Dragons, Adventures in Moving, and Other News

Hoo boy, there’s a lot going on, so let’s do this in parts.

THE KICKSTARTER

We made it to our goal! We even raised enough to unlock the Baby Dragon Sticker Sheet for all backers who pledge to get physical copies of the book (or higher rewards).

The next stretch goal is $670 – at this level, backers who get physical rewards will also get a KickStarter-exclusive miniprint of Queen Norsa, the Albino Dragon Queen from The Legend of Jamie Roberts.

CONVENTIONS AND APPEARANCES

My next convention appearance isn’t until December 1, for Genghis Con. Unless there are other shows you’re aware of, and want me to showcase at, that is. Hit me up if that’s the case.

THE LEGEND OF JAMIE ROBERTS

Ok, there are some weeks where The Legend of Jamie Roberts updates as normal, on Wednesdays. And then there are some weeks it updates on Thursday.

Well, this upcoming week, a new Jamie Roberts page may get pushed to Thursday, November 14. It depends on what can get done this weekend, in between events.

WHEELING SLEEP-OUT

The Wheeling Sleep-Out is one of those events I’m doing this weekend. It’s part fundraiser for our local homeless shelter (Youth Services Systems), and part competition to see who can build the most creative cardboard construction.

Here’s some pictures from when my friend Mel and I went last year.

We built a cardboard replica of the Guggenheim museum. This year, we’re going to try and build an art deco movie theater out of cardboard.

Once these constructions get built, the builders then have the option to sleep in them overnight – which is what Mel and I are doing. We’re doing it, so our local homeless youth don’t have to.

If you like, you can donate to Youth Services Systems through our team page. Every dollar raised goes back to the organization. But there IS a trophy for the group who raises the most funding for YSS. (But seriously, no pressure if you can’t donate.)

ADVENTURES IN MOVING

I hate apartment-hunting. It feels like every time I get a decent lead, there’s something wrong. Either it’s too expensive. Or it doesn’t allow cats. Or it’s in a shady-ass neighborhood.

At least I have a potential roommate. He wants to move out of his dinky Pennsylvania hometown. We’ve tabled together at conventions for two years now, so we know each other well enough that we could make decent roommates together.

Now it’s just a matter of finding a place.

I can’t really stay local to where I am (which is the Wheeling, WV area). Rent prices are more expensive here than they are in Columbus, OH or even in Pittsburgh, PA.

Yep. West Virginia is more expensive to rent in than two major cities. Let that sink in.

The oil and gas industries are absolute bitches and I despise them both.

NANOWRIMO

Also I’m participating in NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. It’s a writing challenge to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. Because Inktober isn’t enough and I’m always up for a creative challenge.

The novel I’m writing is called “The Prince of Shadows.” It’s about a prince from a dark realm falling in love with a Valkyrie – as told through the point of view of the Prince’s best friend.

When I first started the challenge, I wasn’t sure why the story demanded that particular perspective. Now, on day 7, things are falling into place and making more sense. I’m eager to see where this goes!

GIGS

I made a new page on the website to highlight other services I can offer as a freelancer (besides making comics and art).

These are services like ghost writing, basic website design, and other services I’ve honed thanks to running my own business for the last 7 years.

I’m looking to offer more services to get some extra income in. That way, if/when I have to leave my little hometown, I can have some kind of income to replace the gas station gig I currently have.

AND THAT’S IT!

Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

I’m Moving…

I talked about this before (especially to patrons on Patreon and a mention in this video), but here’s the news: I’m moving.

How soon?

Well, January 2020 at the soonest. Spring of 2020 at the latest.

Why am I moving?

Because the house I’m renting right now, which belongs to my mom, is going to be listed for sale soon.

Now, here’s the thing that makes this situation unique: mom and I haven’t lived under the same roof for nearly two years.

See, she and her boyfriend embraced the RV full-time lifestyle for a while, so they could travel and work. But that left the house unoccupied. So I lived in it.

