IS ANYONE GOING TO SEE THIS? is the ongoing transcription of Tim’s ever-present neuroses as he authors his first full length graphic novel, THIS IS NOT YOUR PLANET.

“This Is Not Your Planet." That’s the title of the graphic novel I’m currently writing? The question mark is there because I'm actually in the process of PRE-writing which, basically , means … brainstorming? Formulating? Trying out titles? In short, it’s not fully realized. But I do have a title. And it’s pulling double duty as both a way to acknowledge the project and a hanging commentary on its chosen medium.

See, to present any idea you have to choose its medium. For this one, an off broadway production seemed too far from my current zip code. And an indie-funded feature film was a wad too big to blow right now. What I needed was a medium whose final production was actually achievable . I grew up reading Transformers comics which then became X-men comics which were followed by Sandman which led to Love And rockets until, eventually, my bookshelf was buckling under the prestige-bound weight of so many graphic novels. So. yeah I love the medium.

But… as it’s probably worth mentioning … I’m not a visual artist. I have some idea of layout, but I can’t draw it . Or ink it. Or color it. And those are the key creative skills necessary for a graphic novel. So, in choosing this medium I have placed my project somewhere most certainly NOT the terrestrial planet of my given skill set (which, according to Linkdin, consists of dialogue, character names and thematiocally appropriate playlists). But it’s that deficit of creative ability has led me to preemptively kick myself into a proper New Year’s resolution… be it seven days late.

You see, last year, I started the year at a much bulkier weight. So I told myself, as a New Year's resolution, no more donuts in 2024. I work an overnight job and, when I would get out at seven in the morning, its pretty easy to walk up a block and reward myself with a donut or crueller or bear claw or muffin or second donut for breakfast. I wound up doin this a lot. It was comfort food. It was also the main source of the weight and self loathing I was struggling with. So… I did what we all do in the first few minutes of a January 1st hang-over… I flushed the previous nights binge drinks down the toilet, and made a single, solitary resolution for the new year.

Normally I would have resolved to “eat better,” get in shape”or “learn to at least like your self” , all of which are vague, concepts to try and govern a obsessive-compulsive. But something inside me spoke up and sid.. quite simply “ stop eating doughnuts.” That was it. My single resolution. And, 366 days later (because it was THAT unfortunate voting year), I had eaten a total two donuts. I had (pretty much) held to the resolution because … it was a measurable specific.

And so this year, 2025, seven days ago, when I sat down and made a new resolution, it wasn't “get your comic book published” it wasn’t “become a full time writer” it was the very specific of “find the artist to collaborate on this graphic novel with.” Bbecause that's the element I don't have. That's the element I need to look for, and that's the person that I'm gonna bounce more ideas off, so sure. I'm isolated right now. Sure. I'm standing by myself right now. Sure, this project at the moment is still very lonely because I need to process the whole thing, get the first draft up and running to kind of get an idea of what the whole plot, who the characters are and what the story would be so that when I do decide to go and seek out an author, I can say "here, this is my proposal. This is the story. Would you and how would you like to work on this?”

So that's the resolution. I don't know if it means the graphic novel will be published. I don't know if it will be published this year. I don't know how far along it gets, but it definitely is the reality of finding the artist, because I have chosen a medium that I foolishly can't fully complete. But if my drooling appetite for donuts could be swept aside and actually lead to success to some degree, perhaps the same process, which I amm going to continue cataloguing every day, through a blog post, of writing a story that requires the collaboration of an artist, if I can say this year I find and work with that artist, maybe just maybe the other parts of becoming an artist who wrote this will happen. Or maybe, just, maybe stick figures.