Today at 6 pm EST, feel free to lurk while I work on cat art for a new Crowdfundr AND draw more comics.
I’m running a Crowdfundr campaign for CATS: The Sketchbook, a collection of cat sketches I drew during Inktober last year. You can check out the campaign, but it’s not live until Friday. Be sure to sign up for the newsletter to get the first notice of when it opens!
To read my genderqueer pirate adventure comic, The Legend of Jamie Roberts, you can read the free version online, or you have the option to get the print version of volume 1 with remastered art and behind-the-scenes content like sketches and bonus comics. Volume 2 is coming to my online shop soon, I promise!
That’s all for now. Thank you for watching and for your support!
On Jan 4, 2024 at 6 pm EST, feel free to lurk while I work on rewards for members of my Fan Clubs! While I have some phone wallpapers and coloring pages free to download, Fan Club members get exclusive digital rewards, sneak peeks at my webcomics a week early, members-only comics, AND discounts at my store and for commissions.
Also, I PROMISE I’m working on a livesteam bingo card. Have Patience.
If you would like to join the Fan Club, you can do so on Ko-Fi (or if that’s not your thing, you can join directly through my Fan Club page).
What a year 2023 has been! But I’m glad it’s over.
A lot happened this year, so let’s get into what we made happen together. That’s right, your support helped make these things possible…
4 Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns!
In 2023, we raised funding for Vanita and the Demon King; The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 2; BE NOT APURRED Keychains; and Mr. Dino and Friends Keychains! We also had a Holiday Pop-Up Shop that raised $493 in support of Ohio-based indie creators.
I’m also including Ko-fi and Fan Club memberships here. While membership did shrink a bit, we still held together and made a lot of exclusive rewards.
Journey of the Mystery Won 3rd Place in the 24-Hour Comics Challenge!
This happened in January of 2023 but is still worth mentioning. The 24-Hour Comics Challenge, hosted by The Comic Book Jamboree, was INTENSE and had over 15 artists from around the world participate! And my comic, Journey of the Mystery, won 3rd place!
(By the way, you can download the coloring book version of this comic by checking it out on Ko-fi).
I Got A Short Story in an Iron Circus Comic Anthology!
I got accepted in Failure to Launch, a comics anthology from Iron Circus Comix. The anthology is all about ideas of the future that never panned out.
The short story I made is called Ninit’i, or The End, and is a story told in two lines: one line follows my class trip into Navajo Nation, the other follows the Christian extremist panic around the Harold Camping Doomsday Proclamation.
The release of the anthology did get a bit delayed but should come out in print in spring of 2024. More details are on the Iron Circus website.
I Quit My 9 to 5 Job!
(Technically it was a 7 to 3:30 job but it still sucked).
Thanks to support from readers like you, I was able to leave a toxic office job.
It took several months to unpack a lot of the crap from there, and it made me realize that my neurodivergent, genderqueer butt is too radical for “traditional” work. Also, half of my wages were taken by the temp agency that put me there and they wouldn’t let me leave because they “had no other work openings.”
Hot tip: don’t work with a temp agency.
Excuse me, I’m still very salty about this experience. On a more positive note…
I Moved To A New Apartment, Sold My Car, and Paid Off My Debts!
I sold my car for a lot of reasons – for one, I’m fortunate enough that my roommate and I moved to a new neighborhood that’s got a LOT within comfortable walking and biking distance from our home. We also sit on a major bus route in the city of Toledo, (and the bus is amenable to bikes like mine), so I can get wherever I want to throughout the city. We also have an Amtrak and bus station that I can get to in 30 minutes by city bus, so I can connect to a LOT of major cities across the US by those means. (Like, during SPX weekend I went by train and Metro everywhere).
Also, I was REALLY FREAKING TIRED of spending money that I didn’t have to repair a hunk of metal on wheels that already lost a large chunk of its value when I drove it off the lot back in 2019. And I was tired of my money being sent off to car companies and oil companies that don’t have the people’s best interest at heart.
So I sold my car and used that money to pay off debt, including my remaining student loans and the debt I accrued on car repairs.
