It’s almost time. The pages of my book are at the litho, which means that everything will soon be printed.
Just a few more weeks and I’ll be holding the book in my hands. Exciting!
I’m actually wondering how I managed it. Sometimes I was completely exhausted, hardly slept, apart from Christmas, sporadic parties and concerts, I hadn’t had a weekend since the end of September until the beginning of March, and yet I didn’t collapse despite all of it. I think the reason for this is quite simple: I always really, really enjoyed working on this book. Despite its difficult, sometimes confrontational content, I always felt that it was fulfilling work. In all the years that I’ve been drawing it, I always liked to pick up the iPad and keep working. I always felt like I was doing the right thing. It wasn’t the prospect of fame or money, the comic market is too small for that and you just don’t earn much from it, that’s just the way it is. It was probably more the satisfaction of giving a place to all these questions of a human life, even if many of them will still remain unanswered. To counteract this unfortunate social wind that is blowing again. To find out so much about my family that I didn’t know before. To learn so much about my beloved Düsseldorf that I would have liked to have known when I was still strolling through the streets there. I found a new place for myself with this book.
I think if it had been a long, well-paid job, it would have broke me. Then I would now be lying on the sofa with burnout or even in hospital, who knows. If it hadn’t been my story. If it hadn’t been mine. Do what you love. It’s true.
