17, 2020 at 10:46:50 PM
Hey, everyone,
This is the first non-public update I believe I’ve posted. But...it contains a secret linky thing!
So many folks volunteered to proofread the Dungeon Bastard’s Deep Dungeon Delve of Dangerous Deathy Death that it was nearly impossible to narrow it down to just five.
So I didn't.
So here’s what I’m doing, instead.
Here are the files, for you all.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q6jssajus0eriij/Deep_Dungeon_Delve.Ver.0.666%20%281%29.pdf?dl=0
If you’d like to proofread it, please email any changes you feel are needed to me, at [email protected]. Also, please use DUNGEON PROOFING as the subject line, so the emails don’t get mislaid.
If you just want to read the adventure, and not actually check it for typos it, that’s cool too. Enjoy!
And if you’d like to wait for the final version, all properly laid-out and sparkly, just ignore the link above.
It’s a very short update, today.
I’m solo-parenting, this week. My wife’s sister had what we believe was a stroke, and had to be rushed to the hospital. We assume the immediate danger is over. My wife's now up north, looking after her.
It seems pretty insane, given everything I wrote about, in last week's Update.
Tao of Igor-wise, it’s still layout and coloring work, as it will probably be for the next few weeks.
Anyway, one of today’s two big wins: I moved my work computer upstairs, so I could be nearby my daughter while she was taking her school zoom classes. Guess what? Working in a room with big windows in the daylight is far more pleasant than working in the basement, no matter how nice a basement it is.
Second win: my daughter asked for French Fries for dinner. Instead of driving two miles to pick some up, I learned how to make them.
I used the Serious Eats/Food Lab recipe, though modified for the time I had on-hand, which was not a lot.
https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/05/perfect-french-fries-recipe.html
Anyway, it made me feel like a Pretty Good Dad.
And that’s always a nice feeling.
I hope everyone is as well as can be expected, these days, and – importantly – safe!
- John
My Not Very Good Week
almost 4 years ago
– Wed, Dec 09, 2020 at 12:59:30 PM
Hey, gang,
First off – things are going well, both with layout and final coloring.
They were not going well, for a week there. But now they are.
The first draft of the Dungeon Bastard’s dungeon came in, and it is epic – like, 52 pages epic My guess is, once it’s in layout, that should boil down to 25-30 pages. That’s still a lot, and I need to get a quote from the printer to see how much that would cost, to include it in the book.
It’s also absolutely hilarious, by the way – and fully playable. Today's DORK TOWER starts off with a line from it:
(If anyone fancies themselves adept at the art of proofreading, btw, I could use maybe five more sets of eyes to look it over, to be honest. If you have actual skills in this area, please let me know in the comments below).
The two-page spread I’ve been mentioning looks like it will make it into the book, and I’m very happy about that.
Right now, my best guess is that we are four-to-six weeks away from getting The Tao of Igor PDFs into your hands.
HOWEVER… four-to-six weeks was my guess two weeks ago, as well.
I was really hoping I’d be able to send the PDF of The Tao of Igor out to everyone on Christmas Eve. This last week put paid to that idea, which is a shame.
Now, before reading the next bit, I want to emphasize, things are back on track. The course has been adjusted. Work is being accomplished.
This is the end of the Tao of Igor update.
Everything below is just…stuff. Don’t worry about it. Skip is, if you feel inclined. (Honestly, it’s OK if you do).
Anyway…
It’s been a hell of a week.
Thanksgiving was great, as I’d mentioned before. It felt like a real holiday – the first one since the start of the pandemic.
The week after – last week - everything did a 180.
Tuesday, I had to take Studio Cat into the vet – she’s 19 years old, and has a badly infected incisor. Oh - she also has arthritis. Some bloodwork was needed, to see if she would be strong enough for dental surgery later this month.
The result of this is that, as of last Wednesday, she’s now on painkillers, and I’m giving her sub-cutaneous liquids every day I’m at the studio, hoping to build up her strength.
Early Thursday morning, I was hit by gastritis - though I didn’t know that’s what it was, at the time. It wasn’t quite as painful as the time I got gallstones, but it was Really Not Fun. It was also worrying – the idea that I might need a hospital visit, with the pandemic is surging in Wisconsin, would have kept me up at nights, if the pain wasn’t already accomplishing that.
The gastritis lasted a few days, but a short-term change in diet, as well as some temporary meds, helped clear it up.
Then the big stuff came knocking.
