There is no more tightly wound screaming maniac than a producer that isn’t getting great dialog and musical hits. Your reward for succeeding is more work.
Has Mallett taken any vacations? Some of the single panels I follow here (Close to Home, Looks Good on Paper, Off the Mark, Argyle Sweater) do reruns of old strips periodically, but I don’t think I’ve seen any reruns in Frazz.
I’m pretty sure Mallett doesn’t write a strip a day. This run for example may have been all written and drawn a week ago. And in this day and age he could be hatching these little gems from anywhere in the world and sending them in. Like the little girl said, Mallett surely gets more vacation time and opportunity than the average working stiff. Taking nothing away from the creativity and disciple needed to produce one of these a day, for what, close to twenty years now?
If I may indulge in a bit of self-evaluation: This punch line is funny, but it’s a lot of hooey. You don’t write 365 strips a year, and you especially don’t write the same number of little blogs to go with those strips, without being disciplined. I suspect writing enough songs to make an impact or a living is the same way.
That said, I’m hardly the only cartoonist who went into the business thrilled with the notion of having full control over my time, of rewarding long bursts of intense production with correspondingly long stretches of … let’s not call it vacation. Or travel. Or sabbatical. It’s kind of all those things, more, and none. And while we’re at it, let’s call the notion … false.
Art and writing are weird in that they require the kind of focus that doesn’t look like focus and require — or at least encourage — the kind of discipline that doesn’t look like discipline. For most people, daydreaming is the opposite of focus. For a writer, it’s a vital component of writing itself. Distractability doesn’t look like focus until you realize you can’t write something out of nothing, that you have to gather material. And being what we charitably call deadline-oriented looks wholly undisciplined, until you see that deadline-oriented person methodically making sure the material going out is crafted as tightly and cleanly as possible in the time allotted.
To be fair, it’s still doing it not entirely right. Down time is crucial to the creative brain, and I, for one, owe myself a lot more than I’m coming up with. (Exhausted-after-scrambling-to-get-stuff-done-at-the-last-minute time off is not really in the spirit of it all.) I clearly need to tweak the system, but I’ve got plenty of discipline. To paraphrase Homer Simpson’s ode to alcohol, To discipline! The cause of, and solution to, all of my problems.
My musical friends, the ones who write new music, say that it’s as much habit as talent. When they started, they’d think and think and come up with a tune. Now, when the kid kicks up a fuss about feeding time, “Aha, THERE’s a tune” … named Gus Fuss, and when they went whale watching in rough weather, a tune named Heave Together was one of the results.
pschearer Premium Member over 4 years ago
Not exactly breaking the Fourth Wall, but definitely leaving it dented.
PoodleGroomer over 4 years ago
There is no more tightly wound screaming maniac than a producer that isn’t getting great dialog and musical hits. Your reward for succeeding is more work.
sandpiper over 4 years ago
for a successful musician cum custodian, vacations probably are extemporaneous and taken on the bounce.
The Brooklyn Accent over 4 years ago
Has Mallett taken any vacations? Some of the single panels I follow here (Close to Home, Looks Good on Paper, Off the Mark, Argyle Sweater) do reruns of old strips periodically, but I don’t think I’ve seen any reruns in Frazz.
cervelo over 4 years ago
I’m pretty sure Mallett doesn’t write a strip a day. This run for example may have been all written and drawn a week ago. And in this day and age he could be hatching these little gems from anywhere in the world and sending them in. Like the little girl said, Mallett surely gets more vacation time and opportunity than the average working stiff. Taking nothing away from the creativity and disciple needed to produce one of these a day, for what, close to twenty years now?
Scott S over 4 years ago
I hope they aren’t going to Florida. Otherwise they’re about to get a huge monkey wrench in their plans.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] over 4 years ago
Frazz14 hrs ·
If I may indulge in a bit of self-evaluation: This punch line is funny, but it’s a lot of hooey. You don’t write 365 strips a year, and you especially don’t write the same number of little blogs to go with those strips, without being disciplined. I suspect writing enough songs to make an impact or a living is the same way.
That said, I’m hardly the only cartoonist who went into the business thrilled with the notion of having full control over my time, of rewarding long bursts of intense production with correspondingly long stretches of … let’s not call it vacation. Or travel. Or sabbatical. It’s kind of all those things, more, and none. And while we’re at it, let’s call the notion … false.
Art and writing are weird in that they require the kind of focus that doesn’t look like focus and require — or at least encourage — the kind of discipline that doesn’t look like discipline. For most people, daydreaming is the opposite of focus. For a writer, it’s a vital component of writing itself. Distractability doesn’t look like focus until you realize you can’t write something out of nothing, that you have to gather material. And being what we charitably call deadline-oriented looks wholly undisciplined, until you see that deadline-oriented person methodically making sure the material going out is crafted as tightly and cleanly as possible in the time allotted.
To be fair, it’s still doing it not entirely right. Down time is crucial to the creative brain, and I, for one, owe myself a lot more than I’m coming up with. (Exhausted-after-scrambling-to-get-stuff-done-at-the-last-minute time off is not really in the spirit of it all.) I clearly need to tweak the system, but I’ve got plenty of discipline. To paraphrase Homer Simpson’s ode to alcohol, To discipline! The cause of, and solution to, all of my problems.
soaringblocks over 4 years ago
I’m so thankful you are here. I appreciate all the thought and care and humor you put in each strip. I hope you get to enjoy the fruit of your labor.
Concretionist over 4 years ago
My musical friends, the ones who write new music, say that it’s as much habit as talent. When they started, they’d think and think and come up with a tune. Now, when the kid kicks up a fuss about feeding time, “Aha, THERE’s a tune” … named Gus Fuss, and when they went whale watching in rough weather, a tune named Heave Together was one of the results.