What’s Up?
October was a month of ups and downs for us; I’ve been working my hardest to make progress on both Follower edits and website updates along with new pages. I’ve also been fighting the healthcare system to make any forward progress on dealing with my chronic pain situation. We also unexpectedly lost our cat, which made the latter half of the month more challenging than usual. Still, we press on.
What’s New?
This has been a difficult month. I’ve made a few animated videos for my TikTok page about some of the difficulties of dealing with chronic pain (and health insurance) as a way to try and stay sane through what feels like an absurd process. Still, things are moving forward for me, however slowly.
I’ve made a little progress on some new Follower updates, which are available to Chio Club members. I’m still working on learning how to deal with dysfunctional hands and joints, but I refuse to give up on comics or Follower, even though it’s been hard, pain-wise.
In the past two weeks, we found ourselves having to say goodbye to our beloved cat Milo, who, like it or not, was very much a part of our lives as creative people. He was the boss around here, really, and it’s been difficult to find the new normal without him. If you’d like to read more about him, I wrote a bit of a eulogy for him to try and work through some of my own thoughts. (Though I will warn you in advance if you are sensitive to the topic of pet loss; it’s a little emotional.)
- COMIC: a shell of a human being (bug bits)
Bug Bits is (was?) a small series of autobiographical strips I made over the years. They were originally posted on Tapas and Webtoon before I took them down with the intention of doing…something…with them, which I clearly never did. Anyway, now seems as good a time as any to revive Bug Bits. Here is a… Read more: COMIC: a shell of a human being (bug bits) - In the Wilderness
Hi friends, long time no post? Sort of? I’m here to resolve this posting drought by….posting about not posting. Hmm. As you might have already read if you’re up to date with the goings-on on Follower, or via the Chio Club, I’m going through some kind of burnout and need to take a bit of… Read more: In the Wilderness - Turkey-Type Sale
It’s a Turkey-Type Sale! If you’re in America, it’s that one week of the year again. *eyeroll* So I suppose I gotta do one of these. Anyway, all my comics, wallpapers, sketchbooks, and brushes are 50% off on itch.io. Everything in my Teepublic shop is on sale, too! That includes shirts, stickers, mugs, hoodies, and… Read more: Turkey-Type Sale - Abandoning the bird
This is just a tiny update to say that I’m leaving Twitter for good. There are a lot of reasons why, but I think it’s finally time. I’ve long since arrived at the point where it’s more effort for me to make a post than what I get in return, where on sites like Bluesky… Read more: Abandoning the bird - Chio Club: Follower 8.23 inks & schedule notes
Hey folks! There’s a Chio Club update with a preview of the next page and some information about the upcoming schedule for the comic. $1+ members can take a peek right now!
What’s Next?
Despite the challenges of October, I’m still working my hardest to make progress on comics. I’ve been trialling some different pain management options, most of which have been ineffective, but I’m trying to push through it and work on new pages anyway. These updates have been made available to Chio Club members so far, so be sure to join if you’re interested in an early peek at what’s to come.
I’m continuing to work on the new website for Follower, which is coming along very well. The site itself is mostly functioning and complete, I just have to prepare edited and resized pages to upload to it. These pages are also what I’m planning to use for Volume One, so again, if you’re interested in an early peek at all of these things, definitely check out the Chio Club.
Community News
One of the new parts of the new Follower website I’m considering opening to readers is the option to help transcribe pages for vision-impaired readers. For now, I’ve been doing the transcriptions myself, but there are hundreds of pages to go. I might open this up to the community as a volunteer project. If you’re at all interested in this sort of thing, please drop in on the Discord chat and let me know!
If there is community interest, I will open up a private channel just for transcribers, and probably create a special role for it.
Thanks For Reading!
Thank you for reading this month’s news. It’s been a difficult month around here, so it means a lot that you’re around and checking in on what we’re up to. We’re doing our best to get new stuff made, and crossing our fingers that my situation gets better soon. Draw through the pain! (No, don’t!!)
