Joi Massat

The Artist Who’s Never Been Driven At All?

Some artists have a “creative mania.” They work day in and day out, like motors that feed on air. To outsiders, their path to artistry is simple—in the same sense as the simplest way to break into a bank is to pull out the battering ram. Just work tirelessly. Hammer it out. And it may even seem to happen spontaneously, involuntarily.

For me, though, it would take not only passion to reach this state (and…drugs?), but a lot of stifling work.

Thriftin’ for Gamebooks: 7 Good and Great Titles

A gamebook: you can read it and play it.

Whenever I go to a thrift store or find a Little Free Library, I am on the prowl for playful, gamey fiction. While I haven’t found much, I have uncovered some surprisingly nice titles.

Schedule Slip and Not-So-Daily Tasks

Apparently when I give myself too many “every day” “every month” “every two weeks”-type tasks, I start to get overwhelmed. And rather than that overwhelmed-ness stoking a fire in me, it can kind of lead to…apathy.

It feels like the task itself is easy, but the run-up to actually beginning the task is difficult. No, the run-up isn’t even difficult for me right now. It’s the consistency part.

Life Keeps Moving

I haven’t been making much time to write lately. Some of it is familial obligations; some of it is me deliberately pushing it aside.

5 Things I Learned from Cartoon Pitch Bibles

Lately I’ve been interested in the “foundational texts” of cartoons, so much so that I’ve compiled a list of just about every one I could find online. In reading a bunch, I’ve learned some fascinating things about them—and about creative work in general. Like…

Every Cartoon Pitch and Writer’s Bible on Archive.org

Here’s a collection of every document I could find on the website that I am reasonably sure was actually used to pitch, or write episodes for, a network-produced animated series. If you find another document, comment below!

Your Audience Wants to Like You

You are an artist. You are afraid of heckling on the internet. But if you’re gonna overcome the block and put anything out there, you either have to throw all caution to the wind or hold strong in the conviction that your audience wants to like you.

5 Things I Regret About “The Demon Lord is Apathetic”

In honor of me finally troubleshooting all the problems out of this paperback edition of The Demon Lord is Apathetic, I have made this post…criticizing it?

Look, I did put a lot of work into this story and I do think it’s enjoyable enough to warrant a spot on the shelf. But I did make some poor decisions with it. So let’s take a look and move from small-scale stuff that possibly nobody but me noticed to the big picture.

You don’t need to have read the story to read this post. Extremely minor spoilers ahead!

Don’t Keep Going for the Easy Win

Lately I’ve fallen into the trap of sacrificing harder creative work for tedious-but-predictable busywork. How to crawl out of the trap?

New Ebook Live (and FREE, for a limited time): The Demon Lord is Apathetic

All members of my Patreon (INCLUDING the free members who are basically just using it like a monthly newsletter) can download the EPUB and PDF of this illustrated action-comedy from now until June 23rd. (Offer now expired, but here’s the page for history’s sake. The ebook, and soon the paperback, can be found for sale here.)

And/or read on. This is a quick little post about a not-so-quick, not-that-little story. Seriously, this PDF is 780 pages and everything had to be finely massaged to fit Amazon’s paperback printing regulations. (It’s still too long for hardback. Needs more massaging. Maybe someday.)