Happy April!
Hi, friends, and happy April!
I hope the weather by you is pleasant and comfy. It's still chilly here by me, which is just how I like it, so I'm happy lol But my sympathy to those in the Northern Hemisphere who like it warm! Just a little longer now 😄
March Recap
March was so, so busy! This is where I normally share the highs and lows of the month, but this month was so busy that just getting through it all felt like one big high point lol Here are some of the things I got up to in March:
✦ planned my blogging and newsletter schedule for the rest of the year through March of 2024, deciding on the times, dates, and frequency for each
✦ drafted at least 7 blog posts to go through the end of April and created several templates for future blog posts
^You can actually check out More Comics Please! Issue #1 now! This month's reviews were The Sprite and the Gardener, After Hours, and The Girl that Can't Get a Girlfriend.
✦ completed the March comic for Dragon patrons
✦ took hundreds of photos for comic book reviews (I like to bulk batch things as much as possible lol)
✦ interviewed for then attended a probationary meeting for a volunteer position with Callen-Lorde
✦ attended my regular writing workshops and a lovely Trans Joy space from KHJN
✦ finished a new piece for my portfolio that will be going up after May's shop update
✦ got the April comic for Dragon patrons started
✦ got started on another portfolio piece, which is a revamping of an older piece (digitized it and started the color for it)
✦ drew a bunch of feature images for blog posts and for Patreon Q+A posts
✦ celebrated the arrival of spring with some strawberry shortcake and some fresh flowers in my window
✦ took care of my partner for a week as he healed from his surgery
✦ continued my weekly therapy sessions that I've been going to since summer of last year
✦ kept up with all my Patreon posts for the month
✦ posted on twitter more often, although this kind of took a back seat while I was helping Corg out
✦ read and reviewed several comics, as well as just read a bunch for fun and relaxing
✦ planned a loose itinerary for a trip in April (more details in the April section!)
✦ scheduled some social media posts and created a new system for planning them involving multiple Google calendars, Google Sheets, and Scrivener
A lot of the things from March involved establishing the layout and design of things like blog posts and featured images, and I find that process to be really draining. I have so much respect for the graphic designers who do this regularly! I've been reminding myself that this part isn't forever and that once I've got these templates set up, it'll make future work a lot easier!
Things I wish I had done more of this month:
✦ rest lol I don't normally attempt to do this much in one month, and it came close to overwhelming me toward the end. I made an exception this month because of how much I had to catch up on from February and how much time would be taken out of work for Corg's care in March and our trip in April, but I definitely look forward to resting more now that I'm nearly back on track with everything.
✦ make more comics! I really was hoping to be able to make some short ones this past month, but I just couldn't squeeze it in. I'm hoping I can make more time for it in April and May now that I'm nearly caught up!
✦ been more active online: I think I did pretty well overall by showing up online, but I would like to be more conversational with people in general.
Overall, I'd say March was a hectic success, and I'm glad to move forward toward a hopefully less chaotic schedule in the coming weeks 😂
^The April illustration in Lianne Pflug's 2023 wall calendar
April Plans
While April doesn't have the same huge admin tasks to do list, it certainly will be a busy one still! Any month where I'll be short a few days is always a bit more intense, but I'm hoping that it'll involve fewer late nights than March did.
Here's what I'm hoping and planning to do in April:
✦ work on my longer graphic novel W+C for Camp NaNoWriMo
✦ return to posting full time on social media, including expanding to LinkedIn and Pinterest as well as the standard IG and Twitter
✦ continue designing blog layouts for regular features and creating templates for them and their header images
✦ begin posting blog posts once a week every week
✦ rest more!!
✦ finish the portfolio piece I'm working on
✦ if I have time, I'd love to squeeze in making a short comic, but I think it'll be difficult to do that this month with all that's going on-- hopefully May will be better!
✦ celebrate a friend's birthday outdoors (and masked!) at one of our favorite places in NY: the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
✦ read and review more comics for fun and for the blog
✦ and finally, the biggest plan for April: a four day trip to Maryland with my partner!
We're actively trying to move out of the city into a more affordable and accessible place, and we've found three small cities in Maryland that look promising, so we're going out on a scouting mission!
I'm very excited for this trip! It'll be really nice to get out of the city for a while and spend some time in places with trees and a horizon again lol I'm so grateful that we can finally do this trip and really hope that one of the places we check out is a good match for us.
I'm definitely nervous about COVID as we travel, even though we'll be taking our normal precautions like masking and not eating indoors at restaurants, but we really need to spend time looking for our new home in person before we move, so I'm hoping for the best!
It's going to be a fun and exhausting experience, so I'm spending the next few weeks getting ready and also planning to include some recovery time once we get back. (Thank goodness for Trader Joe's frozen meals lol)
That's it for this month's newsletter!
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What are some of your plans this April? Is it looking busy for you, or will this be a laid back kind of month? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for reading 💕
With love,
Jessi
