Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 19, 2022

Hemingway did his best work that way.

Suspense thriller.

As someone who’s been overwhelmed with too many creative projects and unsure of which one to focus on, I feel you Calvin.

This is the story of a boy who does things at the last minute and as a result, ends up failing despite his “best efforts” to finish.

whatever floats your boat, Calvin

I’m familiar with that mood, but when it came to creative writing, I often preferred to get right on it instead.

Last-minute for Calvin means on the bus to school.

Tom Wolfe made sure he had deadlines imposed on him and that’s how he got writing done on time.

If Calvin was older. He and Peter Fox would be the best of friends.

Panic is the mother of invention.

As a freelance writer, I approve this message.

Adrenaline is a great substitute for caffeine when you don’t have enough money for coffee or Mountain Dew. Or so I’ve been told (cough-cough).

Isn’t Calvin a little too old to be playing in a sandbox??

I wonder if Calvin might be related to Adam@Home.

That was my formula for homework/projects, too

Sometimes he hits a seven, sometimes snake eyes. But, in the true tradition of the addicted gambler, he is compelled to keep throwing the dice.

Worked for me.

When I was in 8th grade I had to do a creative writing assignment for Language Arts (they call it ELA now), and I kept putting it off, and then it was the day the assignment was due and I hadn’t done anything. I had gym class right before Language Arts, and for whatever reason, we got a free day to do whatever we wanted, so I sat on the risers and wrote out this story, and then I turned it in. And the teacher graded it and I got an A+ and she said it was the most creative story she’d read.

I called it Last Minute Panic and I am pretty sure this particular comic strip was the inspiration for that title.

I use the Edison approach to creativity: 99% perspiration, 1% inspiration.

I load up my left brain with facts and then turn it off and let the right brain take over.

My left brain is like the garage of the neighbor you hate because everything has a place and everything is in it’s place and not a single piece of junk anywhere. Left brain logic is nearly perfect. My left brain has a grasp on reality,

My right brain is like a teenager’s room. The first thing the right brain does when handed a jig saw puzzle of a problem is dump all the contents and throw away the box. Right brain logic is almost non-existent. My right brain is a world of unicorns, dragons and things that are impossible.

Fortunately, the two halves are on speaking terms.

When it comes to creative writing, Sybil has nothing on me when it comes to having multiple personalities.

See Hobbes, see Hobbes run, run Hobbes run=A+

“Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”

― Samuel Johnson

I do my best thinking “at the last minute”.

So I figured I’d go hang out in the neighborhood litter box.

10 years later, he has evolved into Peter Fox…

The inspiration also for many homework assignments.

yes, yes! last minute panic is a motivator.

If necessity is the mother of invention, the father is often desperation.

The Douglas Adams approach.

That’ll do it…

If you’re not still writing the assignment as you put it on the teacher’s desk, then you didn’t really use your time efficiently.

COOL

That’s how I used to do my homework. =p

There may be something to that, actually. Without the ticking clock it’s possible you’ll just never be satisfied with the end result.

Write about one of your space adventures.

Writers were more productive when “dead-line” was taken more literally.

He has so much imagination that he doesn’t realize it… Why not write a Spiff adventure.

Being ADD, this has worked very well for me in school and through my career. It has also resulted in spectacular failures.

I love deadlines. The whooshing sound they make as they go by is inspiring.

Peter Fox said the exact same thing yesterday.

With his imagination, he’s struggling? How about a good old Spaceman Spiff story?

I see the symbolism here, the sandbox represents the barren dunes of planet Zorg.

This sums up college papers exactly.

Sometimes you never know when the inspiration will kick in. That’s how it is with my fanfics. But if it’s an assignment like that, I try to get it done as early as possible before the due date.

sad, but true!

I know that all too well.

Calvin hasn’t tried drugs yet.

Driven by the genius of desperation…

“O, for a muse of fire that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention!” – William Shakespeare

Sounds like how I got through college. I wish I had been diagnosed with ADD a lot earlier.