In one of my scrollholes recently, someone in my feed shared a clip of the great director Akira Kurosawa talking about writing in which he said, “The most essential and necessary thing is the forbearance to face the dull task of writing one word at a time.”

Great quote.

Kurosawa was paraphrasing from Honoré de Balzac’s COUSIN BETTE, who was slightly more flowery about it, at least according to an 1888 translation of the novel from French:

And so forth. I like Kurosawa’s rendition better but the sentiment remains.

It got me reflecting on my “process” and what that stupid word means to me and other writers I know. It’s different for everybody and I think most working writers would tell you the same thing as Kurosawa: the most important part is to learn how to just sit down and write.

My instinct is to call it forming a “habit,” but it’s not really that. It’s more like building muscle. Once you embrace the challenge of building that muscle, you’ll find it becomes easier and easier to flex it when you need to. Like when Bruce Wayne is trapped under that burning beam of Wayne Manor in BATMAN BEGINS and Alfred asks him, “What’s the point of all those push ups if you can’t even lift a bloody log?”

Same idea.

But I say “process,” in quotes, because I think it’s sometimes misrepresented as, like, “Okay… I need to be at this desk, with a stiff whiskey, at sunset, with the white noise machine going, etc., etc.” Whatever the “ideal” circumstances might be to get you in the “zone.”

Except that’s generally a fantasy if you’re a working but non-famous writer with other responsibilities — family, other jobs, etc. It’s more likely you’re fitting in some typing whenever you have a free moment. Maybe it’s between errands on the weekend, in the morning before the family wakes up, or for me, late at night when the house is completely still.

You simply must do the work, one word in front of the last, when you have the opportunity. If you wait for the conditions to be perfect, you’ll wind up with half a dozen flaccid novels that lose steam after 10,000 words or half-baked ideas in your notes app waiting for you to put ‘em back in the oven.

This is the reality of the job. And often, it is like pulling teeth. My wife likes to quote a former writing professor who said “writing is hard and takes a lot of time.” There are no shortcuts to fruitful work despite what the AI hacks would have you believe.

Nothing worth making is easy and that’s how it should be, otherwise nothing means anything. If you have the need to get something out of your system, you will make the time for it however you can — but it helps if you can lock in no matter where you are, so start building that muscle.

Baby steps to the elevator,

-Joey
[email protected]
PO Box 1093, Bath, ME 04530
Buy my comics

CRITICAL SHIT

2025 RINGO AWARDS: If you are an eligible comic book professional — which includes people like press, librarians, academics, teachers — the final day to vote for THE PEDESTRIAN as Best Series in this year’s Ringo Awards is Wednesday, Sept. 17! If you dug the book, we hope you’ll spare a vote for us. So many great books in our category! VOTE HERE!

BALTIMORE COMIC-CON 2025: I’m excited to return to Baltimore Comic-Con this year, where I’ll be set up alongside Sean Von Gorman (of Comics)! I can’t promise I will be as funny or charming as Grover, though. BCC is one of the absolute best comic shows you’ll ever attend, guaranteed. Hope to see you there. Sadly, I won’t be able to make it to NYCC this year, but Sean will be there repping all things PEDESTRIAN!

SOUP DAD MERCH!!! 

Recently I put together a Teepublic store for Soup Dad Comics, my self-publishing imprint, and I’m delighted to have been seeing folks posting their purchases of the AI IS FOR HACKS & FASCISTS shirt. Any money made from these shirts goes directly toward real, live, organic artists.

THE PEDESTRIAN THREADLESS SHOP is still available for all your PEDESTRIAN needs. And as always, if you haven’t snagged a copy of THE PEDESTRIAN yet, it’s available in my web store, online, and on GlobalComix. 

COOL SHIT FROM OTHER PEOPLE

DEATH TO PACHUCO by Henry Barajas and Rachel Merril 

This new book coming from Image/Top Cow woulda caught my eye even if it wasn’t written by karaoke pal Henry Barajas — a 1940s noir set amongst the historical backdrop of an overlooked piece of LA history, the Zoot Suit Riots, a conflict between U.S. Navy servicemen and Mexican-American youth. It’s gonna be one people are talking about for sure. Also, you can read the first issue free online!

SLEEP by Zander Cannon

SLEEP #5 (of 8, I believe?) comes out later this month, but I would urge any horror fan to jump on board ASAP. Zander Cannon is one of the best cartoonists out there, and this book is a slow burn, slice of life horror piece that manages to replicate that uncanny feeling of hallucinating when you’ve been awake too long. Reading this book makes me feel like a teenager trying not to fall asleep so Freddy doesn’t get me, you know? Check it out.

OTHER SHIT I’M WORKING ON

PROJECT SLICE-N-DICE (WFH) — This one’s moving fast — first script is due in just a couple of weeks. Since the last newsletter, I wrote the full outline for the story and the breakdown for an oversized issue #1. This has been a real research wormhole into some of the darkest corners of humanity and I’m excited to share the books I’ve been reading at some point in the future. Playlist is NIN heavy, too. Nightmares have been weird, but the work has been good!

PROJECT HELMET (WFH) — Gavin’s turning in the most killer fucking pages I could imagine. People are gonna freak at how rad his work on this is. News on this one should be out there soon, I think?

MADAM — Look for this on Kickstarter during the Halloween season, where you will finally meet MADAM McQUILLEN. We’ve got some killer artists contributing pin-ups and covers, I’m so excited to finally get this one out there. It’s wicked dark. But I love this character. Have a little sneak peek at Pandamusk’s cover with colors by Ed Ryzowski:

THE PEDESTRIAN  — One last friendly reminder to cast your votes for the Ringo Awards! Also, stay tuned for news about a vertical scroll edition of THE PEDESTRIAN VOL. 1!

PROJECT PUKE — This one continues to float out there in ether gathering it’s-good-but-maybe-not-for-us feedback. This is too important a story for me personally for it not to be in existence, so I’m confident we’ll get it out there one way or another.

SHITKICKERS — Last I heard fulfillment was on track for this month, so keeping my fingers crossed. Looking forward to bringing this to Kickstarter to fund the entire volume in the new year!

Thanks for hanging out. If you have any suggestions or questions, please feel free to drop me a line at [email protected].