Lynn's Comments: This was written when I actually had palpable skeletal outcroppings. I had hips and shoulder blades and ribs I could strum in the mirror. Today, I'm lucky to be able to feel anything structural through the padding.
Lynn's Comments: This strip said it loud and clear. Ted and Connie were sharing the same abode--and without the legal permits. I received a number of reader complaints and I was surprised. Their arrangement had never been made secret. I guess in a forum like this, it's better to suggest something than to come right out and admit it!
Lynn's Comments: When I moved to Hamilton, ON from Vancouver, BC, I was barely 22 and very "innocent." Despite my art school experience during the hippie movement, with it's free love and smokeable happiness, I had seen and tried very little. I joined Vic Tanny's health club with a friend, and when I saw several naked older women enjoying the hot tub, I was both appalled and curious. I had never seen anything like this. It was fascinating. We all really do come in different shapes and sizes.
Lynn's Comments: This last comment was meant as an apology to my husband. I had been spending a lot of time on the road. As well as producing the strip, which took a lot of time, I was working on an animation project, doing book tours and speaking engagements, and was trying to be a partner as well. I loved my job and I enjoyed all the activity, but I felt very guilty about being away from home so often.
Lynn's Comments: The creation of "the dollar store" has been a boon to the party-organizing moms of North America. If there's more in a package than we need, the cost is minimal. Besides, you can always use the leftovers later. On more than one occasion, I have served adult guests using Sesame Street paper plates!
Lynn's Comments: I was in the best shape ever when I lived in Lynn Lake. The community centre gym was a block away, I walked everywhere, and I was constantly carrying the kids around. There were times when I would carry Katie on my back in a carrier and have Aaron on my hip at the same time. These days, I'm lucky if I can heave a small piece of luggage into an overhead bin!
Lynn's Comments: When I was a kid, a travelling salesman came to the door selling piano accordions. I'm not kidding. With every purchase, they threw in a year's worth of lessons. My mother, wanting me to play something (that wouldn't swallow half the living room and take ten years to pay off), actually considered buying one. Here was a piano-like instrument that was almost portable! I liked polkas and accordion music in general, but the cool factor was lacking. I declined. A real piano would have been great, but this was not the same! In desperation, she promised me that playing the accordion would increase my bust size. As a "budding" teen, this argument had merit, but the piano accordion still wasn't my thing.
Years later, when I was living in southern Ontario, I met some musicians from Newfoundland. Caught up in my love for east coast music, I bought myself a button accordion. This I learned to play not too badly and after awhile, it showed. I was indeed building up bulges where none had been--on my arms. I actually had pipes! I knew then that the old arm-pumping exercise to the cry of, "We must, we must, we must improve our bust!" was hogwash. The only sure way to enhance the unenhanceable, is through surgery! I still play my accordion, but only for sympathetic friends, and I don't really care about the bust line. I do have a word of advice, however, "Ladies, it's a fine instrument, but...never play an accordion in the nude!"
Lynn's Comments: Michael Jackson was a genius. His original lyrics, music, and dance style set the bar. The only music video I ever bought, and watched over and over again, was "Thriller."
Lynn's Comments: This is the prayer my grandfather always said before a big meal. "For what we are about to receive, may the lord make us truly thankful." We thought it was a great prayer. It was sincere. It was genuinely heartfelt, and it said what needed to be said--before the gravy got cold!
Lynn's Comments: This strip made me laugh today. How funny it seems to have worried about looking older then. Right now, I'd give my left eye bag for a smooth neck and a waistline!
Lynn's Comments: Doug and Ina Harrison lived on Trout Lake--about a mile down the road from us, close to my in-laws. Ruth and Ina were great friends. The Harrisons' dock was a favourite place for these ladies to sit and have tea, and our kids were welcome, too. Katie and Aaron spent hours on the Harrisons' dock, swimming and fishing, and enjoying the company of Doug and Ina, who became "adopted grandparents." This strip was to thank them for their kind generosity. I gave them the original.
Lynn's Comments: Because my brother was so closely tied to the character, Uncle Phil, this comic strip relationship had to be carefully choreographed. I had to be careful not to write about anything that was true to life. When I introduced Georgia (a name I used as a nod to a friend from art school) Alan was single. Within a few weeks of Georgia's appearance in FBorFW, he met Joan, who looked a lot like the "girlfriend" character I had drawn.
Lynn's Comments: As time went by, Joan and Alan became an item and then a couple--as did the characters Phil and Georgia in the strip. One day, Alan called to say that he and Joan were getting serious and that I could not have Phil and Georgia get engaged until he was ready to propose to Joan. The strip, inadvertently, had become a window into their lives.
Lynn's Comments: I'd occasionally buy the National Enquirer if I recognized the celebrity on the cover--and cared! I did, however, buy the News of the World regularly. Who could resist headlines like the ones I had fun with in this strip?! The stories were so wonderfully preposterous, I secretly wished I was one of their writers. A few years before this fine rag went belly up, I read a headline that was very similar to "Octogenarian gives birth to triplets" (panel three), and I hoped it had come from this strip!
Lynn's Comments: This is another example of how a common turn of phrase like, "on and off relationship," can lead to a punch line. Unfortunately, colloquial expressions don't translate well, so my work was more popular in English language newspapers. This can be a problem for the syndicates' sales reps, so some cartoonists make their dialogue less complicated. Jim Davis, for example, makes sure that Garfield is easily translatable!
Lynn's Comments: Having Connie and Lawrence move away was a big decision. Connie was a regular character--Elly's best friend, in fact. In losing these two familiar faces, I would have to rethink the dynamics of the neighbourhood, and create a new group of friends. I did this because I was juggling too many characters. I felt my work was getting stale and I needed a challenge.
Lynn's Comments: I chose Thunder Bay as Connie's new destination because it's a nice place to live and a long way from southern Ontario, where Elly lived. I had also received an honorary degree from Thunder Bay's Lakehead University a short while before writing this story, and the city was still strong in my mind. I became a doctor of letters. WOW! After receiving the award, I called my mother to tell her, and she replied, "A doctor of letters? That's ridiculous! You haven't written to me for MONTHS!"
Lynn's Comments: This sentiment reflects the feeling I had when my women friends moved away from Lynn Lake. In this small town, good friends kept me sane. When my friend Nancy Lawn left for Edmonton, I told her I was happy for her, and I really was! I congratulated her husband on his promotion and transfer, and I earnestly wished them well. As they drove away, I waved and smiled until their car disappeared, and then I cried. I cried for all the good times we could have had. I cried for me.
Lynn's Comments: It was never my intention to have Connie and Lawrence move away. It just happened! Once Connie's relationship with Ted soured and Uncle Phil met Georgia, Connie's personal life was on hold. An opportunity for her to take a good job in another town seemed like a positive step, so the story took this turn. What the move did was give me another challenge to deal with and a new family to welcome. This helped to keep the story interesting.