This is a good news/bad news/confession post.

The good news is that a project I’m part of, Monstrosity,  has just reached it’s crowd funding goal! There’s only seven days left and there’s some great pre-order stuff by a terrific collection of Toronto and area based artists to check out!

On to the confession. I think we all know by now that I’ve had a helluv a time keeping up the Mon, Wed, Fri schedule since…before Christmas, now that I think about it. The issue has been work related, which brings me to the bad news.

The fact is, as much as I love working on this, Promises Promises doesn’t generate enough income for me to turn down more profitable work, which then has to take priority. This (obviously), mucks with the schedule and who wants to keep coming back to a site that may or may not have the updated content you’re looking for? On top of that, the comics are a lot of work. Usually, I’d just tell you that I love drawing and it’s what I’d be doing anyway, but I’ve been missing out on too much. Holidays, weekends, family events (seriously, my family thinks I hate them) and that guy I married likes to see me once in a while.

So, in the interest of resolving some of these issues, I’m dropping the price of prints to $10.00, adding some new cards to my Etsy shop and I’m going to do two things I always said I would never do here:

1.  I’m dropping comic updates to once a week, indefinitely. As of this week, new comics will go up on Monday. I’d rather keep to one, quality, consistent update than the helter-skelter that’s going on now. If/when the site starts generating enough to make it worthwhile, I can go back to posting three times a week.

2. I’m putting up a donation button in the left sidebar. I’m having a very hard time with this decision. I realize this seems a little backwards considering I’m dropping the amount of content provided and I don’t like asking for money, but it’s part of the online business model that I haven’t explored yet and there are people who want to support the work they enjoy without having to buy a book or a t-shirt.

Whether you can donate or not, as always, I thank you all for reading, commenting, shopping and continuing to check back during these erratic updates. Your support of this strip means an awful lot to me.

You may or may not remember my efforts at planter-gardening last year, but I really got a lot out of it so this year I upped my game and dug a 4′x8′ patch in the yard, in addition to my planters. I got some pepper plants at the garden centre and started some great herbs indoors for the planter boxes. My garlic chives, thyme and dill from last year sprouted back up and (as you can see), are looking (and smelling) great! That was more exciting than I’d like to admit.

It’s still pretty cold here at night, but it’s supposed to warm up this week so I’m holding off on the outdoor seeds and transplants till probably Thursday or Friday.

The digging was a lot more work and a lot more time consuming than I expected it to be. According to the calorie counter at about.com,  it burns about 340 cal/hr and I’m using that information to validate the nice cold Strongbow cider I had after several hours of shoveling away.

As illustrated in today’s comic, I spent a rather surprising amount on tools, supplies and seeds. When I think about it, come harvest time, it probably works out to something like five bucks a tomato. But, I’m enjoying the work and at this phase, it’s probably best to focus on the hobby aspect of it all.

20/05/2013 Update:

I’m still swamped, this delay will have to go on a little longer. I’ll post again as soon as I can.

Thanks for your patience.

No worries if you pre-ordered yours, it’s on it’s way to you now.

Otherwise, I’ll let y’all know as soon as I get more in.

This is shaping up to be an incredible event! As thrilled as I am to be a part of it, it’s killing me that I’m going to miss some of the programming. Looks awesome!

If you’re coming, and why would you miss it?! (Don’t worry about Mothers’ Day, moms LOVE comics!) I’ll be on the second floor at table 205 with the debut copies of Starting Monday, the newest Promises Promises collection!

And a gentle reminder to anyone who can’t make it to the show, the pre-order special in the Promises Shop ends at midnight on Friday. Get your pre-orders in so I can get them out to you right away!