This is the thin 3-ring binder I bought from a dollar store near work and filled it with 97¢ worth of looseleaf paper in order to work out the story of The Teenage Beast. I am writing an outline for what will probably be a novella and have done a very rough first draft of the first chapter. I’m doing all of this longhand which greatly reduces the possibility of those outside distractions I wrote about last week.
I’ve slipped a color laser printout of my Teenage Beast drawing into the front of the binder in order to identify the contents. I’m pleased with the way this looks. It’s a hell of a lot better than a Dymo label. It makes it feel real like it’s a genuine product that will sit on a shelf.
Of late, I have been bedeviled by procrastination and waiting for inspiration like a train that is never going to come. Maybe a more apt metaphor is the train is sitting on the tracks, but it’s not moving. When times are good, it was just a matter of touching the pen to paper and the drawings or ideas would just flow. That isn’t the case right now, but I don’t want to just put my sketchbook aside and wait for the lightbulb to ignite above my head. I think I may have to step off of that stalled train, get behind it and push. 
