It’s always something.

In case you hadn’t heard us talking about it endlessly yesterday, our Kickstarter campaign to turn STAR POWER & THE MYSTERY OF THE ZEL GUX DYNASTY into a book ends this Wednesday.  We are so very thrilled with the outpouring of support you’ve shown us and we cannot express our gratitude enough.  We couldn’t do this without you, and in turn we’re going to make the very best possible book for you.

I mentioned in an earlier blog post that Kickstarter campaigns terrify me.  We’ve done three of them now, and for me, each of them has been marked by a particular kind of anxiety I was feeling.  They’re like milestones for me, as I think back and remember my frame-of-mind around each campaign’s launch:

For STAR POWER & THE NINTH WORMHOLE, the anxiety came from having never done a Kickstarter campaign before.  The fear of failure is always gnawing at me, and while unsuccessfully funding a Kickstarter doesn’t make you a “failure,” my brittle self-esteem was telling me otherwise.  I started this campaign a nervous wreck, but thanks to you we were funded in two days and chasing Stretch Goals for the rest of the campaign.

For STAR POWER & THE SEARCH FOR BLACK HOLE BILL, I was depressed thanks to events in my life unrelated to the comic.  The fear of failure was amplified, and my brittle self-esteem had been all but shattered.  I went into this campaign with a dark cloud over my head, fearing the worst.  Once again, we were funded in under a week thanks to your generosity, and my mood considerably brightened.

For STAR POWER & THE MYSTERY OF THE ZEL GUX DYNASTY… well, 2016 has been one solid stream of bad news, and it was impossible not to feel affected by its dreariness and negativity.  My anxiety, fear of failure, and fragile self-esteem were relatively stable during the launch.  We were, once again, fully funded in under one week thanks to your generous support.  But then, one week later, the U.S. election happened and everyone I know, including Garth and myself, spent most of the next week in shock.  We’re usually boisterous and happy during the Stretch Goal period of our Kickstarters, but this one has been noticeably subdued.  It felt odd to engage in self-promotion when most of the people we know were genuinely worried and afraid for the future of the country, but life must go on and we did our best to spread the word.  And once again, your generosity and love has seen us through, and we are grateful.

Will silly anxieties and fears return when it comes time for our next campaign?  Probably.  Will your support see us through those anxious times?  I have no doubt.