14th Anniversary of This Here Blog

Ha ha ha. Well, believe it or not, I missed an anniversary.

Yesterday was the 14th anniversary of this blog, which began on February 6, 2006. Let's take a look at the first entry, and then, a week later, a typical "look day."

My First Blog Entry: Meet a Cartoonist February 7, 2006

Below is my first blog post from February 7, 2006.

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This cartoon of mine appeared in Punch Magazine, before it folded. I thought it was an appropriate thought to start this, my first blog entry.

I'm a full-time freelance cartoonist living in NYC. Mostly, I draw what are called single panel or gag cartoons for magazines. I've got a couple of cartoons to draw for Wall Street Journal. WSJ approved a couple of roughs and now I have to draw finishes. I don't like drawing finishes since they never look as good as the roughs. So, I was putting it off, reading blogs, and I read Jim Salicrup's blog. [Sadly, Jim's blog is no longer.] I like Jim and his blog was really interesting -- even just the lists of stuff he bought at the comic store. And then I thought, what the heck, I'll defer drawing for even longer and start my own blog!

I better go draw now. After all, it's 3 weeks till rent's due! More cartoon talk another time ....

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And here's an entry from Valentine's Day 2006, about a typical "look day," the day when cartoonists take their cartoons in to The New Yorker. This is more about the journey than the destination. A whole typical morning like this was easily 4 hours.

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Tuesday, February 14, 2006

Valentine's Day in Midtown
Category: Jobs, Work, Careers

Double knotted the snow boots and trundled off to the subway. Took the F train to 42nd Street. Stopped at the ATM, then to the Conde Nast building. My ID didn't work, but security called Stanley, the 20th floor manager, and I got cleared to take the elevator up to the New Yorker offices.

The elevators have those little TVs in them that flash news and headlines. They're from a company called captivate.com. I don't look at them because I don't like them. A cartoonist colleague of mine tried to sell them his cartoons. Captivate was interested in his work. It got so far as them talking about money, and they laughed, saying they do not pay for content. Jerks.

So, I silently avert my eyes and grit my teeth.

When I got off the elevator, I was in an institutional hallway. This was weird, since normally -- for years at least -- there is a wonderful art gallery on the 20th floor that Stanley runs. One time there were paintings by cartoonist Sid Harris. Another time Stan had framed originals of Ed Koren. Wonderful stuff. Stan told me that the gallery is closed. The Big Boys (He didn't give me any names) will bolt some framed NYer cover prints on the wall permanently and that's that. A sad day, said Stan.

Dropped off a batch at the New Yorker. I've been going to Cartoon Look Day for a couple of years now. Decades ago, all magazines had one day of the week when cartoonists would do the rounds in person. NYer is the only place to keep that tradition. I mailed cartoons in for a couple of years, and have been coming in person since 2002. I have yet to make a sale. Cartoon editor Bob Mankoff's assistant renewed my ID, and I left. Sometimes I stay and see Bob and then go to lunch with some of the cartoonists. But I don't feel I have the time this week.

Walked to the post office, where I was going to use one of those automatic kiosks that weighs your packages automatically so you don't have to stand in line. It was broken. Stood in line. When I got to a real postal employee, she weighed the envelopes and then put on three 83 cent stamps, and then searched and found three 4 cent stamps, and put them on. Why she didn't have one of those machines that spit out the exact postage on a sticky I don't know. Heck, I got a drawer full of stamps. I could have done this at home.

Well, OK then. 3 more batches to 3 other magazines mailed out. Hope springs eternal!

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Things have changed. Mailing submissions is a thing of the past (mostly). And I have moved out of NYC.  It doesn't matter where I live, so long as I have a phone and the internet. I do a lot more than gag cartoons now, and that keeps things interesting.

Fourteen years have passed quickly. I'm glad to keep blogging so long as people stop by.

And I will try to remember my own damn blogiversary next year.