As I'm reading this book recommended by Obsy ("The Year of Living Biblically") I'm getting a good taste of an interesting and inspiring style of self-journaling.  Inspiring, I say, because it makes me want to emulate it in my own blogging efforts.

Yesterday I was inspired to work on two separate creative venues and I mentioned it in my vlog.  The first came shortly after taking in the success of the Brotherhood miniseries--I wanted to do another one, a short series of episodes somewhere in the 2 minute ballpark, that would provide an opportunity to play with another youtuber.

It's like the Talking Heads miniseries only, well, mini-er.

I had a person in mind already and I was pretty sure she'd be hip to the project.  Plus, my plan was to produce the videos on my end and then let her host them on her channel, thereby FINALLY giving me an opportunity to pilfer her subscribers.  She knows who she is and you can probably take a fairly deadly stab at her identity.

I wrote the scripts last night.  It was Friday night, so I know I wanted to stay up late since there was no work in the morning.  And I wrote.  I used the Brotherhood scripts as the basis to get me started and my initial concept of theoretically having the people of Krumbination wage war with another YouTube-based community (previously discussed in the whole Nerfighters vs. Krumbination story).  The later it got, the sillier some of the bits in the scripts ended up being.  I reread the four scripts today and thought they were just shy of brilliant.  I love how they progress and the ending--although slightly accidental--was inspired genius.

I sent the scripts off to my potential collaber with the following notes:

1. You can tell it was getting REALLY late when I finished writing this.

2. I did pound this all out in one sitting.  I haven't written something that quickly in a while, so that in and of itself obligates you to do it.

3. I will handle all the production of this show, but you will host it on your channel.  It's high time I steal some of your subs.

4. Enjoy.  I wrote it for you.

... I haven't heard back from her yet.

The second venue I wanted to work on was the Zaphod Zombie comic.  For some reason, this one has been difficult for me to get started on.  Which was weird, considering how similar the writing process was (and is) to my miniseries.

My goal was to hash out some of the ideas last night after I finished writing the other miniseries.  The lack of movement in the world of zombie stories and jokes prompted me to acknowledge the lateness of the night and how tired I was and I decided upon going to bed.  I diligently mulled over different angles for attacking the comic project as I (very quickly) drifted off to sleep.

Today, after watching the West Wing and wasting away the large part of my day on nothing whatsoever, I retired to my office to tackle the zombie comic again.  This time, I hunkered down and wasn't going to quit until I had something I could at least work with.

I didn't write anything at all ... at first.  I paced the small room, playing with one of my tennis balls, and talking out the key elements of the comic.

"Zombies are people, too.  Zaphod is unemployed and rents a closet from Kurt.  Kurt works in an office job and hates his boss and gets paid too little money to cover his expenses which is why he rents his extra room to Beanie Boy.  Beanie Boy doesn't work.  But he always has money.  Maybe he has a rich, dead uncle.  Beanie Boy should be constantly trying to get Zaphod to be in the movies he posts on YouTube.  Kurt is the straight man.  Zaphod's passion is music.  But how do I start things off?  I already started the comic.  How do I continue it?  How do I start off the continuation?"

I literally went round and around in circles, mentally and physically (around the room) trying to come up with a starting point.  I finally sat down at the keyboard and pounded out a short scene that had Beanie Boy trying to convince Zaphod to be in a series called the "Brain Game" and Zaphod getting pissed about the zombie stereotypes.  Then I wrote the second script about Zaphod having a hard time living in a closet.  At which point a took a break and watched a video or two on YouTube.

One video that I watched was by an up-and-comer vlogger, zed2six.  His video was about his idea for a new kind of porn and it very quickly reminded me of my whole concept of a studio that exclusively produces two-minute pornos.

And then I had it.  The perfect angle for the Zaphod Zombie comic.  A seed of a story-line that would tap into all the core aspects of the character of Zaphod: sex-deprived and horny, trying to make it in the real world, constantly at battle with zombie stereotypes, and finally doing something with his unemployed ass.  And penis.

I quickly wrote the next two scripts and then proceeded to format the scripts and divide them up into panels.  It was with a great deal of satisfaction that I finally pulled away from the computer and moved onto something else.

A sizeable amount of groundwork has been laid for two exciting projects.  If I do nothing else today, I know that at very least I lived up the creed.

What have you done creatively today?