If you’re a member on Ko-fi, especially a Zine + Sticker or Art Club member, your rewards will mail out from my old address. Your June rewards will ship from the new one. (Also your rewards for this month got delayed another week. Sorry! They should ship out by May 19.)
These are on pause until June:
blog posts,
YouTube anything (videos, livestreams, etc),
Crowdfundr fulfillment for An Ignorance of Romance (between May 23 and 31 especially),
From May 23 to May 31, I have to pause shipping physical shop orders and making commissions until we’re done moving. Any orders for digital rewards (Like How To Promote Your Work Without Social Media) will stay open. I just won’t be able to send you a thank-you note right away.
That said, any and all proceeds from Ko-fi these next few weeks will help us with the move – especially with groceries! So if you have the means, leave a tip, shop, or get a commission on Ko-fi.
I’m going to try a personal challenge – no watching YouTube for the next 31 days.
That’s right. For the month of May, I’m going to make the effort to NOT watch YouTube. (This likely means no new YouTube videos on my channel, either. Apologies in advance to my YouTube channel subscribers. I will, however, be doing workshops with the Cartoonist Co-op as part of Nib and Ink Fest, and those workshops will be up on their YouTube channel. I’ll post links to those workshops in the next few days.)
“But WHY?” You might ask. “YouTube is everywhere! How can you possibly do no YouTube for the month of May?!”
So, before I get into the How, let me tell you the Why.
Why #1 – May is a BUSY month for me.
I mentioned the workshops I’m doing with the Cartoonist Co-op as part of Nib and Ink Fest. I will also be packing up and preparing to move to a new apartment before the end of the month.
“You could just put YouTube on in the background – “
No. That’s part of my next Why.
Why #2 – YouTube is More Distraction Than Helpful.
I need to keep my hands busy, usually with making comics and art, or packing my apartment up for the move. I can’t be distracted with shiny visuals. Also, I have caught myself – multiple times – scrolling YouTube to try to find *something* to turn on, but realizing that nothing is catching my interest.
This leads me to…
Why #3 – YouTube isn’t FUN anymore.
I made this collage yesterday to make art out of my frustration with YouTube. Because YouTube used to be fun.
Used to be.
Now, because of its algorithms prioritizing the same content delivered in roughly 1700 different ways (seriously, HOW MANY videos are there talking about “productivity” or “things I do to stop doomscrolling” – on a platform formulated for doomscrolling). There’s also the sponsors who are 99% of the time scams, the ads, and my once-favorite YouTube creators no longer being favorites…
Well, it’s time that I take a break from YouTube.
So, HOW am I not going to watch YouTube?
How #1 – the Unhook extension.
The Unhook extension built for Firefox has commands for when you *do* end up on YouTube. Unhook does things like turning off Shorts, bringing you to your subscription feed instead of the front page, turning off the comments section, and other quality of life fixes.
I’m leaving this extension on in case I have a moment of weakness and end up on YouTube. That way, Unhook makes sure I only see what’s in my subscription feed. Which, right now, is looking slim, since I unsubscribed from a lot of people who stopped being fun for me to watch.
How #2 – audiobooks.
I have a long-ass TBR list of audiobooks on hoopla, an app available from my public library. It’s basically free Audible (so stop paying for Audible. You literally get hoopla and Libby – two audiobook apps – free thanks to your tax dollars). So instead of turning on YouTube, I’ll turn on an audiobook.
OR, I’ll turn on…
How #3 – podcasts.
This one might be trickier for me, as I’m trying to cut down on the number of apps on my phone. Podcast apps are freaking storage hogs. Also, as it turns out, a lot of podcasts I listen to don’t have episodes available on their websites. Their websites are basically place holders to tell people, “Listen to us on Spotify!” Which does nothing to help me.
Still, some podcasts have their episodes on their websites, and those will be super helpful this month. I also have some of my favorite episodes downloaded onto my laptop, which I don’t mind listening to The Dollop talking about the 1904 New York to Paris Car Race for the 17th time.
How #4 – music.
Y’all. My music playlist on my hard drive is entirely too big and I don’t play it enough. I gotta turn on some tunes!
Also, my library offers an app called Freegal, where you can download 5 songs a month – for free – that you can keep forever on your devices. Freegal’s music library is a little tricksy to navigate, and they don’t have everything. Still, I like that they have some of my favorite bands on there.
If Freegal’s not your speed, hoopla also has music. Hoopla has a lot of songs that Freegal does not, like Chapelle Roan.
So here’s something I’d love to hear from you: how do you listen to podcasts? Let me know in the comments, because I really want to listen to more podcasts!
We are one week into the Ko-fi Membership Drive and we have already unlocked a goal!
Now that we have 10 members on Ko-fi, everyone of these members are receiving a Little Caticorn 4×6-inch mini-print!
The next goal is 15 members – when we hit that, everyone will receive the Little Caticorn mini-print AND the Forest Spirit 4×6-inch mini-print!
For the folks who have joined recently, thank you for your patronage. Your rewards will mail out on/after February 1st, 2025. Also you can start receiving early access to The Legend of Jamie Roberts already!
There are more benefits to membership – like shop discounts, exclusive zines and mini-comics, exclusive art, first dibs on commissions, and more. To get these perks, head to my Ko-fi page and join!
Alternatively, you can give just once, and get access to shop discounts and first dibs when I’m available for commissions.
If you want to get your hands on some goodies, I now have some bundles for you to check out:
Keep in mind, you can ONLY get these bundles during this membership drive. So you have UNTIL JAN 31 to claim these. Once the drive closes, the 2024 bundles are gone forever.
So can we make it to 15 members? Who will claim the 2024 rewards? Stay tuned for more updates next week!
I have news about printer proofs, zine fests, and shop updates.
While The Legend of Jamie Roberts, volume 1 is still going back and forth, volume 2 has been approved for printing! I’m hopeful that this next iteration of volume 1 will be the final draft. Fingers crossed, yo.
I haven’t had time to assemble stickers or draw minicomics because of election stress. Also, I came back from Akron Comicon, which was a huge flop for me. (How hard did it flop? Well I sold so little that I had to turn to mutual aid to help me pay for the electric bill coming due soon.) Unfortunately, I will not be returning to that show for the foreseeable future.
Speaking of events, this week I will be doing a lot with Queer Zest Zine Fest. So digital reward fulfillment is going to wait until next week.
Speaking of Queer Zest Zine Fest, I’m running a workshop tonight at 5 pm EDT, talking about Tabling at Events for Beginners. More info is on the Workshop page of the official site.
In other news, I updated my Ko-fi page to include some new pocket zines! Be sure to check that out – they’re all $1, plus $1 for shipping. I also have a Big Cartel shop where you can get sweaters, mugs, and notebooks. For the Big Cartel, 10% of all sales will go to TransOhio, an organization advocating and fighting for the rights of trans, nonbinary, intersex, and gender non-conforming people in Ohio.
