New Comics Every Week at Patreon

Hi Friends!

After years of thinking about it, I finally decided to to launch a Patreon for my diary and sketchbook comics.

My daughter Poppy was diagnosed with Long COVID and is home for the foreseeable future, which is making work slow and intermittent. I am still working on the book about my mother, but the needs of my Homelife (trademark pending) have caused me to rethink work in general and I’m unable to take on any large projects outside of the book right now.

I’ve resisted the Patreon idea for a long time. The vulnerability around it is huge–what if no one comes? And who needs another reason to be on the screen? Yet, I have a backlog of unpublished work and I can’t afford to print it in a new issue of Paper Pencil Life for the time being. Also, so much of what I make is about knowing how and what I am living and thinking. Sharing it helps me feel connected to what others are living and thinking too, something I need more than ever now. I’d love to be able to share it with you.

Subscribers will get comics weekly, with occasional posts about my memoir process and missives about comics and life. Come on over! It’ll be good!

Still here in COVID Land

Here we are still in the trenches of COVID! There have been new developments even since these entries–so Poppy is still home for the time being. Some of us are getting more sick of it than others!

This Is Serious Too

I only have permission to post this panel from yesterday’s COVID diary. I’ll just say this: we hit a mental health limit. I’m not sure I will continue posting, but I want to thank everyone who has sent messages of encouragement and solidarity and shared their own COVID experiences. This pandemic is no joke and as much as we try to control and grapple with a way to manage it, there seems to me no one way this virus moves through. My family is adjusting from day to day. It sucks and is hard, and community, even from afar, is something so vital. Stay safe everyone. Love to all!

Isolated But Not Alone

This sucks folks, I’m not going to lie, but if anything this has shown me how connected we are. What an abundance friendship and family is. It’s keeping us afloat!

Cough Cough

Again, I want to say: we understand that home testing kits have a margin of error. We continue to remain vigilant and isolated. Stay safe everybody!!

Twist!

And just in case you are worried: we know that home kits give false negatives and are still isolating and taking every precaution we can. Graham has completely recovered from whatever was ailing him.

And So It Begins

I decided to keep this diary going as long as I can. It’s mainly for my family’s record, but I thought I’d post it as long as it makes sense (and my health allows). Yesterday was the first full day of COVID-19 in the house–and it’s catching! Or is it??

It’s in the House

Last night’s diary comic! It finally happened! My hope is that we get this over with quickly & on the lighter side!!

Peace on Earth from Me to You

We live in the weirdest and uncertain times, but I’m gad you’re here. Sending you the warmest of wishes from my little corner of the world to yours. Let’s do this 2022!

Sketchbook Spread: Queens of Crime!

This week’s sketchbook spread is on the mystery writers “Queens of Crime.”

I’m so burned out on podcasts and tire of anyone who starts a sentence with “Have you heard the podcast…,” but the one podcast I am utterly devoted to is Backlisted, which is a total delight and has completely revitalized my reading life and love of books and writers. My friend Chris has been talking about this podcast forever and I finally listened to it and was so hooked at their humor, their intelligence, and just the joy they bring to some of the most obscure books. It seems to me so utterly anti American in that it is for the love of art and literature and yet there is absolutely no slime or put downs in it. It has made me believe in intelligence and joy co-existing–something I had forgotten that could exist in discussions of art and literature. As a result, it seems to me so far seeing–a real rarity these days. I don’t always agree with the opinions of the hosts, but I adore listening to anything and everything they have to say. It deepens my curiosity and just makes me want to do and think in deeper ways.

Their episode of Josephine Tey’s novel Miss Pym Deposes is one of my favorites and completely opened me up to the world pf mystery writers–which I had no idea about. I knew about Agatha Christie of course, but not that she was part of a large “Golden Age” of detective fiction, nor that she was considered only ONE of six women who were considered the “Queens of Crime.” I’ve read Agatha Christie and seen almost every Poirot episode (perfect for coloring comics to!), but had never heard of any of these women–who seem all quite astounding in their own way. I just finished Tey’s novel and I’m listening to Ngaio Marsh book right now as I color pages in my memoir. In addition to being a jaunty beret wearer, and a prolific mystery writer, was from New Zealand, and I guess was a fantastic painter and theater director?? I swear there is not enough time in this world to learn and read all there is to discover! I’ll just keep drawing as much as I can!