Ok... I think I have been relatively patient up to this point. But where is Patent Pending? I think at this point we, the loyal Goats fans, might have to give up hope of Jon ever actually continuing this series. I realize he's trying to make money off of this site, which is an admirable capitalist mentality that I applaud (no, seriously, I do). Meanwhile, that activity that does not garner immediate income falls by the wayside.

Jon: All I ask is that you stop stringing us along. I, for one, will not stop my Premium membership if you tell us, honestly, that you cannot make time for Patent Pending. I will be disappointed, of course, but it will not be the end of the world. I've gotten through the withdrawal period. The shakes have stopped. I think I'm okay.

Yeah, or you could replace one of the Sunday Color strips with a Patent Pending. But it's a good story, and one that deserves to see an ending.

The problem is that I can't honestly tell you that it's over. It's something that I want to continue with. I could probably even finish up a strip with one full day and post it for you. It's drawn. The dialogue is done. All I need to do is color it and shade it.

But I don't want to give you false hope and then stop doing them again. Simple truth is that I don't have the time to do all the projects I want to. Patent Pending is low on the list of priorities, as I never made a commitment to update it, unlike I did for the daily strip and sunday strips and ATA.

Right now is the busiest time of the year for us. We're prepping stuff for the year-end package, we're attending cons, I'm working on the next book (hopefully for a christmas release, if I can get it done), we're plotting secret and evil things which I can't tell you about.

So I can assure you I almost definitely will not be able to work on it until after the new year, unless something miraculous happens. But I'm not holding my breath, and neither should you.

The best I can say is that in my ideal world, I'd be able to start producing again come January or February. I apologize for not having a better answer for you than that.

In Response to jon (#8703):

Is there anything particular we can do?
Send money?
Send helper monkeys?

In Response to zamphir (#8704):

I wish there was, but I don't think there is.

For a long-term approach? Tell your friends about the strip and get them to sign up for Premium. That's the best way to help us.

Unless one of you is very, very rich and would like to give me enough cash to quit my job.

In Response to samayg (#8694):

Take a vote of the Premies! If a 2/3rds majority favor PP over Sunday strips, let it be so! ;)

Look, it's one of the actually useful applications of democracy. Democracy never belonged in government... only in the funny papers.

</heinleinism>

In Response to jon (#8703):

maybe you could post the text-only version of the story, from when you thought you were going to write a novel out of Patent Pending.
That way we get to see how the story develops, and you don't have to deal with our incessant whining. (Which I, personally, enjoy, but I'm sure you're sick of)
C'mon, what do you think?

In Response to samayg (#8863):

Ooo! like the star-wars storyboards you can get off fanatic sites!

In Response to unFalln (#8867):

You aren't implying that goats/PP fans are as pathetic as starwars fanboys, are you?
We're not that bad.
If we were, I'd have to... still be a nerd, I guess.

In Response to samayg (#8954):

Well...

There is Tor.

But he's not exactly a Star Wars fan.

Very close though.

In Response to zamphir (#8956):

Nah, he just likes to dress up.