Short End page 25

I’m overdue to make some kind of blog post addressing the state of  the comic and I, and a new year seems like as good a time as any. Scroll  to the bottom line if you’re not interested in what will probably  amount to a blow-by-blow of 2020.

First of all let’s not mince words: last year was a catastrophe as  far as Next Town Over was concerned in addition to being a disaster all  around. Heading into 2020 I felt like I was heading into the  homestretch, the finish line of this sucker in sight, and I was  simultaneously excited to be working on the Patron-only comic again, as  well planning on a return to streaming and more work on game dev in  addition to being back at doing illustrative work for hire, which is  always more lucrative if somewhat less of a passion. I was also about  half done with a new website on a new host meant to eliminate several  extremely longtime issues with the current site and just update the  comic’s primary home to be more usable, more readable, etc.. And then  March and April happened. My kid and spouse came home for keeps. I was  suddenly responsible for essentially homeschooling the boy because there  was no virtual learning plan in place when the school initially closed  and they were scrambling to even send out any kind of resources. My  partner makes the lion’s share of our money, so I was functionally  banished from my office as he [needfully] took it over to work from  home. It got real hard real fast to stay on top of the comic while  making good on additional commitments made pre-COVID. Then it was  summer. Then it was fall, and school recommenced – virtually. And  then it was the holidays. On Christmas morning we awoke to a freezing  house; our boiler had died in the night and we had no heat. And and and.

I am tired.

Since I started posting Next Town Over I have always managed 52  updates a year, give or take, until last year. In 2020, I posted 21.  Coincidentally and somewhat hilariously, last year was NTO’s 10th anniversary. I have been doing this for a decade.  And rather than commemorate it with something big, I mostly just  rattled around my house trying to keep up with my kid’s education and  stay on top of commissions. I’m sorry. I hate it. I wanted to be  celebrating the conclusion of NTO by now, for all our sakes.

But all I can say is I’ll keep going if you will! Thanks for sticking  around and even supporting me throughout this fallow stretch; some of you even offered to support me when I paused billing for a few months because I didn't feel I was keeping up my end  of the bargain!

I hope 2021 finds you faring … decently, at least. It’s hard times for a lot of people right now and I don’t mean me; I was fortunate my big issue in 2020 was I couldn’t update my webcomic as much I wanted to and I’m very aware of it.

All the best,

Erin