Meet 'Stone Soup' cartoonist Jan Eliot

Stone Soup

appears in more than 200 newspapers in the United States and abroad. Life is plenty irreverent and never dull for the extended, blended families of working-mom sisters and neighbors, Val and Joan. Add to the soup live-in, opinionated Gramma, teens, preteens, a toddler and a baby, a Zen motorcycle cop, a step-dad, and, of course, a dog, and the daily swirl has no bounds.

It's all the creation of cartoonist Jan Eliot, 61, also the author of 9 comics collections. Before leaving for Haiti a few weeks ago to construct houses with Habitat for Humanity's Women Build, Eliot talked to us about her strip.

Q: Tell us about "Stone Soup."

A: It's a family strip that shows a more modern evolution of the single female head of household. I started it when I was newly divorced with two young daughters. I didn't write it to vent. I just felt like it was important for people with less-than-perfect circumstances to know that they weren't by themselves. I appreciate when my readers say it cheered them on or made them more hopeful.

Q: Are you like any of the characters?

When I first started, I was a lot more like Joan - more flaky, creative, all over the map. I kind of grew into Val as I started a career and now I think I'm Gramma. She's become much more interesting as I've become her. I want to see the world so it's fun for me to have that happen through my character. But the one who is really me is Alix, the 9-year-old. When she goes down into her swimming pool and sees the Great Barrier Reef, that's me.

Q: You are one of a handful of women syndicated cartoonists. What do you tell young female cartoonists?

A: I say every "no" is a step to "yes." Write about what matters to you. Just be authentic.