SnowmanOHSnowman

I don't have any questions, I just wanted to express my sincere appreciation for your autobiographical and fiction comics outside of the Star Wars stuff. I've been following your writing for the past few years, starting all the way with Clumsy. I picked up your book at a small comic book shop in NYC and I just fell in love with your style and honesty.

I recently became a father for the second time, but I picked up A Matter of Life around the time my son turned 3. The small interactions I have with him remind me of the moments you collect in AMOL.

So basically, I wanted to thank you for writing these. Most of the things you've shared in your books have hit home for me - particularly the relationships and the awkwardness. It made me feel less alone at times :) Even though I'm married now and have children, I still find myself re-reading Clumsy, Unlikely, AEIOU, Every Girl Is The End Of The World For Me, etc. I even suggested for my wife, who is also a painter, to read Funny Misshapen Body and see how your experience with art school was and how you found your own voice.

Since I DO have an opportunity to ask something, I always wondered if you ever continued to paint pieces like the ones you did at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago? Do you find yourself exclusively doing the comicbook/ink style drawings or do you find the time to create other pieces in different mediums?

So, again, thank you! I'm excited to continue reading your work for many years to come.

I really enjoyed Save the Date! It was simple and heartfelt. It seemed to capture more authentically the 20-something life in love and marriage - more so than a show like Girls, at least. How was that experience? Did you get to be involved in the production much?

Awesome - thanks for your answers!

Everyone's life is different - not trying to judge, I don't know your wife or your relationship, so this is just my two cents since we have remarkably similar lives right now.

I'm a data scientist for a local academic hospital/college working in research. I am now fully WFH. Both my wife and I decided to homeschool our kids, with my wife taking the bulk of the responsibility since I still had a full time job. She stopped pursuing her career as a graphic designer to do this.

After about a month, the pressure was getting to my wife. Homeschooling is DIFFICULT and extremely time consuming, particularly for someone doing it for the very first time during a pandemic. But she avoided admitting this to me because she didn't want to burden me with my own work.

Fortunately, I noticed. We talked candidly about the difficulties we both were having (WFH is new to me and adjusting was difficult) but clearly her struggles were much more important given it was our own children.

Since our talk, I've taken on teaching the kids math 3 times a week with a music lesson on Fridays.

You're wife may not be admitting it, but she may be having a hard time but doesn't want to bring it up because she sees you struggling with your own work and dreams. I urge you to talk to her and ensure she doesn't need more help. Perhaps it would be only fair and just if you put off pursuing your own passion to help out your children and wife during a very difficult time.

I know you said you only do this during off times, but hopefully it's not taking away time you might have with your wife because you have to get to bed early? Putting so much of your mind and attention on something like this can have unintended consequences in areas you don't think are being effected.

Again, you may have already figured this all out with your wife. Just my two cents.