Deadlines

Leech left a comment regarding "Naptime", where he said:

When I see posts where people are apologizing like this, I want to slap them. Don't apologize to us about this! You do have a life outside of this stuff :P

I take his meaning, and while I treasure the sentiment, I have to disagree for a very basic reason: This blog is a social contract between me, the writer, and you, my readers. I have promised that, six times a week, I will write something of interest, and in return you will read it and shower me with adulation. If I do not adhere my terms of the contract, I don't deserve readers.

Wow, Palette, don't you think that's a little uptight of you?

Not at all! You see, this isn't a hobby for me. I am trying to be an honest-to-goodness professional writer here. My dream is that, one day, I am paid actual money to write.

And if I can't deliver something as simple as a 250 word article every day, then I don't deserve that dream.

Like most of you, I enjoy reading webcomics. In fact, I have a sense of entitlement about them: if your posting schedule is M-W-F, then by GOD you'd better have a new comic up on your webpage come 8 am! I read my newspaper funnies, then I read my web funnies. If you don't post your comic until noon, or 5 pm, or (God help you) 11:59 pm, then guess what? You aren't on a M-W-F schedule, you're on a T-Th-Sat schedule.

Some webcomic artists are really good about being punctual, like Penny Arcade and Sinfest. They are like clockwork. Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance not only has a regular schedule, but manages to get guest artists for when he goes on vacation. My idol, however, has to be Howard Taylor of Schlock Mercenary, who not only has worked so far ahead that he has a buffer zone of about a month, but who also has the balls to post a new strip at 9 pm every night, seven nights a week. This man is a god, and I worship at the feet of his work ethic.

Then there are the other comics. You know the ones I mean. The ones that, despite a half-assed publishing schedule, somehow manage to be successful enough that their creators can make a living with them. I don't read those webcomics any more, because I got tired of them not updating their strips for three days.

I refuse to be one of those people. That's why I apologize when I'm late.

I don't know if I'll ever have a safety net of pre-written blog posts. It's certainly something to which I aspire. But if I am late, I don't want any of you to EVER go easy on me.

Without my readers, I am nothing.
Demand what you deserve: nothing less than my very best.