Mid-Week Reads: Inspiration from Bill Waterston and Other Book/Graphic Stuff

This lovely comic uses a quote by Bill Waterston and imitates his famous Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. Bill Waterston is one of my heroes, both for creating the delightful, beautiful, and thought-provoking treasure of Calvin and Hobbes, and for the way he lived his life. Reading this was very inspirational for me, given what I'm doing with my life right now.

And then read more of his words. How can you not admire the man? This is my favorite part:

I tell you all this because it’s worth recognizing that there is no such thing as an overnight success. You will do well to cultivate the resources in yourself that bring you happiness outside of success or failure. The truth is, most of us discover where we are headed when we arrive. At that time, we turn around and say, yes, this is obviously where I was going all along. It’s a good idea to try to enjoy the scenery on the detours, because you’ll probably take a few.

I still haven’t drawn the strip as long as it took me to get the job. To endure five years of rejection to get a job requires either a faith in oneself that borders on delusion, or a love of the work. I loved the work.

Drawing comic strips for five years without pay drove home the point that the fun of cartooning wasn’t in the money; it was in the work. This turned out to be an important realization when my break finally came.

Go read it all.

Have I told you how much I loved Quiet? It's an amazing book about introversion and it's changed my life -- I'm just as anti-social as I always was, but now I'm unapologetic about it. (Why is the book cover in the image on the left so boring? Because the book has "Quiet" on the cover in large, white text on a white background.)

I loved this Pinterest board that's all about introversion. So many lovely quotes here. And if you're on Pinterest, you can follow me here