November Highlights

Delays On Posts; Advances In Life

It’s not my fault that my friend has only certain times off from his work schedule. Neither is it my fault for wanting to sleep and not try to do several posts a day.

Getting Into Hollow Knight

Hard to believe that there are videos of lore to sleep to. It’s less than a decade old and it’s already got people clamoring. And yes, Silksong’s existence got me to play the base game after having it for so long. No matter how hard the sequel is, getting immersed into this game is something I just wanna do. Every new power-up, backtracking and becoming more familiar with the places is something that I wanna get back to. Especially with the thematics that come with it all.

And those lore videos, it adds a meta layer to the exploration. Yeah, you could piece stuff together yourself, especially with Game Theory. But the way the people put the story together while telling it a certain way is like exploring a new favorite bed time story. I mean, sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, a little stressed from hearing Warhammer 40k lore. Why? The grimdark stuff can influence your dreams!

Seriously! Sleeping to nature documentaries while staying at a friend’s place makes me feel more relaxed than at home sometimes.

Indie Animation Hype

And yes, I watch vids on YouTube a lot. Sometimes even more than the Netflix account I still buy gift cards for. My family uses it more than I do! It’s just easier when you’re watching streaming shows with friends I guess.

Plus, when you find stuff like Space King, AZFK, and more putting their best efforts and having fun while doing it you can’t help but wanna push choice paralysis to the side. Maybe I’ll get a little guilty that I don’t have the drive to send them a little money. But between my bank labeling Patreon a telemarketing company (thus a security risk they jump on) and already raising money in two other places, it comes with some neuroses.

Wire Fence: Re-Opened Finally Drafted!

And yeah, this past month I finally got what I feel is the final draft of the Wire Fence manuscript down. It’s all in a form that not one but two laypeople can comprehend. Enough to paint pictures that an artist could understand. Now all I have to do is 1) find a place to connect with an artist 2) keep every lesson I learned the first time I published a comic together 3) find the best way to publish the comic. Webtoons is probably not the best place for it. One problem at a time.

…oh right. 1.5) Prepare enough money to get the comic together.

I actually recovered all the money I spent making the original Wire Fence. Or…got my savings account to the level it was when that happened. I had a lot of other expenses get in the way.

You’ve heard it all before, no one goes into comics with the goal of getting rich…anymore. But no one ever tells you that breaking even is the biggest challenge of all.

I’ve said this before because it’s something all artists have to accept. Trying to make a living off your art is both an investment and a gamble.

Investing

Thing is I’ve been thinking about little ways to raise money by investing in things. I even got news that one of my investments will become a regular stream of passive income every quarter of a year. Cuz who doesn’t want to watch a cheesy little flick for fun when you’re feeling down? Not much cash admittedly, but it’s so accessible I don’t really care.

Same with my bonds account. It’s been a goal to raise it to a certain level and get as much as I can out of it in dividends. On a regular withdrawal basis at that. Maybe my tax refund can help with that. If I don’t use it to fund The Wire Fence: Re-Opened.

A guy can have dreams, but he’s also gotta have a future.

Frankly I’ve been looking at a lot of avenues to make passive income.

I thought about playing games to earn stuff for gift cards. But that just turns times to relax into work just like the survey app I use. And those can be very disruptive when I actually need to work. I like my job and the good it actually does, so it irritates me just how much it can get in the way of it. And it never pops up on weekends when it doesn’t disrupt those. Besides I want my free time to be for fun, not more work.

I’ve been getting into different things like real estate crowdfunding, accessible and affordable cryptomining on GoMining, even virtual real estate. But a lot of these are going to take time to make profit.

All I know is, I’m not making a lot of money off of content creation like this. So I had to diversify and try other things.

My Only Paid Subscriber

Speaking of, I did something I haven’t done in a while, make changes to a post from a long time ago.

I listen to my audience, especially when they pay money and when they give out details that not many people can get a hold of. Stuff like trademarks and publishing rights that aren’t always publicly available. Judd Winick owns what put him on the map and can do whatever he wants with it. Just wonder if he ever wants to get into it and have what he can do to back it up.

How Is Gutternaut Going?

The website…I’m finding more things to keep my mind occupied more than what I used Gutternaut for spiritually. Have a focus to put all of my comic thoughts together.

Meanwhile this newsletter has been great. I mean, I finally got to do more than just the usual. Publishers reached out to me. I’m in demand! Probably because I’m always on the rising lists when it comes to comics.

So why did some subscribers leave?

You know what, that’s not too important. Most of my subscribers don’t visit my posts. At most, a little more than a quarter of them lean to true fan territory. If I lost competition with something that got their attention more, oh well.

Hate to say it, but I get the feeling. On YouTube and GlobalComix, unless I really like what’s on the channels or looking for some ideas, I’m just not just gonna jump at the first chance I get for their newest stuff. I have things going on in my life and I’m not going to have time for everything. It’s just common sense to expect that from everyone else.

Packing For the Holidays?

Gonna be busy for the holidays that’s for sure, especially for what I’ve been looking forward to every year, Public Domain Day. The original Nancy Drew, some Max Fleischer cartoons-

But I should be finishing that Comics of the World thesis/book. Even though most things tickling my fancy is on the Reality-Altered Earth project. Even though I’m mostly just adding little details based on weird breakthroughs in the real world like certain dried mushrooms being used like computer chips. And others being good for radiation shielding. Instead of finishing short stories that I add.

Then there’re the things I like to read, especially off Hoopla. I feel like I barely get enough time, especially when I try to be more active.

Wait…

Now I have to wonder. Is there even any point to what I’ve been doing these past months with this paywall for comic business trends? Scott Mitchell Rosenberg told me he paid me because he liked how I wrote about Barry Ween. So he started reading my reviews.

Now I don’t know if paid posts are even worth it. Things like my opinions are cheap, they’re not products like downloadable files.

I’m gonna stop making pay walled posts for a while.