Having a blog, a voice, having my own media, utterly changed my life. Suddenly my career as a cartoonist wasn’t dependent on other people: “The Gatekeepers”—publishers, editors, Hollywood executives, etc., etc. Sud­denly I had direct contact with my audience. They had direct contact with me. I could just do my thing, without having to wait for some­body else to give me the “green light.” I didn’t have to wait around for somebody else to deem me “worthy.”

This was the freedom I spent most of my adult life searching for, the same freedom I believe we’re ALL searching for, in one way or another. Careerwise, blogging gave me everything. Even in the early days, the ben­efits of blogging were so glaringly obvious to me, I couldn’t understand why more people weren’t doing it. Ten years later, I still can’t. So I decided to write a book about it; maybe I can help other people find this freedom, too.

—Hugh