Ten years...

Today is the ten-year anniversary of my becoming a full-time cartoonist. Here's the post I made to make the announcement:

Today I'm leaving my job as a graphic artist for the Philadelphia Daily News to become a full-time cartoonist. It's a huge change in my life, and my family's life, and I'm super excited about it.

Last month, the newspaper announced layoffs, and -- despite my 14 years' seniority — the chances of my getting cut were pretty good. The day after they announced the layoffs, the company also announced a plan to combine the newsrooms of the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News — switching to a "24/7" news organization that would be staffed around the clock.

Long-story-short(er): My current shift (4 p.m. - midnight, Sun. - Thurs.) could be changed under the "24/7 newsroom" concept several times throughout the year — both in times and days. My wife and I both work. Right now, she arrives home from work fifteen minutes before I have to leave to work my shift. I take the kids to school and pick them up. We're barely touching all the bases as it is. And I go days without having a full conversation with my wife. Changing my shift throughout the year would have made it impossible for me to stay — in the event I hadn't been laid off anyway.

The newspaper offered a generous buyout package for anyone who was willing to take a voluntary layoff. I've been working hard for over 12 years towards the goal of transitioning full-time to my career in comics. It just seemed like the right time to make the jump.

Incidentally, yesterday morning, shortly after confirming the 37 layoffs (voluntary and otherwise), the company that owns the Daily News announced plans for cutting yet another 35 positions.

"Evil Inc," incidentally, will continue to run in the Daily News after my departure. The comic has a separate contract with the paper, and has not been effected by the layoffs. Next month, I will be celebrating my 11-year anniversary of having my daily comic strips published in the newspaper.

A lot of people have asked me if I'm scared about leaving the regular paycheck I was earning at the Daily News, and I can't say that I'm not. But more than that fear, I'm absolutely charged with excitement over being able to devote time to the many projects I've been trying to find the time to do in the past few years. When you see what I have planned in the upcoming few months, I think you'll see what I mean. This is going to be a phenomenal year.

And even more than that, it's beginning to dawn on me that I'm going to have an actual life for the first time in 21 years. I won't be working nights anymore. And I'm not going to miss holidays with my family. Newspaper life means getting Christmas Eve off, but not Christmas... and the same for Memorial Day and Labor Day and Thanksgiving and so on. It's day-before; not day-of. And this will be the first time in 14 years that I won't be working Sunday nights.

I'm more than a little stoked about that.

It's going to be thrilling and scary and exhilarating and uncertain and new. And I've never been more ready for it.

Thank you for being on this trip with me. It's been a blast!