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Pictured: Radiohead's King of Limbs. Newspaper albums are awesome. I've loved buying vinyl for a long time. I love hearing a record through a record player, and I love looking through the album artwork in large print.

Experiencing the visual art associated with an album is half of the experience for me. Album artwork connects the music to its landscape. So naturally, I have a thing for newspaper albums. Print is a beautiful thing. I wish more bands would follow suit with Radiohead on this.

Laika really doesn't get the credit they deserve. They're the NASA of the arts right now, but Pixar and Dreamworks are getting all the attention. I shouldn't slam on Pixar and Dreamworks, but their movies look like video games. Meanwhile, Laika goes through the trouble of actually creating everything you see on screen and animating it at a pace of about three seconds a day.

I was given the rare opportunity of touring Laika's studio while they were working on Boxtrolls. The costumes and the sets of all the characters are unbelievably gorgeous. It was a surreal sight. I can't imagine the lens could possibly capture the sets in all of their glory, but it is a marvel to see in person. My mind was blown.

When people learn about the graphic novel I'm working on, they naturally ask what it's about. I tend to find myself struggling to explain. I'm never sure whether I should tell people it's a fantasy novel and leave it at that or if I should be obscure and tell them it's a little too bizarre to explain. Sometimes I say it's a classic "damsel-in-distress" meets "Alice in Wonderland" on the set of "Romeo and Juliet". I'm pretty sure that just confuses people.

That's all to say that I have come up with a most fitting description of the book.

You see, there was a time when my life fragmented off into two separate lives. This story is essentially a fantastical retelling. I started writing the story as a sort of coping mechanism while I was putting myself through hell, and I continued working on it to justify my actions to those who went through hell with me. As my perspective changed, so did the story. As I was nearing the completion of my book, I realized I had the ending wrong, so I chose to abort and start over. Each and every time I started over, the story got deeper. The characters got more interesting. The fantasy became more real. Now, I am ridiculously excited about the direction the book has taken, and I believe there are lessons to be learned from the story.

That's not to say this will be heavy reading. After all, you know me, right? You're expecting whimsical nonsense, and that's there. I assure you. Heck, the main character spends a decent chunk of the book running around with a pillow strapped to his face. I digress.