I already regret this
I am sitting in the yard, it is a perfect day, I have been writing comics script for 4 hours, I’m feeling accomplished and confident. It’s warm, I’ve had a beer, I’m feeling a little buzzed. My kids are away, my wife is away, I’m off work for another 24 hours, no music gigs for 2 months, I’ve fed the frog and bought cat litter and we’ve paid tuition and I changed the oil in the car. I totally didn’t do that last part but I paid someone to do it. I don’t even have to worry about street cleaning parking cause my family took both cars for the weekend. I avoided the Presidential Debate and I choose to believe it never happened. Add it all up and at this moment I may have as few responsibilities as I’ve had since before medical school, 26 years ago.
So I’m about to make a mistake.
Uh oh…
You can already guess.
Can I?
Let’s just get it out there.
Please stop.
I’m starting a new relationship.
No…
With you, gentle reader.
Lap top off, now!
I’m making you my accountability partner.
Gross…
Yeah, you know what I’m saying.
Such a bad idea.
See I really want to get my comic book stories, By the Time I Get to Dallas and The Trait Project, done. And I want to keep my readers involved as I do it so they don’t forget what the hell this whole thing is about. So maybe by sharing with you on a real time basis what I’m doing and how it is going, it will push and inspire me to work harder and faster.
Maybe.
I’m about to make a mistake.
Seriously, don’t do it.
How would we consummate this partnership? There’s only one way, and it’s hard core.
Please don’t say—
An accountability chart.
I’m leaving.
Nothing fancy, mind you, but maybe just a simple spreadsheet showing my writing punch list. Definitely not a pie chart, we’re not there yet. I mistyped that last sentence and it came out “pain chart”.
Yes, it could be a pain chart.
You are a moron.
I changed my mind, I’m not doing this. I’m scared. I don’t like adventures.
But if I did do this, it could be something like this. I guess.
And by publishing from Google Sheets as a webpage it should update in realtime so when you’re bored you can check in and see how hard I’ve been working.
You are such a loser.
I mean, that is pretty slick.
Okay, the realtime updating is kind of cool. Almost like it makes you WANT to make progress…
Ah, see, it’s working already.
See you soon, partner.
Creep.
Colin Devonshire
Colin is an emergency physician in Boston, Massachusetts. The seeds of his comics project were sown when he took a sabbatical from the ER for creative writing. His creative non-fiction has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.