Matthew Inman, creator of the insanely popular Web comic, "The Oatmeal," as well as several New York Times bestsellers, is practically a North Idaho native - if you're willing to discount the first seven years of his life that he spent in Southern California.

This week is the 21st anniversary of the fire that destroyed his family home in Hayden. Everyone got out safely, but the family's eight cats died in that fire. Inman, 31, has never forgotten them.

"I don't think I ever got past that," he said. "Every little cat you own takes a piece of your heart with them.

"We had insurance, so we rebuilt, but it was a rough year for us. My mom left my dad eight weeks before the fire, so the first place we lived after the fire was her new boyfriend's apartment. Then we kept jumping around from apartment to apartment. I look at that year as a very formative one for me.

"I was a very unhappy kid in those days, and that probably contributed to make me what I am today. One of these days I plan to write an autobiographical book of my stories from Idaho. The fire was a unique experience and there was also an abundance of animals around my house doing what they shouldn't have, like the dog that attacked the porcupine. I can also focus on my strange and weird relationships with the neo-Nazis. When I was seven, I befriended a neo-Nazi kid because he had a Game Boy."

Inman's comic version of the North Idaho fire can be found in a piece he titled, "When your house is burning down, you should brush your teeth." The complete comic and a copy of the original Press story from 1993 about the fire can be found at theoatmeal.com.

A 2000 graduation from Lakeland High School was effectively the end of Inman's formal classroom training, despite the offer of a scholarship to North Idaho College. Shortly after, he moved to Seattle to look for work as a programmer.

"It has been a learning curve," he said. "There was a time when I had this ideal version of myself - you know, the entrepreneur start-up - living in the Bay Area - PC funding. Now my ideal would be writing something amazing and spending my evenings reading comics, drinking wine and drawing things.

"Today 'The Oatmeal' is absolutely my creative outlet and it's also my career. I love working on 'The Oatmeal.' It's a creative way to say what I want to say when I want to say it."

An estimated 7 million people read "The Oatmeal" each month. Inman said half his income is derived from book sales, a third from merchandise sold on his website and the rest from advertisements on the site.

The fact that a couple of his books have been bestsellers doesn't impress him.

"To me it's just a metric, a measurement of sales. I'd be way happier to win an Eisner, which is an award for comic books, but my artwork isn't good enough. Most of my success as a cartoonist comes from my writing and my humor and not the art. I used to tell people 'The Oatmeal' would last three years, but now it's coming up on five."

Though not chained to a syndication schedule, Inman said the push to produce is there evermore, nonetheless.

"I stress constantly," he said. "You get this sense from your readers that if nothing shows up for two weeks they're not happy. I don't allow comments on my website, but I do read them on Twitter and Facebook. I think it's good to work in a dark closet and trust your own instincts."

Inman is a dedicated runner, and his next book, "The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons I Run Long Distances" will be released in October.

"I'm trying to organize a race to coincide with the release date. I plan to have piles of cheap, horrible birthday cake with nasty icing at all the rest stops."

In looking ahead to the future, Inman said, "I tend to live in career myopia. I only think about three weeks ahead of time, but I've always wanted to do the Coeur d'Alene Ironman."

"You know, when I look at the stars I get angry and upset because I desperately want to know what's out there on the other side of the Milky Way and I know that I and my grandchildren and their grandchildren and so on will be long dead before we ever find out."