Kickstarter

Just sent over the completed draft for Chapter 1 artwork. Kim is going to begin work on Chapter 2 shortly. 

So excited to see the project moving forward! 

Couldn't have done it without you. We are right on track to get everything done by early next year. Feel free to email me if you have questions. 

Happy Holidays! 

Nate

We're pressing forward with art after a thorough review process on the writing. Kim and I met over lunch in a vegan soul food diner in Williamsburg Brooklyn where she showed me the art. I was blown away. It really is becoming a real project and Kim and I are excited about moving closer to being done. Right now we are at the "pencil" stage with the artwork meaning we'll go back and forth over pacing and spacing out the content to make sure it works and then submit it for approval to No Starch.

What I told Kim about the project was that now there's basically five people involved all who have opinions and experience. The end product will be a collaboration between all of these diversely qualified individuals (making it a superb product). It's new to both of us but every time we hit a milestone I personally get more excited. :)

I apologize in advance to those of you who've written comics before as you’re likely to find this comment a bit daft but apparently there's a process to this. The idea for this Kickstarter project grew out of an unused manuscript I’ve had since February of 2011 when I quit my full-time job to become an independent teacher. In retrospect it was sort of an interesting workflow because I started by writing a full book for no money. The book became a class which generates a healthy portion of my income. Now the manuscript has become my job again as this Kickstarter has evolved into an official book deal. Turns out, however, that you can’t just simply take a manuscript written as a manual and instantly turn it into a comic without literary bells and whistles.

There’s characters and dialogue and art direction. Recently I’ve even taken on a role as a contributing writer for The Freelance Strategist offering advice to those of us who make our livings outside the 9 to 5. But, you see, journalistic prose doesn’t immediately translate into a comic script without some forethought. (Ding. Lightbulb!) The editorial advice I’ve been receiving from No Starch Press is phenomenal. It’s really helping me to formulate a story and think about ways of using humor and character development to involve the reader.

In the end you’ll be getting a better product for sure. After this initial editing process the work will be reviewed by a technical editor. This has encouraged me to clarify the language and make sure my terminology is correct. Again another sign the book is better with the process. The one downside for now is that Kim has to wait before she can work on the art which means we don’t have much to show to you at the moment. Still the script is 2/3rd done and once the first few sections get approved Kim will be right to work probably some time in the next week or two.