The author of the hilarious "Timmy Failure" book series and longtime cartoonist of "Pearls Before Swine" dives deep into his creative process. The man has written eight books for his hilarious children's series "Timmy Failure," he co-wrote the script for the film adaptation, and at last count, has written, drawn, and published 41 collections of his Pearls Before Swine comic strip. I spoke with Pastis for our show How Success Happens, because, well, he's pretty damn successful in two markets that are insanely hard to crack. So in the early days, success for me meant making a living by doing cartooning and being able to quit the law. "Finding an idea or a joke is kind of like you're trying to pet a cat in a room.