Note: This is a longer than usual post. If you’re reading this via email, click the heading to get the full post on Substack!
Sometimes, The Choice Is Made For You
Originally, this post was supposed to be about my weekend at Toronto Comicon. I didn’t get a table this time around, as I’ve covered in the past, so I was treating this year as my last hurrah as a fan at this event…
…then I lost my pass. I didn’t want to pay for a new one.
I took it in stride, but needed a new topic for this week’s newsletter. Being forced to pivot also provided a great segue for this week’s topic.
There will be times where ‘plan A’ fails you and you have to switch to ‘plan B’. Or ‘C’. Or' ‘Z’. It’s not admitting failure. It’s finding a new path to success.
This kind of thing happens often, actually. It’s not always a big change, but anything worth doing is going to throw some challenges your way. How you handle them is where you build character.
That said, I haven’t missed a newsletter post…yet.
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With all that in mind, let’s look at what I had planned and what the pivot was in each of these scenarios, starting with a big one: my career.
The Original Plan
Those who have been reading this newsletter for a while - or know me personally - know that Pesto Comics in itself is a pivot.
The Plan: Become a successful screenwriter in Hollywood (or, at least, Canada).
My goal was clear. I was going to be a screenwriter and make my bread writing films and television.
To me, it was the more likely and fruitful career than comics would ever be. I’ve read too many stories about creators scraping by, or getting pinned into bad deals, that it scared me from even dipping my toe in.
You’d think I’d be worried about the same in the film industry, but that wasn’t the feeling around Toronto in the mid-00s. This was back when getting DVDs by mail was novel, so the boom times were just starting. There were going to be a bunch of new jobs in film and television. I just had to ride the wave. Or, at least, that’s what I was sold.
I did what I was supposed to. I went to the Toronto Film School and made short films with friends (one of which has something really cool of his own going on with Dice & Development).
I wrote spec scripts while surrounded by old-school projectors at the local Famous Players then Cineplex Gateway Cinemas. I went to a screenwriters’ conference in LA. (I was still so green that when they were using Raiders as an example of plot structure, when called upon I answered that it was “before my time”.)
I toiled away as an unpaid intern for two years covering hockey and the local news. (Met another pal there with an awesome book and great podcast!) Even more unpaid interning building cheeseboards at an editing company.
This was all before I was thrown an IT job installing PCs in remote workers’ homes. That led to the next job, which led to the next. Now it’s over 20 years later. It pays the bills and I’m happy for not having to worry about that.
If you’re interested in reading a bit more about how this all started, I get into it in this past post:
It wasn’t the original plan, but it helped me fund this endeavor with Pesto Comics. It couldn’t have happened without it.
Crowdfunding is very misleading. To be successful, you need to have something to show for it. Unless you’re doing it all yourself (and kudos to those that do), you’re going to have to put up some of your own hard-earned cash to make it happen. That doesn’t happen if I’m simply a starving artist.
The Pivot: Take my earnings from IT, pay some way-too-talented to be working with me artists to draw my comics to crowdfund.
Not every curveball that’s thrown at you is this big. Sometimes, it’s just a project that turns into something new while you’re developing it…
The Original Next Project
One thing I knew for sure after the Sequential Comics Nominated Best Comic: Stay Cool is that I wanted to work with Rafael Chrestani again. I love how that book turned out so much. I knew the next project had to be bigger - and I had just the idea for it.
The Plan: Take the already written project, FPU, and hand it off to Rafael to make it happen.
I had a 5-part series, FPU, in mind for a long time. Long before I had met Rafael or launched Pesto Comics.
I pitched it to Rafael. He was interested enough, but as I was polishing the script I felt like I could serve him and his style a lot better - rather than trying to shoehorn in an idea that doesn’t take advantage of his abilities.
This is how NKW came to be. (Don’t worry, I’ll share the full name soon enough.)
The concept sells itself, but it deserves more than a line in the middle of an already long newsletter post. I’ll keep it close to the vest for now, but let me tell you - it’s going to be BIG.
It’s a pun you’ll appreciate more when I share details. It’s already underway, actually, with the couple pages already delivered by Rafael. Once Crazy Latte Thing Called Love is rolling, we’ll start pushing this one.
It doesn’t seem like much, but it was a big move. I stepped back from something that was ready to go, as far as writing it was concerned, and I pivoted to custom made with Rafael in mind. Doing so uncovered a couple of built-in advantages I didn’t plan for ahead of time.
It’s a 5-parter, much like the temporarily-shelved FPU, but each issue can stand on its own. FPU is much more serialized and needs to be ready for a rapid release schedule.
The Pivot: Write something that Rafael will be excited to draw - and absolutely kill it with. (Hint: Look up his portfolio)
NKW, with Rafael drawing the whole thing immediately after he finished Stay Cool, is much more suited to crowdfunding and the longer timelines - especially as we work to grow the audience.
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It’s Not Just the Next One…
I’ve run into some kind of challenge with every project in our slate. I’d like to share those with you now while giving you a small preview of what’s in the works.
