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BASED ON REAL LIFE EVENTS!

Yep. I was on my lunch break at work writing as I do every lunch hour when a screaming kid ran around the tiny restaurant. The parents were in a deep conversation with the kid’s aunt. Every once in a while they would look over at the kid and laugh thinking he or she was so cute. I say “he or she” because the kid was maybe three years old and you could not tell what the gender was. The kid went from table to table slapping everyone which made the parents laugh even louder.

Rude?

Yes, it was rude, but to me it was a welcome burst of inspiration. Within seconds, this gag was in my head. Writing for me goes like this. Oh, this is great! I will have Charmy in a restaurant with a kid running around. He’ll be on a date. Oh, wait, I did a gag with Charmy on a date with a screaming kid in the background. Oh…. wait! I had a gag a few months ago about Weaver going on a blind date. Yeah! This is Weaver’s strip and he is now on that blind date. OH!!!! The screaming kid ends up being his date’s kid because she could not find a sitter. DONE! Now storyboard it out so it is funny.

That is how it works!!!

Pretty cool?

Now YOU know my secret. That is how every comic strip evolves. It literally takes me a few minutes with each gag once that inspiration strikes. Inspiration strikes me all the time so writing is so easy. God has Blessed me with one crazy situation after another during my various excursions. I never run out of material so long as I continue marveling at life around me. You are all my inspiration.

Pay attention to your life and soak it all in!

My son graduated Friday night. Travis is the youngest of my two sons. Both boys are now out of High School. As he walked across that stage and grabbed his diploma, I felt so proud of him and so happy for all the joy he and my other son, Zachary gave me over the course of two decades. Both were astounding athletes and I was one of those rare dad’s that did everything he could to soak in every second of the experience. I never missed a school game. I only missed a two club soccer games due to comic con commitments and I missed three tournament games in high school because they were early in the morning and I could not get off work. It was super important to me that I was there at every game to express my love and support for my sons and their team. As Travis walked across that stage I was so proud and so sad that all those memories are just that now…. memories. They are the greatest memories I will ever have. Memories beginning with their birth and the first time each squeezed my finger to the time each walked across that stage and received their diploma.

I soaked it all in. The feeling is euphoric.

I am so looking forward to their futures and hop to continue being a part of their lives as they continue with college studies and beginning their own independent life. I will forever miss coaching their basketball and their soccer teams. My greatest achievement in life will always be from my coaching days as I taught life lessons to the kids along with the basic sporting fundamentals. I hope to now focus all that energy into my comic strip for everyone.

My road to success being a cartoonist is such a steep uphill climb. I have chosen a dream that is dang near impossible these days. I took a hard look at my progress over the past eight years only to realize that I am nowhere closer to being a real success. Succeeding in this industry does not appear to be in my future which motivates the heck out of me.

What? How does that motivate me?

I look at my sons and I know they too are looking at their futures thinking their journeys seem impossible. I recall the fear I had after high school and after college. My determination to succeed grows as I want to be inspiration to my two sons. If I can now do the impossible and get my comic strip syndicated, I will prove that the impossible is possible with hard work and a positive attitude.

Watch out everyone. As in the infamous words of Gregory Shane Helms, “Stand back! There is a hurricane coming through!” My comic strip, Charmy’s Army, is that hurricane and they are a Cat 5.