out of sight, out of mind

Hey, I'm still here. I'm still working hard, still working hard on a comic strip because that's what I do.
But the work is not ready for prime time; in fact it has 97% chance of failing and never seeing the light of day. Indeed, its immediate predecessor , 5 months worth of work-from April to August 2017--will never be shared-anywhere. And while of course there is some inevitable disappointment in that, it's something I accept as part of the process and the necessary task of "getting it right". I fully expect to work another 6 months to a year on this project before it's shown publicly. And even then, it may not pop its head above sea level. We'll see.
 "Jetpack Jr." was never right. "Babyheads" was better-in that it was itself,  fully realized for what it was, a work of parody and satire. But it lacked characters an audience could connect with, and so it floundered. But looking back on it, I think I achieved what I wanted with the strip-well, at least to some extent.Whether or not I was the only person laughing, I don't know. But  at least I was true to my vision, such as it is.( or was.)
But I don't feel "Jetpack" ever found its groove--primarily because the lead character was an empty vessel. I never found the right voice for him. Only at the end, when I started playing around with Trump as a character, did I feel I'd found an interesting lead. But there were problems with that too---I couldn't keep up with every tweet, every egregious act or statement, and it ultimately felt like a dead end.
So, I decided to pull back and retool. The surprising thing is, I've found I don't miss posting.I don't miss the "likes". I don't miss the scramble for an audience, the pressure to be "seen".  After awhile, as a cartoonist-- whose job it is to be part of the daily media onslaught-- you grow to think life and work and career are nonexistent apart  from those social tools; that you're nowhere unless you're seen on Instagram, FB or Twitter. But the truth is, the work exists independently-- and its failure and success-- as work--can be independent of its visibility. The work comes first. Why share just to share?  In the meantime, I continue to write and sketch and draw and ink and photoshop and when I think I've finally got something, I'll let it go and see how it floats. It might be 3 months, 6 months or a year. But-if it doesn't beat the odds, if like most endeavors it ends up a failed attempt at "something", it'll remain beneath the ocean with all those other beautiful wrecks, those decayed treasures of the imagination.  Wish me luck.