Today is Hourly Comic Day and … well … I’ve been drawing a comic every hour. You can check them out here. And while you’re there, you should check out some of the other folks’ work, too. And next year, I think all of YOU reading this should participate, too!
So, the first story has come to a successful conclusion. Dr. Symm has indeed saved the New Year and all is right with the world. So it’s time to move on to a new story. But before we do, I want to tell you about a change that’s taking place as we start the new tale.
There’s no real easy way to say this, so I just have to come out and tell you that I’m pulling back the update schedule for Story Time With Stan! … just temporarily. The site will no longer update 5 times a week. Instead, we’re moving to a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday schedule. The reason for this is simple: I’ve been more successful in my freelance work than I’d expected. So good, indeed, that my time is fully booked until late spring. That’s not just my 9-5 time … but ALL of my available time for writing and drawing.
That’s a GOOD thing in that it means I’ll have a more stable source of income for at least the first 2/3 of the year, but it also means that I don’t have the time necessary to keep ahead of the ball on these stories. If I didn’t move the update schedule back to 3 days a week, I’d certainly run out of material entirely by the middle of April. Switching to this schedule will let me make sure that the site continues to update on time with new material into the second half of the year … by which time I should be able to get back to a more normal rate of production.
It’s easier to do this relatively early in the site’s life. As happy as I am for all of you who are here reading this now, the fact of the matter is that your numbers are still fairly small at this point and I haven’t put a lot of effort into building a bigger audience. (I was waiting until the Dr. Symm story finished its run.)
My plan is STILL to return the site to 5 updates a week, and hopefully I’ll be able to get there by early summer. But I won’t make that adjustment until I’m CERTAIN that I will be able to keep it up permanently.
That’s it, really. As bad news goes, it’s really not that horrible. But I still feel like I’m letting you down a little. I promise to try to make it up somehow. In the meanwhile, I hope you enjoy our second tale.
Hourly Comic Day is a tradition/cartooning challenge I’ve taken part in for the past two years. It happens every February 1st, and I’m very much looking forward to participating again this coming Sunday (which should be interesting as that day ALSO happens to be Super Bowl Sunday).
Each year, I do my little bit to promote the event … but this year I’m inadvertently doing even MORE. You see, last night I was contacted by an editor from CannedGeek.com (an Australian geek culture site) asking if they could use one of my drawings from last year’s Hourly Comic Day in a short article they were doing about the subject. I happily agreed, and the article is already posted on their site.
The BEST thing about Hourly Comic Day, I think, is that you DON’T have to be a professional to participate. Flip through some of the past years’ examples and you’ll see that MOST of participants are just ordinary doodlers. It’s an event for ALL people who love to sketch, scribble, and draw … and some of the BEST entries are by people whose best known work is probably hanging on a cubicle wall or a refrigerator somewhere. Hourly Comic Day is just a FUN personal challenge that you can share with the world.
Look for hourly doodles (that is, DRAWN hourly … not necessarily POSTED that quickly) from me on Sunday … and in the meanwhile you can check out my 2008 and 2007 offerings … or anyone else’s on the forum.