As you may have noticed, Mikey’s Life hasn’t updated in a while.  As I’m writing this post I wish desperately that I had a better excuse for not updating.  Something that would demand more sympathy like–I don’t know–mangling my hands in a combine or something (boy, am I going to feel stupid if I lose a fight with a combine tomorrow.)  Anyway, the only excuse I have for not updating is getting into a horrible creative rut.  It was kind of like when your girlfriend says, “let’s do it again!”  and you’re like, “A third time?!?  No way, woman!  I’m spent!”–actually, its wasn’t like that, but it just came to mind and I thought it was funny.

No, this creativity problem, for me, has been completely debilitating and very little that I did helped to make it subside.  I tried all the usual things that I do to recharge my batteries and get the creative juices flowing, but, after wiping off the couch and spraying everything down with Lysol, I was unable to come up with a good joke.  So, that was it–no strips for a few weeks now.  I thought about never updating again.  I toyed with the idea of doing a different project.  Maybe Mikey’s Life just needed to go away.

Then I thought about Mikey.

I thought about poor Mikey and the lurch I had left him in.  The guy doesn’t even have a fucking job.  What kind of cartoonist leaves his character unemployed?  And what about Hill–eternally pregnant?  If Hill remained pregnant for eternity P would essentially be in Hell–and I mean that biblically.  Some people think of fire, brimstone, and eternal suffering when they think of hell, I think of dealing with a pregnant woman–same thing–it only depends on your interpretation of scripture.  My characters, who have taken on a life of their own, are helping to motivate me.

Now is the part where I beg for a little more patience.  I have a few technical things that I haven’t, until now, taken the time to do(site redesign, format change, promotion, etc.)  So I’m going to spend some time on those while I have it.  I also need to get a little ahead on the strips because I’m starting school in the fall and doing the full-time job thing and the parent thing and I’m going to need a little wiggle room since there’s no one to pick up the slack for me.  I’m hoping to start the strip back up mid-Julyish.  It will be funnier, more consistent, more solid, and totally worth the wait!  I can only hope that everyone is willing to wait.

Thanks for waiting.

Mike

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Saturday night I didn’t have a lot going on so I decided to clean up and organize my work area a little better as well as unpack some boxes from my recent move.  I was on  a mission to increase my efficiency and allow my creative juices to flow more freely by having a neat and uncluttered work area.  Well, it’s Sunday night as I’m writing this and I’ve realized that that entire paradigm sucks ass.  I couldn’t find a knife to cut the paper for today’s strip.  It’s usually underneath the paper tray on the printer.  And where the hell was my pencil lead?  The leads are usually at the bottom of the drawer with all the candy wrappers that filter through the pile of CD R’s, dead pens, yarn, and a roll of duct tape that I keep for quick repairs.  I couldn’t find my ruler–it was hung up on the wall instead of on the floor tangled up in power cords and usb cables.  The strip almost didn’t get inked because my brush pen is usually marking a page in a Scott McCloud book and, instead, it was in my art caddy.  I was in shock when I went to scan the strip and I was able to open the top up without having to move a pile of books, bills, and a plate with the reminants of last night’s snack on it.  I felt so lonely with only one coffee cup on my desk–all the rest were washed and in the kitchen cabinet.  There was no stack of papers to my left that could be knocked over with one wrong move.  No risk of spilling white out or india ink.  It was so neat that I was almost immobilized!  That’s when I remembered that some people perform better with a bit of clutter.  I’m one of those people.  I think tomorrow night I’ll clutter this desk back up.  If you don’t believe me check out some of these examples:

Albert Einstein

William F. Buckley

Al Gore

I rest my case.