In the end, I traveled further AFTER selling my car. Seriously, after the car sale, I went to DC (for work) AND Florida (for visiting family. It’s fine, I can pass as a woman. No one in Florida but mom knew, wink wink).
The Legend of Jamie Roberts, Volume 2 Came to Print!
It got mentioned up top, but I’m SO happy that y’all love this genderqueer pirate adventure so hecking much. Not to get too into the numbers, but The Legend of Jamie Roberts has now raised more in crowdfunding support than Validation did. And The Legend is still ongoing!
2023 was a VERY packed year for Fantasyville Productions, yo. For 2024, I want to keep building on what’s working and keep making comics, especially The Legend of Jamie Roberts. That story has a LOT to share in 2024 and I can’t wait to get into it with you.
Also in 2024, I want to do new things, like offer free downloads for my newsletter peeps. The first downloads are available this Friday, so sign up for free to get it when it’s ready.
Keep an eye on that newsletter, too, because I’m announcing more crowdfunding campaigns for 2024 – including one coming soon for CATS: A Sketchbook!
That’s all for now. Thank you for your support! You helped make all of this happen.
It has been exactly 2 months since I deactivated my Facebook account and deleted the business page for my art. And I’m going to talk a bit about my life without Facebook (so far).
For one thing, I am WAY less stressed about politics.
Facebook makes it very easy to see political opinions alongside cat videos. There is no separation of fun from calls to anger (or action). Why Facebook is so upsetting with political posts is because it’s the easiest way to discover that your close friends or family don’t hold the same opinions that you do – and they aren’t willing to change their mind about it. And the trap that Facebook sets up is the idea that you can talk with the other person in an effort to change their mind.
Speaking as someone who worked at a doctor’s office that quickly became a drug addiction clinic, I can tell you THIS surprising truth I learned:
The Venn diagram of people who are addicted to drugs, and people who hold racist/white supremacist beliefs, is only one centimeter off from a complete circle.
And unfortunately, on Facebook, I saw a lot of people who defended their beliefs with the same fervor as people who were addicted to drugs. The person thought they were in complete control over their addiction/feelings. The truth is, they aren’t. The drugs/feelings are controlling them. And voices of disagreement against them trigger a defensive response. Because the person addicted to their beliefs doesn’t want to admit that their emotions are controlling them. They don’t want to admit that they have a problem, because they think they don’t have one.
The sad truth is: you need to treat people who are stuck in certain beliefs the same way that you treat drug addicts. And that is: they have to admit that there is a problem first.
Until the addict admits that there is a problem, they will just continue going downhill.
To me, Facebook as a platform, and the people who use that platform, are going that route.
I’m glad I left when I did. Since I’m not on Facebook (or Twitter!) anymore, I’ve developed a more…realistic view of things. To me, that means that my understanding of things come from real life, not some apocalyptic think-piece someone posted at 3 am on Facebook. Gods I do NOT miss those.
I also don’t miss my posts being ignored by the algorithm.
Being on Instagram means that I’m still subject to the whims of a Facebook-esque algorithm, but in general, more people on Instagram are following me for the art I post. I may also get an account on TikTok, but I’ve seen news pieces talking about how the platform may get banned because it’s Chinese. So who the f*ck knows.
Thankfully, since I left Facebook, I’m not constantly being asked to spend ad money to promote a post to the audience that I ALREADY have.
However, I can’t run Instagram ads. Running ads on Instagram requires a Facebook account. Which I don’t have anymore.
So, with that said, I’ll have to get more creative with my promotions and outreach. I have yet to decide whether or not to return to Twitter. Gods I hope I don’t have to.
I still have an email newsletter though! And right now, that’s the best “social media” platform to stay in touch. If you’re not on it yet, you can sign up for free. I don’t give your email to anybody because that’s shady as heck. (Ok, soft plug done).
Also, in the meantime, I’ll be posting more often on the blog here. I’m playing with the idea of writing a new blog post every day. Just personal posts – no attempts at the traditional blog posts like my Writing for Comics or Freelance Lifestyle posts. I’m retiring those. I’ve written all I want to write for those topics anyway.
So yeah!
In short – I’m glad I left Facebook. I’m happier and more balanced. It’s also making me more creative in how I do outreach for my business.
