Hello Folks!
It has been one incredible year of this blog. I really want to be more consistent in updating every month, or at least realistically giving more downloads throughout the year.
November was a huge bust. Some of you may know, but I headed over to Minnesota in hopes to give my best friend/editor/business partner a place to keep themselves safe from their grandparent’s house of horror (second hand smoke), while they visited their grandfather who has cancer. My parents, however, had another thing up their sleeve and gave me and my best friend COVID for the first time ever! It wasn’t looking good, and my body really wasn’t handling the illness that well. Luckily, for Minnesotans, they have a really great government program that allows folks both in state and out of state within MN to get Paxlovid for free (which i don’t know if it’s free anymore). That was a lifesaver, as I’m still feeling the side effects of it all.
My best friend’s grandfather got COVID and went to the ER because of it. Luckily we think he has recovered, but it’s a lot to process when you start believing you could be the cause of someone’s death. I was in a really rough place, and although he’s better now, I’m sitting with how awful the whole situation was and what COULD have happened.
Looking back, I’m glad I got to hang out with several people before getting sick (AND NOT GETTING THEM SICK)! It was refreshing to be back in MN and the reminder that I spent a big chunk of my life there and how I miss it sometimes. But also thinking about how much I love Washington and that I consider this place my home now. The people I’ve connected with simply by being here has been refreshing, and I care deeply about them, and how I feel that care in return…
ANYWAY, onto some news!
I finished up a really tiny 6 paged comic for a client. I can’t say what, but maybe the new downloads have a hint. Nudge nudge. It was a bit grueling to work through because I had such a limited amount of space to tell a story, and for the specific audience it’s made for… but I had the help of my good friend Tom Walker who was basically my ghost editor throughout. He helped me shape the comic to be something cute and lovely. If you’re my editor or agent reading this, you didn’t see this. Go away, shoo shoo.
Kickstarter success!
I wanted to make sure my purses were funded into 2024 so I wouldn’t have to look at the taxes until next year, that’s the main reason. But also, while I could have planned and hyped the purses up beforehand, I’m “allergic to money” and always find myself way too impatient. Though, we did get funded in the first day, and hit my internal goal of over 20k. So that really is a great thing!!! Most of it is going to manufacturing, fees, taxes, and to White Squirrel (the fulfillment group I’m working with, hooray Andrea), but I will be hopefully using the extra money to fund a small future business as a… stationery guy? I unno. I want to try pushing the envelope with my merchandise again. Not that I’m going to be making anything special, but it’ll be nice to see what I can make with what I have.
Maybe I’m saying I want this because the economy is crumbling and finding a job has been fruitless thus far.
I’m really grateful for anyone who backed the kickstarter, and is making this thing happen at all. I hope to bring them back to my storefront again later this year. Much… much later.
Future
My goals… oh goals. I’m trying not to make any, but I inevitably do.
House
Biggest goal is to get a house. This has been in my 5 year plan since I moved to Washington, and with my best friend, Danya, and my income combined, we can probably get one now. But this ultimately means I will be working extra hard this year to make things happen and to find some extra income.
Perhaps I’ll take commissions again. If you’re interested in one, feel free to email me at aluhnim@gmail.com and we can talk over what you’re thinking. I’ll do basically anything within reason for folks who are subscribed here.
Store
I already said this a few paragraphs above, but to start up an online store again would be great. I’m really determined! I’m not doing a great job right now because I need to get my files and junk in order!!! and the Lunar New Years is right around the corner, so most manufacturers are on break! (Hint, if you see some places taking a month off due to maintenance in February, you can note they work with folks overseas wink wink)
But I am thinking of making more bookmarks. I feel like I’ve tapped into something that’s really fun that is low cost for both myself and customers! Cheers to more of that!
Pitch
I’m going to be pitching a comic soon. BRRRRR!!!! It gives me the shivers thinking about that. Molly, my agent, has been SO incredibly encouraging while I’m scared out of my MIND. If that doesn’t work out, I have something else up my sleeve. But below is all I can share for now.
Hope you all had a lovely holiday! And if you got sick with the big surge of COVID, I wish you good health soon. Let me know what your big goals are this year, and if there’s any way I can help (advice, resources), comment below!