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Ring Psychology

by Aaron Hall

Volume Fifteen: Learn to Juggle Writing, like any other artistic or creative undertaking, is far from an exact science. I in no way believe myself to be a master of the game or a voice of authority on the dos and don’ts of writing. This column is simply me sharing with all of you some of the things that I’ve picked up along the way that seem to help me out. Use them, abuse them, make fun of them, or sell them on eBay. Now, on to the article! “Learn to Juggle” Ah, the glorious past time of juggling. Done for centuries to entertain kings and their most important visitors, juggling is a skill known by few but admired by many. As a writer/creator, you need to learn to juggle. You won’t be juggling swords or even flaming bottles (even though that would be awesome), you’ll be juggling projects. And you won’t be doing it for kings and their important visitors, you’ll be doing it for your editor, your boss, your clients, and even for yourself. So put on your jesters hats and follow me. No creative person only has one idea. If you have just one idea and think you’re a creative person, I’m really sorry to be the one to break it to you, but you’re not. You’re just a guy with an idea. Creative people have hundreds of thousands of ideas. Daily. I forget ten times as many comic book ideas as I remember. And that’s just the creative stuff. I also have to work on my journalism work and also my burgeoning professional writing career. While it’s always nice to keep things separated, it just doesn’t always work out like that. I really wanted to be writing my original graphic novel right now, but I had to shift gears and get this article done. So, in a sense, I had to throw the graphic novel into the air for now. But wait; now my boss needs me to come up with some new marketing material to send to a new client in Denver. Gotta throw my journalism work into the air for a bit. Finished with the marketing material? Okay now I can catch the journalism stuff and finish it up. Oh but wait, I need to do a short story for a contest. Throw the journalism back into the air. Are you with me here? Juggling tasks is one of the most important things you can learn to do. But just knowing how to throw the tasks up to make room for another won’t help much, you have to know how to catch them too. Catching tasks is a lot like shifting gears in a car. I can start out driving slow, just cruising in first gear. Then slam on the gas, switching up to second, then third gear. Slam on the brakes and listen as your car quickly shifts down, back to first gear. Your engine is designed to do this, to adapt and switch gears at a moment’s notice. Unfortunately, the human brain isn’t always as adept at this skill. It’s hard for some people to go from writing a crazy fantasy comic book script one minute to writing a sales ad for a florist the next minute. You have to shift your mind into a different gear. It’s not the easiest thing to do at first, but as with anything in life, with practice it gets easier. And it’s much better than not catching whatever it is you’re juggling. There’s nothing quite as sad as watching that graphic novel you were juggling come crashing to the floor, busting and breaking and spilling out everywhere. I always try to bring these articles around so that even if you’re someone who doesn’t write or create, you can still get something out of it. This week is no different. Juggling tasks is a part of life. It may not be creative projects for you; it may be work, family, friends, and entertainment. We all have these things in the air and learning to properly manage the juggling of them makes life a little bit easier. And in the case of the creative types, it makes you a better, more efficient writer. The catch? Nobody’s perfect. When you do inevitably drop one of the things you’re juggling, just bend down, pick it up, brush it off, and start again. Everyone drops one sometime, but not everyone is able to pick it up and put it back together and start again. Don’t let one mistake derail you. The world deserves to see the things you’re working on. So stick with it and finish them. Until next time, this is the man known only as la luna cacciatore’ and the kid who threw gum at your mom when she was twenty three years old, Aaron Hall, signing off. If you have any questions or comments about creating comics feel free to email them to freejenkins@gmail.com and I’ll answer them right here in this very column because yes, I care about you that much.