{"id":45372,"date":"2025-07-24T07:21:19","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T11:21:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/?p=45372"},"modified":"2025-07-24T11:09:18","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T15:09:18","slug":"keeping-good-habits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/07\/24\/keeping-good-habits\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping Good Habits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

This is the thin 3-ring binder I bought from a dollar store near work and filled it with 97\u00a2 worth of looseleaf paper in order to work out the story of The Teenage Beast<\/em>. 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I’ve slipped a color laser printout of my Teenage Beast<\/em> drawing<\/a> 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<\/a>. It makes it feel real like it’s a genuine product that will sit on a shelf.<\/p>\n

\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"

Punk Rock Girl<\/p><\/div>\n

Teenage Beast<\/em> has mostly sprung from the pages of sketchbooks both new and very old. It’s been a lot of fun, but sometimes I run out of gas and the blank page of the sketchbook stares back. I want to keep some creative momentum going so if drawing isn’t working out, I’ll turn to writing in the notebooks in order to build up the story. The writing in turn will give a direction to the drawings. Rather than drawing something and shoehorning it into the story, I’ll figure out what needs to be drawn first.<\/p>\n

If I stall out on Teenage Beast<\/em>, I have other stories that I have been developing on and off, here and there over the past few decades. I’ve been stockpiling notions and ideas in various notebooks since I took a creative writing class back in tenth grade. It’s a slog reading through these notebooks particularly the ones from high school, but occasionally I come across a nugget amidst all of the dirt.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, I want to stay busy. I want to fill the sketchbooks with my drawings and the notebooks with my writing. I want to do what I should be doing instead of falling down the rabbit hole of Youtube videos and streaming shows.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is the thin 3-ring binder I bought from a dollar store near work and filled it with 97\u00a2 worth of looseleaf paper in order to work out the story of The Teenage Beast. I am writing an outline for … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":45373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3949,7,49,16,26],"tags":[158,17,4542,3199,907,5982,76,3661,5,4743,5981,2143,5465,25,5937,480,5983,5978],"class_list":["post-45372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-design","category-illustration","category-it-came-from-the-sketchbook","category-sketch","category-stuff-joe-likes","tag-analog","tag-cartoon","tag-cheap-sketchbook","tag-creature","tag-drawing","tag-habit","tag-horror","tag-illustration","tag-joe-williams","tag-notes","tag-novella","tag-punk","tag-short-story","tag-sketchbook","tag-teenage-beast","tag-usa","tag-wasting-time","tag-writing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1ed1x-bNO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":48387,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/09\/22\/teenage-beast-the-tuesday-doodle\/","url_meta":{"origin":45372,"position":0},"title":"Teenage Beast: The Tuesday Doodle","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"September 22, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The writing of my Teenage Beast novel continues as I work my way into the second draft. I'm spending my first waking hour working away at it. It's becoming more cohesive, and I'll get there. Slow and steady wins the race. At night, I crack open the sketchbooks and visit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Doodle Tuesday"","block_context":{"text":"Doodle Tuesday","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/doodle-tuesday\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Bobby-Mid-Transformation-web.jpg?fit=640%2C880&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Bobby-Mid-Transformation-web.jpg?fit=640%2C880&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Bobby-Mid-Transformation-web.jpg?fit=640%2C880&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48355,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/09\/16\/teenage-beast-102-days-later\/","url_meta":{"origin":45372,"position":1},"title":"Teenage Beast: 102 Days Later","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"September 16, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"I started writing Teenage Beast on June 7th of this year as a lark. It was going to be a comic book script, but as I started writing scene directions, I found myself getting more and more into the heads of the characters. Either it was going to be a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "It Came From the Sketchbook"","block_context":{"text":"It Came From the Sketchbook","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/My-Sweet-Embraceable-You-02.jpg?fit=640%2C904&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/My-Sweet-Embraceable-You-02.jpg?fit=640%2C904&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/My-Sweet-Embraceable-You-02.jpg?fit=640%2C904&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48256,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/08\/27\/teenage-beast-the-home-stretch\/","url_meta":{"origin":45372,"position":2},"title":"Teenage Beast: The Home Stretch","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"August 27, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I finished the main body of the first draft of my horror novel, Teenage Beast. Tomorrow, I will start the epilogue, which will hopefully tie the story up in a nice little bow. Then I will start polishing this thing with another draft or three. I will probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "It Came From the Sketchbook"","block_context":{"text":"It Came From the Sketchbook","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/In-the-tall-grass-det.jpg?fit=640%2C349&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/In-the-tall-grass-det.jpg?fit=640%2C349&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/In-the-tall-grass-det.jpg?fit=640%2C349&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48527,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/10\/28\/teenage-beast-four-months-twenty-one-days-and-three-drafts-in\/","url_meta":{"origin":45372,"position":3},"title":"Teenage Beast: Four Months, Twenty-One Days and Three Drafts In","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"October 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"It's been a while since I posted, but work continues on Teenage Beast. My morning ritual continues, and I'm now into the third draft, which is something I never imagined I'd be saying when I started writing this thing back in June. What began as a comic book script has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "It Came From the Sketchbook"","block_context":{"text":"It Came From the Sketchbook","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/In-the-tall-grass-2.jpg?fit=800%2C1113&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/In-the-tall-grass-2.jpg?fit=800%2C1113&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/In-the-tall-grass-2.jpg?fit=800%2C1113&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/In-the-tall-grass-2.jpg?fit=800%2C1113&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":46763,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2025\/12\/31\/the-last-of-2025\/","url_meta":{"origin":45372,"position":4},"title":"The Last of 2025","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"December 31, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"I figured I would wind up the year with another drawing of the Teenage Beast. I've been a little lax lately with the drawing as I've allowed myself to become sidetracked by my other obsession which is computers. Once I claw my way out of this particular digital rabbit hole,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Illustration"","block_context":{"text":"Illustration","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/illustration\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/last-of-2025-det.jpg?fit=640%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/last-of-2025-det.jpg?fit=640%2C300&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/last-of-2025-det.jpg?fit=640%2C300&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":48205,"url":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/2026\/08\/20\/teenage-beast-words-and-pictures\/","url_meta":{"origin":45372,"position":5},"title":"Teenage Beast: Words and Pictures","author":"Joe_Williams","date":"August 20, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"As I have written before, I have been writing a horror novel -- Teenage Beast -- since June 7th and frankly, I am surprised by my progress. I thought I would spend several days staring at a flashing cursor, not knowing what I would peck out on my keyboard. After\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "It Came From the Sketchbook"","block_context":{"text":"It Came From the Sketchbook","link":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/category\/it-came-from-the-sketchbook\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GET-SET-GO.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GET-SET-GO.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GET-SET-GO.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GET-SET-GO.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GET-SET-GO.jpg?fit=1200%2C760&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/three-ring-binder-outline.jpg?fit=640%2C751&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/willceau.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}