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.
You. Are. Awesome.