Delayed Gratification

I like to draw, but like a lot of things I like doing and ought to do, it's hard for me to get going. I like to run, but man, I hate to tie my running shoes on. There are two things I do to overcome my inertia in these matters: routine and bribery. The only way I can ever make it to the gym is if I put myself on a specific schedule, to which I must then adhere. The beauty is that if I'm supposed to run on the treadmill for half an hour on Thursdays, I will be consumed with a sense of wrongness if I don't. I have an almost obsessive-compulsive need to stick to schedules.

For drawing, I've been using bribery. Every time I finish a page of my comic, I am permitted to go to Forbes and borrow an episode of Jeeves & Wooster. (This has the added benefit of preventing me from plowing through the entire series too quickly.) Once I start drawing, I enjoy it, but sometimes it takes that extra incentive for me to begin.

I finished a page of my comic Sunday night, but yesterday was Labor Day so the library was closed, and today is Tuesday, so it doesn't open until 1. I hate having to wait all this extra time to reap my just reward. To tide me over, I'm listening to my era soundtrack, which includes "Sunny Disposish," "Minnie the Moocher," "47 Ginger-Headed Sailors," and a number of other things. Very nice.