Nailing down a cloud (or at least asking him to sit still for a second)

So I’m doing this exercise, because I’m building the Milothecloud.com website architecture, and the first steps (in a tutorial I was checking out) involve defining exactly why you’re doing this thing. Which is something that I’ve never actually sat down and considered. I mean, I just draw the comics because I enjoy doing them, and I’m doing the book because I love the story, and I made the first toys because I wanted to see if I could. But the sitting down and defining is a really good thing to do, whatever you happen to be taking on, because it makes you consider if you actually want to do this thing at all. Looking at it in black and white makes you go, “hmmm. That’s pretty big. Do I really want that? Am I prepared to do all of that?” The even better thing right now is that I’m answering, “Hell yes I do!” I’m going to need help with it, and that’s maybe where I’ll have some problems (because I’m a dreamer, and not that good a delegator) but the thought of that doesn’t fill me with dread or make me want to stop. It makes me say, “I don’t know how I’ll do that, but I can learn.”

The thing that made me want to write this down was that I was thinking of who my audiences are, and the thought of the kinds of people that might dig what I’m doing made me realize that there’s something very cool about the age that we live in. Because of Twitter and blogs and message boards about random interests that are shared by niche groups of people around the world, it’s a very interesting time to be a small-time creator starting out. The fact that every time I post one of the Milo strips on http://www.sulliedreputation.deviantart.com someone favs it, or adds me to their watch list, means that the strips are enhancing someone’s life, even if only in a small way. And because of that, people will start to find it, and because of that, they’ll start to find the other things I’m doing, and planning to do on MiloTheCloud.com.

I’m very excited, and I’m glad if you’re lurking out there. Hit me up on twitter http://twitter.com/SeanArcher, or drop Milo a message on the digsby widget and let me know if there’s something that you’d love to see that you haven’t seen yet. I’m not promising it’ll sync with what I’m planning, but I promise to listen. At least until the haters show up and start griping about how there isn’t enough helium in Hank’s body to lift a teddy bear. I’ll have you know it’s super-helium, and the bear is made of a space-age polymer that weighs next to nothing. Your child won’t even know he’s holding a bear!!

Anyway, if you’ve read that whole thing, then cheers to you, and I hope that you enjoy the ride.

Sean