In 2006, when I had come very close to calling my agent and telling him I needed to take a break, NaNoWriMo was where I found my inspiration again.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
Fortunately or unfortunately, NaNoWriMo requires you to write at a breakneck pace, so I got used to just pushing on through.
When I understood the rudiments of what nanotech was all about, I knew I wanted to participate.
Over a four-month period, I sat down and wrote every day. And then there was a novel, and all of a sudden, there were agents and offers.
I'm never short of inspiration. There are always new ideas - and new adventures.
I don't expect to find inspiration. It just sort of comes. Sometimes you step on a bug and you get inspired.
I was sort of on a mission with 'American Splendor.' I wanted to try to prove that comics could do things. I wanted to expand them beyond superheroes and talking animals. And I knew that was going to take a long time. But I just started writing an autobiography about my quotidian life.
I had been saying to myself for a good many years that I was really a writer and that I was in advertising temporarily.
And then I think they asked me to work on Wish You Were Here, which was the next album coming up. And I didn't do anything for a long time. I had other projects, and I didn't get around to doing anything for a bit.
I went to find myself and save myself by being an agent.
When inspiration does not come, I go for a walk, go to the movie, talk to a friend, let go... The muse is bound to return again, especially if I turn my back!