“Three Rules of Work: Out of clutter find simplicity; From discord find harmony; In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.”–Albert Einstein

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100 Mikey’s Life strips.  It really didn’t hit me until yesterday morning when I woke up on Heidi’s couch.  100 strips. I felt a moment of sheer joy and I was proud of myself for all of thirty seconds.  Then the terror struck.  It’s been 100 strips and I didn’t feel that I had accomplished anything.  The rest of the morning was full of low-grade depression.  I muddled through breakfast with the kids, dreading drawing today’s strip.  I berated myself for failing to gain more readers and not making Mikey’s Life more popular.  I had missed a lot of opportunities over the last ten months.  In my mind, I ticked them all off one by one.  I was always aware that the strip wasn’t that popular, but I never let it get to me.  I don’t think I really cared, for the most part, I just liked drawing it.

Not too long ago a very good friend told me, “stop wading in streams and dip your toes in the ocean.”  That’s what Mikey’s Life has always been about for me–doing something I loved and striving for something more.  Using that analogy I was feeling like I had left the stream only to find a mud puddle.  Then, on my two hour drive home from Denver, it came to me.  I had never defined what “the ocean” was for myself.  Was it unique visits?  Was it revenue?  Was it page rank?  When I really thought about it, “the ocean” wasn’t any of those things.  “The ocean” was putting this silly little comic strip up three times a week as consistently as possible.  By that measure I have a whole foot in the ocean and I’m a better man for that.

Anyway, enough of the mush.  I would like to take a moment to say thank you to everyone who’s been reading.  Please keep reading–I appreciate it more than you know.  I would especially like to thank my mom for reading every update, even though it’s not your cup of tea.  And, yes, I know this strip will never get in the newspapers.  I would also like to thank, as always, Heidi.  You’ve been with me from the beginning and, hopefully, will be there in the end.  You’ve always believed in me and that has been priceless.

Mike

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Another addition to the FAQ page.

Is Mikey’s Life autobiographical?
The short answer is no.  If this strip were autobiographical it would boring beyond belief.  That said, there is an incredible amount of my life that goes into the strip.  Some of it is the funny moments.  Some of it is things that have actually happened.  Some of it is things I wish had happened.  Some of it I wish hadn’t happened.  Some of it–stuff that I pull out of my ass at midnight when I need an update.  Mikey is a part of me–mostly the parts of me that I don’t like.  His family, Hill, and P are partially based on real people in my life as well.  Though, the way they act is often exaggerated to a great extent.  The characters look a bit like the people they are based on.  Here’s some pictures for you to compare.

Mikey

Me

P

The Real P

Hill

The Real Hill

Anyway, the truth is, like Mikey, I have some great friends and they are part of what makes the strip great.  Thanks for material, thanks for being funny, and thanks for being you.

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You may have noticed that the comic looks a little different today.  You may have also noticed that, in the gutter between the first and second panel, there is another signature next to mine.  That signature belongs to Heidi Rounds who will be inking Mikey’s Life every Friday going forward.  Heidi is currently in school working toward her BFA.  Besides being the most talented and versatile artist I know, she has also been my best friend for the last seventeen years and my biggest fan–always quick to point out a spelling error or a joke that missed a little bit (in the most gentle way.)  To be honest, there have been times when she was the only reason an update got posted because I knew, no matter how tired I was, that she was expecting something to read the next morning and if nothing was there I would get a phone call.  “Nice strip, loser!” she would say, sarcastically.   She inked the last panel of this strip one weekend when I was drawing at her apartment and, much to my surprise, she liked it.  We got to talking and Heidi offered to do some more.  Without hesitation, I took her up on it.  Heidi has had no prior experience drawing or inking cartoons.  I didn’t give her much direction because I don’t even know how to ink.  Yet today’s strip came out completely awesome and I am so proud of her work and so grateful to her for lending her skills to the strip.  She has given the strip a great look that is different than mine and I’m so excited to see more.   She made the mistake of referring to inking as tracing when we were first talking about it.  I told her to watch Chasing Amy because the “tracer” scene illustrates the frustration of inkers all over the world.  You’re no tracer, Heidi–you’re a badass inker!  So please give a warm welcome to Heidi Rounds who’s work you can look forward to seeing every Friday.  Please drop us a line and let us know what you think.

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