writing woes - the comic strip for writers by Pamela Rice Hahn

MEET THE CHARACTERS:

Meet our main character: Pammy. Like most writers, she spends most of her time writing rough drafts, editing, and doing all the work that it takes to get work. She occasionally gets in "final draft" mode (see method writing).

By the way, that's not some sort of beanie on her head; that's her eraser. (You'll notice by its shape that she seldom literally uses it. Pounding her head on the delete key doesn't change the shape of her eraser.)

Despite any of her claims to the contrary, Pammy is not semi-autobiographical.

Both friend and foe, this is Pammy's muse. (He looks suspiciously
like and similar to her To Do List "ideas.")

Pammy's muse stars in Muse and also appears in Ideas.

Every writer's nemesis: Edith the Editor.

Edith makes her debut in Uh oh -- the editor's here!

Meet Pammy Pencil's decorator friends -- Lowell and Christopher.

(Characters receive arms as needed.)

Get the idea that somebody spends too much time watching HGTV and Discovery Home?

Lowell and Christopher make their debut in Lowell and Christopher's First Decorating Book.

From left to right, these are Pammy's tech writer friends Joe, Eric, and Tom.

They make their debut in Book Party.

This is Preston the poet. He's a bit of a flamboyant character. Poetry Contest Winner explains the look on his face.

These friends -- bestselling authors Richard, Janet, and Jennifer -- have achieved that which Pammy still dreams about. (Pammy, however, only wants fortune. She prefers to leave the fame -- and risk of stalkers -- to others.)

They make their debut in Book Party.

These are some of the kids who occasionally hang around Pammy's kitchen. Left to right, they're Taylor, Charlie, Caleb, Braden, Courtney, and Jemma.

(You can tell that they're kids because they're not yet old enough to stand on their points!)

Meet Thera Pist. When Pammy dons her gray suit and assumes her counter identity, you can be assured that something's inspired her to go to work as an Observational Therapist.

You can see Thera Pist in Rioting Atheists, Oprah, I Believe, Anpao, Newscaster, and Survey.

The Settings:

This is one wall of Pammy's office. Notice the view of the lake outside the window!

This is the room that adjoins Pammy's office -- used in Media Know Nothings.

Once I figure out how to come up with the perspective stuff with which I'm satisfied, I'll eventually use this room to show all of Pammy's writing tools that talk about her behind her back. (Writing tools are NOT passive, you know! Pammy isn't paranoid; she's realistic.)

This is my first computer "coloring" creation, circa 1997. (Unfortunately, I wasn't smart enough to save the enlarged original in high resolution. I only saved the resized jpeg.)

You'll notice this picture on the wall of the room that adjoins the office. A "print" also appears in Lowell and Christopher's shabby chic historical reproduction room.

This blue rose image also shows up in some of my Chronic Illness Realities comic strips.

This is my first (and only) creation done in PhotoShop. I now use Paint Shop Pro. That "drawing" is adapted from a picture of me. It's part of a banner on this page (which is in dire need of updating).