Allen Fumbanks writes to ask…
I am long time reader of your blog. I hope that this is not too personal a question (if it is, please accept my apologies and delete this email) but I am curious as to what your work schedule looks like. I know that you write your blog, voice direct and write/story edit Garfield, collaborate on Groo, write books, write TV scripts, attend conventions, do video commentaries (I liked what you had to say on the Popeye DVDs) eat, sleep and post the occasional soup can on you blog. I am someone who always worked a standard workday/week and even knowing that you have described that as a professional writer you worked to have multiple income streams and embrace your professional independence, I still cannot fully understand (though I greatly admire) how you juggle such a multitude of activities.
Well, you may be overestimating the multitude. I average about one video commentary per year and about three conventions. The Garfield Show has been on hiatus for a year or two though I believe we are soon to resume production. Then again, I also write lots of stuff that you never hear about at the time and if it doesn't get published or produced, you might never hear about it.
What does my schedule look like? I've never had one, nor can I imagine how I could. What needs to be done and when is constantly changing so I get up in the morning, I look at the list and think, "I'd better try to get that done today" and then I try to get that done today. I don't know any other way to do it.
I sleep 5-6 hours a night, lately from about 2 AM to 7 or 8 in the morning, though certain kinds of work tend to shift later. When I'm on Garfield duty, I tend to work 'til 4 AM because that puts me more or less in sync with Jim Davis (who gets up early in the Eastern Time Zone) and the producers in Paris. My best work times are early morn and late at night and I usually start out in the morning by "sketching" (writing for this blog) and answering e-mail. But I've been known to work around the clock. Whatever it takes.
One nice thing about having multiple assignments is that when you're feeling blocked on one, you can sometimes shift over to another and spend a few hours on that one. Last year, I wrote something that was full of sex scenes and naughty words and I was switching off working on a cartoon script for very young kids. My Spell Checker got very confused.
I do like to finish something just before I go to bed. If it can't be a script, I write a blog post…like, say, this one. Good night.
