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Thanks to my fellow colleague Yves Bourgelas for the anecdote!
Those mishaps happen, from time to time, when the place is packed full.
And my calendar is packed, hence the delay!
A signed book is a treasure. I buy a lot of books from my fellows SF writers!
(This blunder really happened: I’m known for my absent-mindedness, but no book was harmed nor thrown on the floor in the telling of this event.)
FYI: Yves Meynard is also a Tor Books published author.
Posted in Art, Comics, Event, humor, Science-fiction, Society
Tagged art, Blunder, Book fairs, Comics, humor, Tor books, Writing, Yves Meynard
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This week,s comic has been inspired by the Comic haïkus realized by Salgood Sam‘s class (his website Dynamic Drawing is a must).
Posted in Art, BD, Comics, Writing
Tagged Comics, Dynamic Drawing, Haïku, Salgood Sam, Webcomic
One bookfair coming and the launch of my 16th novel… don’t leave a lot of free time to draw signing table gags!
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New engagements and events conspired to keep me from adding new pages on this blog. This fall had deadlines falling along with the leaves.
More to come, for I will be signing my new science fiction novel at the Montréal Bookfair.
Posted in Art, Comics, Event, humor, Science-fiction
Tagged art, artist, Author visits, Comics, deadlines, Webcomics, YA science-fiction
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Disappointments are unavoidable in life. Better to prepare for it.
The first step of the professional disappointment ladder is classic, impersonal: like a negative response to a grant application.
The second disappointment degree is more intense as you suspect (rightly or wrongly) dishonesty or malice under the final choice.
The third degree is when your proposal is refused by people or artists you know and respect, and who also know you. That hurts!
The fourth level is when you learn through the media that the super-high-profile project organized by colleagues who never returned your calls /emails, will go forward … without you. Here, the long silence prepares the final shock.
The 4th degree, as described, has happened early in my budding career. Its impact was devastating. Doubt entered my life as an artist. I never found the same confidence in my art, my abilities since then. I became invisible in my peers’ eye.
It took decades and a new generation of artists/creators to get rid of my impostor syndrome. Drawing this comic, baring my soul was most difficult.
***
My suggestions to manage your professional disappointment:
DO NOT respond or react before 24 hours have passed.
DO NOT name the organisation or express anger in public, nor share your bad experience and victim status on socia media. Accusing the agency of discrimination adds new problems: those feelling targeted will deny it anyway (not to mention the high trollin potential as soon as you mention the thing). And if the choice has been fair and perfectly innocent, you harm the organisation.
DO: all romping in private that feels good. Physical exercise, running, gardening, climbing up the curtains … help to evacuate the excess of energy. Afterwards, relax, read a good novel, savor chocolate or ice cream.
AND : work on the next project!
I found a constructive way to manage my disappointment this week: scripting this comic. The next day, instead of moping, I wrote two new complete science fiction short-stories (quite short). One was written in 20 minutes, edited, then sent as a submission in the next half hour.
Opening myself for a potential disappointment…
Posted in Art, Comics, Event, humor, Society
Tagged art, artist, Comics, disappointment, discrimination, project selection, Webcomic
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My pile is always growing. Here is a snapshot of the current pile. The yellow
paper-riddled book (under the Revue Planches) is The Algal Bowl, Overfertilisation of the World’s Freswaters and Estuaries, which I consult often. Plus a number of unopened magazines I suscribe to…
It’s a sad realisation that I will never have the time to read all the *good* books from my writers friends… So I must proceed to a triage. If the story can’t retain my attention in the first 20 pages, I stop. If I don’t like the direction of a 800-page book, I quit.
It’s always difficult to tell a writer friend I won’t read her-his book. Most of them understand. I taste a lot of different novels, even the 1100-page Donna Tartt bestseller received as a gift…
