It’s time to get started on (*choke*) the penultimate month of 2025.

If you plan to offer new merchandise for the holiday shopping season, your options are limited to print-on-demand items with low profit margins. Make a note to start earlier next year.

Two weeks ago, cartoonist Dave Kellett felt he was doing the best work of his career. Now, he dislikes every idea and dreads sitting down to write. What changed — and how does he get moving again?

Brad and Dave have an honest conversation about creative slumps, confidence, and giving yourself permission to make something imperfect. Brad offers practical ways to restart the writing process, from setting a 30-minute timer to breaking a scene into its simplest storytelling elements. Along the way, Dave gets a new cartoon idea — right in the middle of discussing why he can’t get ideas!

Then, Brad reports back from the ’Ringo Awards with tales of torrential rain, a marathon hotel check-in, and a suspicious ability to bring everyone else good luck.

On this week’s show:

• The creative roller coaster. Why past accomplishments can feel distant when you’re struggling with today’s blank page.
• Productive procrastination. Recognizing when administrative work becomes an excuse to avoid writing.
• Permission to make a bad comic. You can improve something imperfect — once it exists.
• Thirty minutes to try. Giving yourself a manageable writing session without demanding a finished result.
• The “Butso” method. A character wants something, but an obstacle intervenes, so they take action.
• Trust and unfinished ideas. Why sharing early work feels vulnerable, and how talking with a trusted friend can help.
• Brad’s ’Ringo Awards recap. Nominee appearances, 17 pounds of books, and competing against a major publisher.
• The value of a nomination. Finding promotional opportunities and appreciating recognition even without a win.

Plus: A one-cent residual check and a particularly resourceful tavern.

If you’re saving your comics in RGB mode, you may be making a potentially expensive mistake.

What happens to your audience when the platform hosting your comic disappears? Brad and Dave discuss the news of Tapas shutting down and why owning your website, building a mailing list, and connecting readers through RSS remain essential tools for an independent comics career.

Then, Brad shares ways to breathe new life into a digital product whose sales have stalled. Finally, a listener asks about revising previously posted cartoons before submitting them to publications — sparking a discussion about first-publication rights, letting time be your editor, and applying yesterday’s lessons to tomorrow’s comics.

On this week’s show:

• Pen names, professional identities, and some spectacularly silly alternatives.
• The risks of building your audience entirely on someone else’s platform.
• Mobile-friendly websites, newsletters, and RSS.
• Reviving digital products through bundles, bonus content, new formats, sales, and membership gifts.
• Revising published cartoons versus creating new work.
• Building a buffer so you can edit with fresh eyes.
• Being kinder to the younger cartoonist who helped you get here.

Publication update: Tapas has confirmed its service will end March 31, 2027. Tapas

An ISBN is a 10- or 13-digit number used to identify a book from a specific publisher. Once your book is in print, you can register the title and link it to the ISBN here.