But now, mom lives in Florida. And she wants to stay in Florida. Which, for her, means buying a house.

She doesn’t want to own two houses at once. So she’s selling the one I’m in right now.

I already did the math, and determined that my best course of action is to find an apartment to rent. NOT as soon as possible, but close to it.

Stay tuned for further updates on the situation. I’ll be blogging about the Adventures of Moving Out for the foreseeable future.

In Other News…

Dragons: A Sketchbook is NOW on KickStarter. Today’s the last day to grab an Early Bird Special, so GRAB IT.

Also The Legend of Jamie Roberts updated today. One of my side hustles has been making me work full-time hours this past week, so that threw off the update schedule on a LOT of things. My bad.

But hey – if you’re in the Robinson, PA or Pittsburgh area, I’ll be at the Nerd and Hobby Flea Market this Saturday (Nov. 2) from 4 pm to 8 pm. Because I need to move, I’ll have a crate full of my old nerd swag available for sale, as well.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

Dragons: A Sketchbook Coming Soon

lady dragon watercolor marker sketch for inktober 2019

My newest book – Dragons: A Sketchbook – is coming to KickStarter soon. As in, in the next few days.

The trend of these sketchbooks started with Witches: A Sketchbook, which collected all of my Inktober sketches of witches from 2017. (Inktober is the artist challenge to draw with ink every day during October. Usually there’s an official prompt list. I ignore all of them.)

Last year, I followed this up with Gods & Spirits: A Sketchbook, collecting all of my Inktober sketches of gods and spirits.

This year for Inktober, I’ve been drawing dragons and nothing but dragons. And I’m loving it.

dragon fantasy art inktober 2019 sketch

And soon, they’ll be in a sketchbook.

In previous years, I ran a KickStarter campaign to fund book printings AFTER Inktober wrapped up.

This year, I wanted to start the pre-order ball rolling sooner, because November is going to be a bit of a schedule whack-a-mole for me.

So here’s the deal: email newsletter subscribers are the first to get the news of the Dragons: A Sketchbook KickStarter launch. If you are NOT an email subscriber yet, get on that ASAP. There will be early-bird backer rewards available, and the best way to get them is to be on the newsletter.

Then – I’ll be at New Dimension Comics this Saturday for Halloween ComicsFest. If you check out my table there and back the KickStarter campaign on the spot, you’ll get some goodies from me in person.

After that, I’ll be posting links to the KickStarter campaign on social media on Monday.

How long will the KickStarter campaign last? You’ll have to see the campaign when it launches to find out.

The initial asking goal will be to cover the basics to make this book project happen. Stretch goals after that include:

  • a KickStarter backer-exclusive miniprint
  • a baby dragon sticker sheet
  • an appearance at a large comicon (hopefully near you)!

In short…

Get on the email newsletter if you want to back this KickStarter ASAP and get your hands on an early copy of this book.

If you’re broke, though, don’t stress – just share the link to the campaign when it finally launches. Every share helps more than you know.

Thank you so much for your support!

You. Are. Awesome.

Email Newsletters Are On Hiatus

So I HAD an email newsletter. The service I used was MailChimp.

I logged in this morning, thinking, “Hey, I should delete the unsubscribers from my contacts. That should improve the open rate on my emails.” So I go to the menu showing all of my subscribers, including unsubscribes and bounces. I go to check the box to select the unsubscribes on the page shown to me.

Little did I know: clicking the “select all” button selected ALL of my contacts, not just the unsubscribes shown on screen.

And, well, all of my contacts got deleted.

Active, inactive, and unsubscribed people – all gone.

THREE YEARS OF WORK. GONE.

Due to a clunky mechanic through my email newsletter service, I have permanently deleted all of my subscribers.

I can’t contact support to fix this because I was on the free member plan. Tech support is only available for people who pay for a monthly plan.

There is no way to get them back on again. So I have to start over. From scratch.

And I’m going to start over with a different email client.

Please bear with me as I get this fixed.

Words cannot describe how disappointed and angry I am at this.