I learned that of my very best friends lost their dad to COVID last week. And another friend’s mom is dying from it.
I’m in shock, and also - to be blunt - terrified.
My friend’s parents were being super-safe. However, his dad went to check on a pal who had been out-of-touch for a couple of days. He found his pal, collapsed, with COVID.
That pal recovered. My friend’s dad caught it… and didn’t. (My friend's mom also caught it, but thankfully recovered.)
I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the sheer numbers. The US is losing more to COVID every day now than were lost at Ground Zero, 9/11. More every single day than at Pearl Harbor.
It’s overwhelming.
My mind is numb.
Then, to cap things off, another great friend shared some tragic (non-COVID) news with me over the weekend, which left me shaken. (I won’t speak more of this until later, as we’ve mutual friends, and my pal hasn’t made their circumstances known to the world, yet).
To hell with this year, and to hell with last week.
The end of this pandemic nightmare may be in sight, but it’s a ways off - the next few months are going to be miserable.
This is no joke. Be safe. Be SUPER safe. Take every precaution. Take precautions you don’t THINK you need to take.
Be there at the end of this.
Home Kitten wants you to be safe.
As do I.
- John
Cyber Monday Update
almost 4 years ago
– Thu, Dec 03, 2020 at 03:12:47 AM
OK. Confession time – this is the first week in a while where I just didn’t get as much work accomplished as I’d planned.
It’ll be fine – I should be able to make up most of it, this week. The combination of my birthday on Tuesday, and US Thanksgiving on Thursday, and its associated long weekend, cut into work deeper than I expected. Which is not a bad thing. To be honest, Thanksgiving felt almost like a real holiday: the first since this whole pandemic began.
It almost felt...nice, again
However, I do have some news.
Since today is Cyber Monday, and tomorrow is Giving Tuesday, I’ll be running a special sale for Dork Tower’s Patreon backers and Kickstarter supporters.
From now until midnight, Tuesday, Dec. 1 (CST), everything at the Dork Tower web store will be 25% off, if you use the code MASKUP2020.
But here’s the cool bit: ANY and ALL money made at the Dork Tower web store from now through Dec. 25 will be split between Madison’s Goodman Center Food Bank, and the Waunakee Food Bank!
Help those in need, and grab swag - some of these Holiday Cards, for example - all at the same time!
OK: there is another bit of cool news. Tom says that the Kickstarter Dungeon is close to completion, and with luck, that could be in your E-mail in-box soon, attached to an upcoming update!
Anyway, onwards and upwards with getting the Tao of Igor PDFs in your hands, and then getting the book off to press!
I’m looking forward to this week.
- John
It's Just Another Manic Monday
almost 4 years ago
– Mon, Nov 23, 2020 at 11:07:57 PM
I Wish it was Sunday/
Cause that’s my “I really should send out an update” day.
(Apologies to the Bangles.)
This Update was supposed to go out yesterday. However, I spent more time Sunday trying to explain Astrophysics to my 12-year-old Daughter than I really intended. Or ever expected.
She was panicking, as she had seen some YouTuber claiming Betelgeuse could “go Supernova” at any moment, and that the Red Giant star would be able to “engulf our solar system.”
Bottom line: it’s been decades since I studied Stellar Evolution, but we did a deep delve into that, and also Light Speed, with a dollop of Cosmic Distances and Topography thrown in for good measure.
A few hours later, she calmed down.
Anyway, things are going great. Final layout has begun on the Tao of Igor. My friend Sean is acting as editor (he is very good at this), and I’m making spelling and punctuation corrections as the pages are layed out. (There are shockingly few in the first 160 pages or so).
I’ll start sending finished pages over to my pal Hal, who will be handling pre-press production, tomorrow. I’ll also start coloring the pages of the last chapter that still need coloring, tomorrow. I’m hoping to knock out one of two a day.
I believe we have moved from “months away” to “weeks away” from the PDFs going out to backers, and from the Tao of Igor going to press. Frankly, that’s a huge relief.
Even though this week includes both my birthday (the 24th) and US Thanksgiving (the 26th), I should still be able to get a good chunk of work done.
In the meantime, here’s a shot of Studio Cat, on my lap earlier today:
As I’ve noted before, she is an extraordinarily helpful, and diligent to a fault.
Note: my hair may have passed Wings-era Paul McCartney, and seems to be approaching “Beautiful Noise”-era Neil Diamond.
Things are going Pandemic Well, here.
Have a great week,
- John
