A Little Help From Your Friends

I'm often asked how I got started in cartooning. The answer is long and includes things like needing a cheap creative outlet and cheap therapy. My path to syndication was a bit long and involved day jobs in graphic design, bookmobile driving, car sales, and more graphic design.

But one very important part of this story, and my success, is my friend Valerie J. Brooks. When I first had the idea to flesh out the comic strip that eventually became Stone Soup, I already had a big, demanding life. I worked full time, was newly married and had daughters in college. I didn't have a lot of spare time. So I knew that in order to move the strip from a "great idea" to actual cartoons I needed some sort of deadline.

Without a publisher, where does a deadline come from? That's where Val comes in. We had just met, but as it happened, she was quitting her job to make the leap to full-time writer. She did not have a publisher either. So we agreed to meet for lunch once a week, not to critique each other's efforts, but to simply say... "What have you gotten done?"

Just knowing that someone would be waiting on Thursdays to hear what I'd been working on created enough pressure to get me to do the work. Many weeks it was a slog, believe me, because with no concrete reward in sight it's hard to stay motivated.

Over the years we because very close friends. We helped each other through all kinds of barriers to creativity (family troubles, feeling discouraged, money woes) and slowly began to build a body or work for ourselves.

I convinced a local paper to publish my strip weekly during our first year of lunches. It took another 5 years to get the strip syndicated. Val wrote short stories that were published and worked on her first novel, then her second... and now she's begun a third. Her novels are still waiting for their time to be in print, but her second novel is with a very promising agent and I have high hopes for her.

Every year, in January, we set goals for the year. It helps us focus, visualize... and I think there is something to "putting it out there". In 1994 I set the goal of becoming a full-time cartoonist "or else", and wrote in bold letters "This is my year". Turns out, it was.

So, my advice for anyone who's trying to make a dream come true is — find your buddy. Val and I have been meeting for lunch, encouragement and sympathy for 20 years now. That we are involved in different creative pursuits works to our benefit... we aren't in competition, we don't presume to know what the other should be doing. It's all about emotional support. I couldn't have done it without her. 

And yes, I named my main character after her, and yes, she has red hair. Think good thoughts about her novel "Vincible", which is currently circulating with potential publishers. I'm really hoping this is HER year.

Comments

[Patricia McCarthy]

Wonderful! Loved the background info on you and the start of things.
Thank you for sharing!

[Patricia McCarthy]

Just a note.. LOVE the line - "STEP AWAY FROM THE STOVE!"
Funny how the step away from the car has made such an impact on our language. In our hallways at school, teachers have said "Step away from the water" when students were hogging the water fountain with a long line of others trying to get a drink.

[Bill Stormont]

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Hi Jan,

We "talked" once upon a time via email, about Stone Soup...Sunday's edition was PERFECT for what I often do (doesn't everyone?), and as I had an idea already for my blog I headlined today's post with the strip; http://listeningforthunder.blogspot.com A photography-driven blog (mostly) but also "tidbits" of varying intensity. Thanks for your artistry,

Bill Stormont
Eugene
photos@rio.com

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