#7 September 2024
Salut!
Starting with a small update on The Vow: the funds from Kickstarter have finally deposited (yay but also oof ouch processing fees) so I've started on some of the smaller things we can resolve before locking in the print order. For example, The Vow has ISBNs now! They're not activated yet (Bowker requires a publication date to be formally assigned, and we'll decide on that later) but the numbers have been officially claimed in the system for our paperback and digital editions. It's kind of dry clerical work but having an ISBN is vital for being able to sell The Vow in proper storefronts, and also makes it feel that much more real as a book :')
Also, I’m officially going to be tabling at the Massachusetts Indie Comic Expo in December! :D Ideally, The Vow will be available to purchase digitally by the time we table, so I’d like to have something set out for that (such as Itch keys) but that’s a secondary concern for the time being. Still truckin’ along on the book mainly!
Arden and I spent a couple weeks traveling in late August, partly for XOXO + PAX West but moreso as our big vacation for the year (: It was a good trip…after so much time talking with friends about work and art and what motivates us, I'm coming back home feeling v driven to crush this thing and power through to the next project(s)!
Unsurprisingly, there’s a lot of cool comic shops in the PNW, so I’ve been reaching out to some of the ones we visited to inquire if they want to stock The Vow. If you know of any shops open to carrying indie queer erotic comics, please feel free to pass on their contact info to us!
On the trip itself, I shot way more on film than I did on my phone (still waiting to get those developed) but here's a few photos that entirely fail to describe what a good time it was.
If time permits, I’d also like to do some new zine and/or design work to sell at MICE, so November’s newsletter will likely have a little stack of previews of what’s to come in there, or at least some nicer photos of what I spent the last few weeks doing outside of comic work lol. In any case, thank you for reading + see you next month!
Watching: Still deep in Star Trek TOS. I got Arden to watch Amok Time with me and the sickness has them too now, thank god. Being so honest with you there is definitely Oz/Lalo Trek AU fanart brewing atm...
Reading: Hellboy! A friend recced me where to start (as in, he pulled Chained Coffin & Others off the shelf at a store, put it in my hands, and said 'we're getting this for you') and of course it absolutely kicks ass. It's good that inks on The Vow are 100% locked at this point, because otherwise I'd probably ruin my life trying to fuss and fix and rework with everything I'm already learning from Mignola's art orz
Misc: It's been actually about a year since I started this as a hobby but I've been going real nutty on crocheting stuff as of late. It’s good to have a hobby that is basically impossible to monetize but still lets you work your brain + do something creative…also, of course, there’s the bonus of being able to make my own plushies. My car dashboard is slowly being populated with little guys.