Most of my long-range goals are finally pinned to the corkboard of the future. Book events mapped out. 2026 looking busy. It starts with a new gallery in Whittier this January and stretches all the way to Vroman’s, the oldest independent bookstore in California, sometime next summer. On paper, it looks respectable. Organized. Almost professional.
And yet, one familiar ghost slipped past me again.
Comic-Con. San Diego. The big one.
They haven’t accepted my work for the last three years. Ironically, they did accept me the first time I applied four years ago. Same artist, same brain, same hands. Different jury. Different verdict. Since then, I’ve been submitting work from my newer series, The Unlikely Prophet, and the response hasn’t been great. Not just from jurors, but from the public too. You can feel it when something doesn’t land. Artists know. The room tells you before the data does.
So where does that leave me?
Here’s the thing. Sitting right in front of me. Purring. Watching. Judging.
I’ve written enough in these daily journals to create an entire illustrated story about Whiskey Kitty. Not an abstract philosophy book. Not a dense allegory. A comic. A story. Something playful. Something alive.
Everybody loves Whiskey. And let’s be honest, everybody loves kittens.
From the sad eyes she uses to guilt me into immediate service, to her role as official supervisor while I clean her litter box, to her recent audition as Tarzan swinging from my mother’s drapes, Whiskey is a one-cat circus. She’s chaos with whiskers. She’s tiny authority. She’s domestic mayhem wrapped in fur.
And maybe that’s the point.
While I’m not smoking, I’m noticing things. While I’m not smoking, I’m writing. While I’m not smoking, new ideas slip in quietly instead of being forced through frustration. Instead of chasing approval from the same gatekeepers, I might just build something new that makes people smile before they even realize they’re holding a book.
So watch for Whiskey Kitty this summer. She may just claw her way into her own illustrated story, one non-smoked cigarette at a time.
New project. New direction. Same commitment.
I got this.
by Dan and Bonkers
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