Guts N' Gutters #8 (May 2025)
Grow In Grow Out Ends Soon, a New Campaign and An Interesting Recipe for Avoiding Creative Blocks
TL;DR (Too Long, Don’t (Wanna) Read)
Grow In Grow Out Ends in 4 Days; Help It Get Funded!
The Prism Anthology goes Live June 4th!
Letters from the Void Updates
Into the Gutters: Shake Off Your Creative Block With Some Cheap Bullshit Ass Music
Go support This Eternal Coil #1 & Aces & Aros on Kickstarter!
WHAT’S THE WORD?
Dislodge - To drive from a position of hiding, defense, or advantage. To force out of a secure or settled position.
Grow In Grow Out
Grow In Grow Out launched on May 20th and is nearly funded. The campaign ends on June 3rd at 10:30PM CST, so it’s crunch time. Help this little chapbook reach its goal!
Prism: An Anthology of Tomorrow
I think I forgot to mention that a poem of mine was accepted into this anthology of queer positivity. My bad.
If you need some hope in the form of comics, stories, poetry, and art, please follow the Prism Anthology so you don’t miss its launch on June 4th!
Letters from the Void
A lot has happened since I last talked about this book!
Firstly, all of our covers have been commissioned and completed.
Left to right: Cover A by Felipe Thowsend, Cover B by DoomWeasel Art, Cover C by Donna a. Black.
On top of that, all of the scripts have been completed, so I’m pleased to announce the writers:
Anna Everts
Joe S. Farrar
Christa Harader
Wells Thompson
Daniel G. Wilson
Stay tuned for updates on the Kickstarter, but I anticipate launching in the middle of October this year.
INTO THE GUTTERS
Cheap Bullshit Ass Music: A Recipe
CHEAP BULLSHIT ASS MUSIC (CBAM)
My grandmother (or someone’s grandmother surely) used to always say that there’s nothing like a heaping plate of Cheap Bullshit Ass Music to heal the soul. It was a staple of her creative cuisine, and with her hunger for art newly filled, she’d return to her passion projects to cook something up again.
Like a good grandchild, I’ve taken her recipe and added my own touches to make it my own. Sometimes when I’m starving for inspiration, nothing helps more so than concocting a plate of nonsense to shake off the burnt-out bits of stories and blankness that sometimes happens. Or, it could be made just because it’s the current vibe. CBAM has many uses.
Ingredients
The Why Cheap Art? Manifesto
On Bullshit
This TikTok about Pitbull
How to Make Cheap Bullshit Ass Music
Find some things you want to make that aren’t motivated by any career aspirations or monetary goals, and can be made without spending a ton of money.
IMPORTANT: Don’t overthink it. An overseasoned helping of Bullshit defeats the purpose of the meal.
Of the things you brainstormed, find the bullshit.
What is bullshit?
“...bullshit itself is invariably produced in a careless or self-indulgent manner, that it is never finely crafted, that in the making of it there is never the meticulously attentive concern with detail […] The word shit does, to be sure, suggest this. Excrement is not designed or crafted at all; it is merely emitted, or dumped. It may have a more or less coherent shape, or it may not, but it is any case certainly not wrought.” - On Bullshit, Harry G. Frankfurt
Slice and dice the ideas that feel most personal or would require much thought. This doesn’t mean it has to be meaningless, but it shouldn’t require much examination.
Ask which of these ideas do you feel with your ass?
As the TikToker NerdyMixPan puts it “[There are] songs not made for your brain or your heart, they’re made for your ass. [...] They have no higher meaning above getting your ass moving.”
Eliminate the ideas that don’t get your ass moving (don’t make you the most excited or don’t seem the most fun).
Give yourself a short timeframe to cook your idea into Cheap Bullshit Ass Music.
Overheated CBAM can turn into steak and thus repeat the cycle of stress and burnout. A quick deadline avoids this.
Congratulations! You’ve made CBAM.
Serving your Cheap Bullshit Ass Music
CBAM must be released into the ether; otherwise, it is simply an utterance. CBAM is a shareable meal, and best served at low cost or free, so that everyone can enjoy it. Filling your belly requires this step so that you feel satisfied with the concoction you made even if it isn’t your best work. My grandmother argued that setting it free also sets yourself free from whatever creative hangups were troubling your tummy.
GUTTER BUDS
Shout out to these campaigns by friends and colleagues!
This Eternal Coil is a 20-page comic book about the emotional and physical journey taken by a Mexican father and his daughter after the death of their matriarch. The death sets off a chain of events which draw the father into a trip through the afterlife and the daughter to investigate the strange events left in her mother's wake.
Luis is a friend, and I backed this campaign to also get the Amalas Rosa cover (pictured on the right!).
Aces and Aros: An Asexual and Aromantic Comic Anthology
I love every anthology Lifeline Comics puts together and the Aspec community often gets lost in the LGBTQ+ conversation. Go support this book!
