October 10th, 2011

Cartoon E.R.

by Terri Libenson

Back when I first started “The Pajama Diaries,” I discovered that I don’t always write good strips…but, man, am I good at fixing them.

My late editor, Jay, used to comment on this. Sometimes I feel like a comic strip doctor, capable of dissecting and resuscitating a nearly deceased piece of writing. Of course, this can only happen after a period of time when I’ve achieved some mental distance. Which, in turn, requires me to sit on the writing for a while.

I don’t know if this stems from earlier years of card editing and rewriting…or if it’s from pure laziness. Just kidding. Rewriting a strip is often harder than writing one from scratch. But I’ve found that it’s one of my stronger suits. And there’s nothing more satisfying than taking an old piece of copy that’s on the verge of greatness (well, maybe goodness), and bringing it home. Check out these three examples, which I wrote in order, within the span of about 5 months.

This last strip became one of my favs. And it certainly needed that final polishing. Goes to show that you might not start with a winner, but with a little tlc and a lot of patience, you could end up with one.