As I write this, I’m about to start work on the 320th comic to post on this site. In a few months it’ll be time for the annual break, then in June we pick up with Year Four.

When I started Quacked Panes I saw it as a way to tackle my leftover depression and growing ennui. I still felt out of place at my job, I missed my old job something fierce, and I felt that maybe I’d accomplished everything I would in this life already, so why bother trying? Clearly this was an attitude devoutly to be got the hell rid of.

So, did the comic help?

I struggle, most Mondays and Thursdays, to come up with the next comic. It’s a chore. I wrack my brains. I jostle the camera while taking a shot. I screw up the lighting. I realize after the fact that I probably used the wrong duck or didn’t give them a distinct-enough voice. And it’s not as if my traffic numbers reflect any great Internet success story.

However… this comic archive represents a body of consistent, creative output. Barring one technical glitch with the webserver itself a few months ago, I’ve yet to miss a scheduled update over most of three years. Nobody will mistake it for high art, but I earn a few laughs once or twice a week (on a good week). I learn something new every month. People send me ducks! How cool is that?

I considered giving it up, a couple months ago. “I’ll finish out Year Three and call it done,” I said. Today, however, I don’t believe that would be a good idea. I need the outlet and the challenge. I enjoy trading snarky comments with my core group of loyal readers. I like being able to claim a really silly hobby when people ask, “What do you do for fun?”

Don’t act so surprised. As if you didn’t know me for an iconoclast.