Happy New Year!
“So you finished the issue sometime during your December hiatus and now you’ve realized you got no rest? Well, do I have a fabulous new product for you it’s called the backup short!”
So, issue 7(&8) are finished! The four newest pages have uploaded to Patreon and the next thing is the backup story for the two issues. My plan is to make a 15ish pager and split in two for issue releases online. Also need to start uploading issue 5 and 6 to other spots online! (Amazon, Globalcomix, etc.) More details later.
Traditionally I take a break at the end of issues, both to relax and unwind from the sheer amount of work that goes into a single person making an entire issue of a comic book, and to plan the next one. Scripting and thumbs usually take a while and I like to get the whole issue scripted and have an alpha version of thumbnails for the whole issue to work off of as I go.
Issue #7 was double-length… for reasons that I don’t remember/ don’t matter if they weren’t important enough to remember. So, I’ll be working on a couple of covers to separate it into issues 7 & 8. Mainly because I want to draw a couple of new covers, but also because I think it fits better to keep them all a more similar length between issues. It will also allow me a good place to put the backup short stories when putting them all together for sale later.
All of that is to say Goodness gracious my arms and brain are tired. In general, it’s been harder to keep up with the pace I set for myself years ago when I had more time on my hands. The unfortunate need for a fulltime day job gets in the way of a lot when you are a solo creator. It also means you don’t have much time for anything else. I’ve definitely been thinking about stepping back to give myself some creative and real world breathing room. Maybe try turning my Patreon into more of an “everything I produce” kinda thing rather than just devoted to Sneeze. (Fanart, Nobles, short stories, etc.) Probably also going to be dropping Sneeze back down to two pages a month so I can pursue other things.
I’ve got a novel I need to finish, and a finished short story collection I have to literally find the time to put together and finish up, and that’s not even counting new ideas like a graphic novel pitch for The Poltergeist Pugilist. Time just doesn’t really feel like it’s on your side most of the time. But, there I go thinking in creative business mode again. It’s not all about that.
I want to live my life too. Producing a regularly updating webcomic on top of a full-time job just doesn’t really leave the time for seeing friends, going out, dating, life, or anything else. Everything becomes about finishing that next page, It becomes an all-consuming thing in your life. I want to cut this off at the pass before it fully becomes some kind of monster looming over me. Before I go down the road of so many other creators and start seeing Sneeze as a burden. I still love Sneeze, and I still want to finish this story, but I need some time.
So, I’m for sure going to be taking January and February off and possibly March. I’ll still be drawing, and posting updates. And expect scripts and thumbnails for the Backup story and the next issue to start in that time. Definitely need to scratch a couple of fan art itches. But also live a little, hang out with friends, go out and socialize, you know. Normal human things for normal human people like me, ha ha ha ha.
Anyway. Expect to hear more about when the comic is gonna start posting again sometime in March…. probably. Thanks for reading, and keeping up with my stories and art. It really does mean the world to me to know that there are people out there reading my stories.
Y’all rock, I hope the beginning of your year goes well.
Thanks, and have a good one!
