Just show up

 

This story idea was sitting around my desk for a couple months. Maybe more. I had sketched it as rough pencils on photocopy paper and then it was left until I wanted to ink it. But the days just went by and I'd keep seeing it among my pile of papers and books. Sometimes, it would get lost, and then it would emerge again. Why wasn't I just finishing it? I kept thinking that what I'd sketched out was not good enough, it needed more polishing, it needed to be better, it needed this and that.

Recently, I decided that I don't need it to be perfect. I won't aim for that. I would just show up, and work on it, and get it done. And with each comic, I'll get better and better. 

So I pulled out the sketch and continued working on it while my kids were around me, in the midst of all the distractions. I fixed what needed fixing in the pencilling. Then, the next day before dinner, I gave myself an hour, walked down the street to an almost empty food centre (most stalls are not open for dinner), and inked over my rough pencils. Then, I coloured it on Procreate that night after the kids had gone to sleep. I showed up. And it was done. I aim to just show up more often.

So yes, this is what I go through my son when it comes to brushing his teeth. He still bites the brush. Or just refuses to let me hold the brush. And he just chews on it. Not perfect. But I make sure that he shows up to brush his teeth every night.