August Newsletter

Oof, hello everyone! It's been a little while, hasn't it? Thank you so much for continuing to support me over the last couple of months during another Patreon content drought. You may have noticed from my social media that I haven't been very active online at all pretty much since the end of April.

The main reason for this has been another severe bout of autistic burnout. I've come to realise that the projects I take on for Autism Acceptance Month are too much for me to organise on my own and have too high of a cost when I struggle to function for half the year because of them. Honestly, I am still recovering from the burnout of the Sensory kickstarter last year. I don't think I'll be taking on such a huge workload again next year, or at least, not alone.

Organising and participating in not only the comic collab but also a gamejam and an album all while trying to keep making my regular autobio comics, juggling client work (that I haven't been allowed to post here because of NDAs) and personal issues has honestly kind of broken me. On top of that, over the Summer I've attended several in-person events including TCAF in Canada (my first time doing a convention overseas!) and The Autism Show. With all of this going on, it's been hard for me to catch a break and maintain most aspects of my life, whether that's professionalism, personal relationships... basically everything. It's taken me until this month to start feeling like myself again.

Another thing that sounds very minor but has actually been ruining my life is that I haven't been sleeping well at all since the end of April. I've been getting up at like 2pm and going to bed at like 9am, it's been absolutely horrendous and there have been several times where I've attempted to fix this pattern in different ways but only for 1-2 days at a time before sliding back into it. Being in an irregular sleeping pattern as a result of depression and burnout has made it hard to keep track of my days, my work, when things are due, obligations that I forgot to fulfil etc. Again I know it sounds super minor but honestly it's been a nightmare. 

I've also been going through a really serious wave of repetitive strain injury in my right wrist (my drawing hand). RSI is no joke at all and while I've had it mildly in the past, it's much worse now than it's ever been. I managed to pick up a copy of Draw Stronger by Kriota Willberg and it's been a HUGE help. I highly recommend it to anyone struggling with RSI. It's a comic guide to stretching and self-care for artists. Something I didn't realise until I read the book is that your tendons literally will shrink if you don't stretch them, which obviously can cause pain. And I was like, woah.

Anyway, all of this is my desperate attempt to try and convince you lovely folks that the content drought on here is not through lack of care or laziness or anything like that. Something I struggle with is not knowing how bad it is until it's too late, so I end up in this cycle of 'oh shit, I didn't post on Patreon this week, I'll do it next week!' and then next week comes and goes and I'm like 'oh no, it's been 2 weeks, should I make an update about this? No, I'll just post a lot of stuff next week to make up for it.' and then before I know it, the end of the month's gone and the cycle of promising myself it'll be OK actually because somehow I will be able to come up with a mountain of content to post, and then that will justify the drought.

Which is obviously nonsense and what I should have done was just be open and honest about what was going on and make an update straight away. But committing to an update feels very final, whereas if I tell myself I can just catch up next week, that feels more reasonable to me in the moment because it's hard to recognise how bad it is until it's too late.

Anyway, all of this is to say, that I *super extremely deeply* appreciate your support over the last few months, and also always. I never take your support for granted and it's helped me to get through a strangely difficult time in my life. Just last week, I was *finally* able to stop working on the sofa in my living room and finally furnish my studio, which means I now have a desk! and this sounds like a minor change, but it's been *huge* for me. Life feels so much better now that I have an ergonomic and dedicated place to work. I'm more productive but also not overworking myself. And I have a bunch of new stuff to post, especially for the highest tier! Since moving into the new studio, I've also been keen to wake up instead of dreading it. And I've managed to sort my sleeping pattern out! Every day this week I've gotten out of bed between 8 and 8.30 which has been HUGE for me. 

Thank you to every single person here for being kind and patient with me. I always feel scared when I can't create content as much as I would like to, but (as far as I know) not a single person has been mean to me about it which just really helps so much. Like, I get so much anxiety around not posting and knowing that people are chill makes it so much easier to come back when I'm able to.

So now that I'm getting my life back on track and feeling like myself again, I want to make things right here as well and get back to posting regular comics and other content here, so keep an eye out!

What's next?

Convention Schedule

EGX London - 25th September
I'll be speaking on the neurodiversity panel on the Sunday!

LICAF - Lake District - 14th, 15th, 16th October
I was invited as a special guest to this convention! I'll be doing a panel and possibly some workshops? More info soon!

MCM London - 28th, 29th, 30th October
I'll be speaking on the neurodiversity panel again this year!

Thought Bubble - Harrogate - 12th, 13th November

Book Release

Sensory: Life on the Spectrum, as published by Andrews McMeel will release in November in the US and December in the UK! You can preorder it wherever books are found, including but not limited to Amazon, Barnes&Noble, Schuler Books, Waterstones and WHSmiths. 

Thank you so much again for continuing to support me even though I feel like I don't deserve it. Your kindness and support helps me to stay afloat and I hope that going forwards, I can hold up my end of the bargain!

Chat to you soon,

Bex

<3