Neatstep.com Blog

All Quiet

Paul Francis — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:15:10 -0700

Summer arrived very late this year. Whilst it was hot and unbearable everywhere else, we had rather wet weather until the end of June. Now that is very unusual indeed! On the positive side, it meant I had more time to stay indoors working on Neatstep. It’s been a very quiet time since the last blog, with no major incidents to report. That’s probably because we didn’t do any traveling. As we all know, traveling is dangerous, but it’s what everyone wants to do these days – except for me, possibly. I prefer to spend the summer downtown, mingling with all the tourists, enjoying the variety of entertainment and soaking up the general atmosphere.....

South of the Border

Paul Francis — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:34:48 -0700

We just returned from another eventful trip, which started with our usual pirate taxi (this time in Las Vegas), then snow in Arizona (not what we were expecting), some anxious moments in Acapulco and a bit of excitement on our Mexican Riviera cruise. Finally, our luggage was thoroughly demolished upon arrival, so now I know what it means when the airline asks, “how many pieces of luggage do you have”?

I filed a damage report and the clerk asked, “How many pieces of luggage do you have”? I said to her, “Did you mean before, or after the flight?”

Originally, I was given the choice of three trips. My fourth choice (stay at home and relax) was apparently not acceptable. So I opted for the least adventurous itinerary, or so I thought.....

Hot off the Press

Paul Francis — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 16:30:00 -0800

I was hoping for some publicity this quarter and it eventually happened. However, they do say “be careful what you wish for” so it was unsurprising that it wasn’t Neatstep featured in the local paper, but rather myself. I would have much preferred it the other way around but maybe Neatstep’s time will come!

One notable occurrence during this time was the local Comic Convention here. Amazingly, we do have such an event in our small city and it was very interesting. It’s good to see so many different artists and styles all coming together under one roof.

The other interesting occurrence was on the GoComics website where lesser-known comic artists have now been more fully integrated into the whole GoComics offering via ComicsSherpa. This is a generous move which provides aspiring new artists with more exposure to a wider comic audience. Neatstep can definitely benefit from that, although I’m not sure about the readers!.....

Autumn… but it’s still Summer

Paul Francis — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:02:53 -0700

September has ended but the good weather here continues and the tourists are still around downtown. I’ve spent much of the last quarter updating my earlier comics with the new characters. Whilst this may seem totally unnecessary to most people, it has been an important exercise for me and I have learned a lot from it. Most of all, the whole comic strip series now looks much better.

I recently experimented with a clever web-based program which allows rapid production of professional looking newsletters and magazines. In the near future, the plan is to use Zinepal for creating a regular Neatstep Weekly Maga(zine). If you fancy yourself as a news editor, then you might like to try out this website too. It’s easy to use and a lot of fun.....

It’s Summer Again

Paul Francis — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 15:47:05 -0700

I’m not a bookworm, but recently I was reading a very funny book by Bill Bryson called, “I’m A Stranger Here Myself”. In the introduction, he writes “The thing about a weekly column, I discovered, is that it comes up weekly”. When I read that sentence, I knew immediately that I was going to enjoy the book. It’s a pity I don’t have this guy writing gags for Neatstep.

A lot has happened in the last quarter, during which time I’ve been very busy updating my comic strips with all the new characters. I’m pretty pleased with the results and with the increasing readership at ComicsSherpa. I’m not a great believer in technology, but not wanting to be outdone by all the famous celebrities, I have signed-up Neatstep for a Twitter account. I will be launching this service shortly with a couple of specially written comics on the subject of “social networking”.….

Happy Easter

Paul Francis — Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:41:25 -0700

The quarterly blog update is late this time around because I have been busy working on some major revisions to Neatstep & Co. I had not been completely satisfied with the recent drawings and how the series was working out. It seemed like a giant puzzle with no obvious resolution and I couldn’t quite figure out what was wrong.

So, I decided to seek some expert advice from a professional cartoonist and sent out an SOS email. I was extremely surprised, one weekend, when I received a phone call from Rob Smith Jr. out of Florida. He had very kindly reviewed my comics and had a list of things for me to do. I can't thank him enough. This was exactly the input I needed to get me on the right track and all of a sudden, everything seemed a lot clearer and I could see my way through to the end of the puzzle.....

Exotic Travels

Paul Francis — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 16:32:14 -0800

Not wanting to be outdone by Tripgood, we ventured on a semi-exotic journey from West to East via the Panama canal. It was an interesting and exciting trip, but as usual, not without incident.

We hadn’t left our home airport before the first issue arose. Unknown to me, my wife had packed our overnight gear in my carry-on bag. The first I knew was when a security guard pointed accusingly at me, waving a near-empty tube of toothpaste. “This is too large”, he said. “It’s almost empty”, I replied. “No matter, it says 400g”, was the response and it was then confiscated. Can anyone explain to me why a large, near-empty tube of toothpaste is more dangerous than a small, full one? .....

Boston and New York

Paul Francis — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 18:27:23 -0700

I was thinking that nothing really important had happened during the last quarter, when suddenly, overnight, we had a worldwide financial meltdown! Maybe it was all Neatstep’s fault. Everything was quiet when we departed for Boston and New York. We had a great time sightseeing and the weather was perfect, making up for that lousy summer.

I guess I should have been suspicious when we arrived in New York to find half of Manhattan closed off because of the UN General Assembly. The place was full of police and limousines with motorcycle escorts, flashing lights and sirens. Everyone was in town apparently, including Bill Clinton, Sarah Palin (who?), George Bush and well, Neatstep, of course……

Neatstep in the News

Paul Francis — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 18:49:57 -0700

I figured it was worth writing an extra blog to report that Neatstep has appeared in print for the first time.
My thanks are due to Monday Magazine and also to The British Columbian newspaper.

Monday Magazine highlighted my comic about the downtown tourist guides, whilst The British Columbian
selected my comic concerning the unanswered emails, to accompany their half-page feature story on the author.

This is an encouraging step forward for Neatstep. I hope there will be more to report in the coming months.

Summer Solstice

Paul Francis — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 15:45:04 -0700

The past few months have seen a recurring issue called “customer service”. This topic has provided me with a constant flow of material for my comic strip series, as you’ve probably noticed.

Just recently, I had to deal with a renovator who couldn’t, a plumber who wouldn’t, a gardener who didn’t and a local council who are now immortalized in one cartoon sequence. However, my most interesting encounter was with a large and well-known company, which requested an account update.

They sent me two conflicting letters with three different options. After wrestling with their website for some time, I succumbed and tried phoning them. My skepticism was well founded because, after going round in circles again, I finally surrendered and called the last remaining phone number…..