I originally called this project “Working Stiff” - a title which I liked quite a bit. It turns out a lot of comics liked that title too. They all had a similar concept to this one, but none seemed to go the same way I had - so it’s still worth going through with it.
As far as the title goes, it actually had worse SEO than Stay Cool, to my surprise. Even though I still get Google Alerts for “how to stay cool this summer”.
That’s not the big pivot though.
The Plan: Draw weekly strips of Working (After) Life in time to launch after Crazy Latte Thing Called Love to help grow the audience for Pesto Comics
I’m not a great artist like the ones I’ve worked with. It takes me a really long time to draw something decent. That’s not something you can do when you’re trying to put out a weekly comic strip.
So, I’ve decided to wait on this until I’ve drawn it all. I want it to keep the high-quality you’ve seen on other projects and I can’t do that if I’m trying to hit deadlines for something that’s not my primary discipline.
The Pivot: Focus on projects that will grow the audience and allow us to continue putting out content regularly. (i.e. Focus on writing first and draw slowly)
I put Cleo & Gus and, the not previously announced, M-J, together as they’re two sides of the same coin.
The Plan: Since I’m an expert cartoonist after pumping out weekly strips for Working (After) Life, write and draw daily (!) strips: Cleo & Gus and M-J
Both were originally planned as comic strips, to be drawn by me, like Working (After) Life. Not just strips though, daily strips like you’d find in the newspaper.
That was the goal actually: To pitch them to King and Andrews McMeel. I have a year’s worth of each scripted and ready to go. As I tinkered with them though, I quickly found that they work much better having a page or two to breathe on - not just 3-4 panels.
Think Spy vs. Spy over Garfield.
The Pivot: Expand to page-long gags and use the winning formula of getting a talented artist to make it happen.
Both are in different stages right now with Cleo & Gus already being pitched to potential collaborators who are very well-suited to this kind of story-telling while I keep M-J closer to the vest.
If it goes as planned, we’ll have more news about both of these projects this summer.
This is a project I’ve been ready to get going since 2018. Well before Pesto Comics was real.
The Plan: Having a clear process after a handful of successful Kickstarter campaigns, launch the FPU series.
The false-starts on this have been for the best. It’s allowed me to take everything I’ve learned over the past six (!) years and apply it to improve the series greatly.
Having a number of other projects that will be releasing at the same time should make it easier to get FPU ready for a rapid release in the meantime. Waiting too long between releases for a story that’s as serialized as this one could hurt more than help - so patience is really a virtue here.
The Pivot: Plan. Really plan! Make it so it can get out as quickly as possible to make it successful - both financially and story-telling wise.
I stand by the decisions I’ve made. Comics are where I want to be and I don’t see that changing any time soon…
The Plan: Steer 100% into comics. Leave the rest behind.
But it doesn’t mean I’m not looking to expand my horizons.
You may have seen me posting about my Writer’s Digest short story finalist, Chop Chop Chop (and thanks for voting for it, if you did!). You may have found my stories on Writing Battles, if you frequent that site or elsewhere.
I get the itch to write while the artists I work with have time to do their thing. I can write faster than they can draw. They can draw faster than my bankroll can pay them to draw what I’ve written while I wait for them. It’s a dilemma.
I have a lot of stories to tell and not all of it fits well in the medium of comics - though I have a ton of comic stories waiting their turn. What to do with these idle hands?
The Pivot: Don’t limit yourself to one medium - and bring others to the party.
Not just write, but get projects together entirely. Working with other great creators of all stripes.
I’ll have more to share about B.S.P. very, very soon. If you’re a fan of my writing, this will be right up your alley. It’s been inspiring to jump into something a little different.
A Short, Long Journey Already
It’s only been two years since my head-first dive into crowdfunding with Pesto Comics. As you can see, I’ve run into my share of challenges.
To pivot as a creator is to be a creator. It’s not a failure. It’s a different path on the journey to success. Embrace it.
I hope this slate of projects excites you as much as it does me. From this post onward, you’ll be able to find a breakdown of all the projects in a handy table at the bottom of the post (again, if the email hasn’t cut this off already - check the Substack for this post).
I’ll be updating it every entry, so make sure to keep an eye on it!
And let me know if anything sounds exciting to you…
I have one more plan and pivot to share before we call it:
The Plan: Work sequentially. Plan, produce, launch, fulfill. Start again.
My goal is to make sure that the gap you’ve found between Crazy Latte Thing Called Love and Stay Cool will be the longest between projects going forward. It’s been killing me not having anything substantial to share these past few months.
No more.
The Pivot: Don’t waste time. While producing one, plan the next. When launching one, have another in production and plan another. Keep it rolling.
You won’t be going hungry here. I’ll be giving you my all as long as you’ll let me.
I thank you for it. I’ll be forever grateful.
Until next time…
What’s Next?
April 15
A Personal Story - Il Pescatore
My entry in "The City We Chose" by TO Comix
May 1
In Through the Side Door
How I found myself at [redacted] after being [redacted]
A Fool and His Expo Pass