Another month, another update: Things didn’t break the way I hoped they would. In some way it’s a relief because now I don’t have to pursue the very expensive thing I was doing before and can just focus on paying off what’s left of my debts.
In the meantime, I’ve been trying to shuffle my schedule around to find a way to fit comics back into my workload. The just-do-comics-on-weekends thing isn’t going to fly any longer, as my only resolution this year is to take more Sundays off. It’s a small goal but I’m determined to stick to it.
The next schedule I mapped out was a half comics, half commissions even split alternating every two weeks. But I quickly realized this wouldn’t bring in nearly enough money, even with very generous orders and tips.
So then I made a mock up of a six week schedule: two weeks comics, four weeks commissions. But this would have been fairly brutal with no dedicated time allotted for patreon commissions or writing, which would eat into my administrative time and occasional day off. Cancelling the patreon altogether was also not an option, as I would depend on that minimum amount of commission income for the comics’ week income.
Next I tried mapping out a lopsided schedule, front-loading all the comics work of a quarter into four weeks and let the buffer work its magic as I worked on commissions in the interim. Technically, I’d only be able to make 10-12 pages for each comic to last the 13 week period, but it was better than nothing. However, during that comic week I’d be stuck with my only income being patreon cash, which would be about 285 USD for the month. Unfortunately this is not enough money for me to survive off of. There was also the similar issue of not having dedicated time for scripting.
So I’m not sure what to do about it beside mention it publicly but I’ll keep trying to make it work. Right now, in the undoubtedly clear-mindedness of a 2:00 AM perspective, it seems my best option is to bull rush commissions for a couple months and get it over with. And then I’ll be somewhat OK around mid-summer. Provided I don’t run out of work.
