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Busy Times: Plumbing Adventures, GeekGirlCon, Dragon Dodge

Busy Times: Plumbing Adventures, GeekGirlCon, Dragon Dodge published on No Comments on Busy Times: Plumbing Adventures, GeekGirlCon, Dragon Dodge

 

Busy, Busy, Busy

September and October have been a couple of busy months for me.  From unexpected plumbing adventures (plural), to freelance illustration, to preparing merchandise for GeekGirlCon and tabling at said convention, I’m beat. One of these months would have been okay, but the two stacked together caused extra debuffs to my energy level.  As a result, there is only one page this month. My deepest regrets extend to you, dear readers. This is the first time this has happened in the nearly three years Nwain has been running.

Unexpected Plumbing Adventures

I moved in February to a lovely house in a nice, quiet neighborhood. Aside from the constant leaf-blower noise on landscaping days, it’s a wonderful place to work from home. Or it was, until the hall bathroom toilet started to drip at random, aggravating intervals in early September. I tried to locate the problem, but ended up needing professional help. The plumbers suggested replacing the sixteen-year-old toilet. So Mom and I said in our innocence, why not replace the one downstairs too.

When removing the downstairs toilet, the plumbers discovered a soft, spongy floor beneath. A slow, tiny leak had been seeping into the floor, degrading it. One day, perhaps, I might have sat on the toilet and suddenly crashed 5 feet down into a moldering crawlspace and out the front yard. However, that dreadful fate has been averted thanks to a collection of heroic water damage repair specialists and flooring contractors. The downstairs bathroom is now safe for Democracy. The journey involved a set of industrial-grade dehumidifiers and air filters which filled the house with the dulcet sounds of a didgeridoo as played by a blue whale, which must be left on at all hours. At least it was all over by mid-September. Or so I thought.

While the plumbers were finally replacing the downstairs toilet, Mom and I said in our innocence, why not replace the one in the master bedroom, too. Why only replace two out of the three toilets in the house when we could do the third one now, too, we thought. It’ll be more consistent. How practical and forward-thinking of us, Mom and I agreed.

The plumbers replaced the valve, but needed to go back to get the right size of toilet for the mini “just a toilet” room inside the master bathroom. The one they had was too big. They’d be back in a few days to actually replace the little stinker. That very night, at 2 AM, I flushed the old boy and heard what sounded like a jackhammer trying to excavate itself from a tin can inside the wall.  Turns out, when the house was being built in 199-whatever, whoever was nailing the trim to the wall somehow wedged a nail deep into the toilet’s feed pipe. Replacing the valve had dislodged the nail, causing a joyful leak to splash down to the garage.  We called upon the water damage repair specialists and the blue whale’s didgeridoo returned, this time in my bedroom.

The filter was gone by early October, just in time for me to host my convention-going friends.

 

GeekGirlCon

At GeekGirlCon, my friends Jo and Zoey and I shared a table. We had a great time!  I sold several dice bags, which I had been cramming into the sewing machine all September (when not aiding plumbers, or working on Nwain, or drawing for Dragon Dodge).

From right to left: Me (behind the bags), Jo, Zoey

Dragon Dodge

During all this, I’ve also been creating illustrations for a board game called Dragon Dodge.  It’s a wizard-themed tile game that will be having a kickstarter soonish. I’ll keep you posted!

Dragon Dodge Box Art

 

 

In conclusion

I’m tired as walnuts, but I’m ready for next month. If I had attempted to make page 70, I’d be about as together as a basket of stunned kittens. As it is, I’m merely a basket of regular kittens. One of them is bound to get its work done.

Nwain March 2016 Pledge Drive!

Nwain March 2016 Pledge Drive! published on

March Pledge Drive

Dear Readers,

Nwain: The Knight Who Wandered Dream is created by one person (me).  It’s a surprising amount of work!  I spend over 40 hours a week doing work on the comic, from animating and writing to marketing and bug fixing.  It leaves me no time to work at a traditional 9-5 job.  To make ends meet, I occasionally take freelance illustration commissions.  Sadly that work isn’t steady, and it can take time away from Nwain.  There are better options out there.

Merchandise is one option.  At the Nwain Gumroad shop, you can buy Nwain-related items, or download digital goodies at a pay-what-you-want price–great for a one-time donation!  I also sell the physical items at conventions, such as the Evergreen Tabletop Expo in Tacoma (May 27-29) and possibly Geek Girl Con in Seattle (Oct 8-9).

Patreon is another option.  Patreon allows you to make monthly pledges.  Depending on your pledge level, I can send you rewards.  I like Patreon because it is very steady and low hassle.  An increase in support means I have funds for getting new merchandise printed or crafted.  The only catch is that my Patreon tends to grow slowly.

So that’s why I’m holding a pledge drive!  Like pledge drives for PBS, I’m doing a month-long reminder: if you’re interested in supporting Nwain, now is a great time!

Thank you,

Terrana

March2016_Goals

New Nwain Patreon Goals

New Nwain Patreon Goals published on No Comments on New Nwain Patreon Goals

 

I’m holding a pledge drive!  If you’ve been thinking of supporting my patreon, now could be good time to start!

Over the last few months, my intent about the future has shifted.  I want to make Nwain financially sustainable sooner rather than later.  I’ve spent the last two years working full-time to bring this comic to life, yet during that time I’ve been piling guilt on myself.  I’ve only been employed part-time during those years, intermittently looking for full-time employment at any games company that was hiring.  Still, I felt I wasn’t looking for “real” jobs as hard as I thought I should.  I was under a cloud, and that cloud prevented me from seeing the opportunity I’d been building every day for nearly two years.

I want to keep making this comic at the same pace.  To do that, I need to earn a living at it.  I need to make Nwain my job, and treat it like a “real” job.  I need to tackle the many-headed hydra of finances head-on.

To further that end, I recently registered Nwain as a business in Washington State.  I’m now officially a small business owner!  I can officially sell things online and at conventions! (and I have to pay back taxes! hooray?)

What this means for you, readers, is that I will create more merchandise and other rewards while continuing to bring you the same animated comic.  I will also hold a “pledge drive” every few months in an effort to invite more people into the Nwain family.

The first pledge drive starts today!

 

New Patreon Pledge Goal: $100 by October 31!

As my Patreon currently sits at $65, this is a modest increase of $35 in 35 days.

Please tell your friends about Nwain, especially if they like fantasy stories, comics, and/or animation.  If you considered putting up the Nwain fliers, now’s a good time to go do it!

Here’s what I can bring you if we reach certain goals…

 

$75: Free Monthly Digital Sketchbook.  This is a pdf that will release in the middle of the month.  It will contain sketches and other art I’m working on.  It will be free for anyone to download and share, covered under a Creative Commons share-alike non-commercial license.  Producing these will help me compile an artbook later.

$100: Free Music For Every Chapter.  Each chapter, I will work with musically-inclined friends to create an original soundtrack for Nwain.  The music will be freely available online.

Stretch Goals:

$125: Design & Print Posters.  Getting posters printed requires an upfront cost that I can afford more easily when we reach this goal.

$150: Handsome Tote Bag.  Like posters, tote bags also cost money.  When we reach this level, I will quest for the best of the totes.

$200: Improve Website.  I want to improve usability and access for the site, which will require time and possibly hiring web development help.  As one example, I want to make text transcripts for every page, so international readers can use Google translate to read the comic, and low vision readers can use text-to-speech programs to hear the story.

Thank you for bearing with me through this long letter.  Have a nice week!

-Terrana

P.S.: Two new pages go up this Tuesday!