Comin' down from Stumptown.



Wow. This weekend was pretty incredible.

More amazing to me, however, than even the crowds at the show, the overload of sudden friends all arriving from out of town, the incredible talent seeping out of every pore, the COMICS pouring into my hands - the biggest surprise for me was that I got the chapter done. Who knew? Up till the day before, it was still up in the air whether I could wrap it up. And apparently, when there's an important deadline, I can.

The price was sleeping through the Saturday Night festivities, but while I'm sure the Comics Art Battle was a blast, I just went to it six months ago and really, really needed the sleep. Saving the party for after the weekend was the best idea, to avoid the particular hell that is Sunday morning at the con trying to keep your arid, burning eyes open and your breakfast down after the paltry two and a half hours of sleep you grabbed on the couch (or floor) after stumbling home from the after-afterparty. I'm not 22 anymore, god bless. But for those of you who are: go get 'em, kids, this time doesn't last forever!

I really haven't processed all that occurred over the weekend. Lots of good publicity came of it; my website was mentioned on the Oregonian art blog, and I was just contacted today by the writer for an interview. Liz Baillie and Jeffrey Chapman dragged me out to the Nixon '08 bench for a ten-minute interview for Indie Spinner Rack (their last question: "Who'd you rather have sex with, a chimp or Hitler?"). We sold a ton of prints, including two to the print goddess herself Tara McPherson (thanks, Tara!), and Scott McCloud cornered me at a drunken moment at the Pony Club afterparty to talk to me about Ivy (thanks, Scott!). And Dark Horse picked me to do an 8-page comic for their Myspace showcase, Dark Horse Presents! Whoa!

I don't even want to let this sink in. I want to ride the adrenaline and pour it into the rest of the book. Let's get this show on the road!

Back to the Grindstone.

I must be the luckiest girl in the world, because I got shit on by a bird AGAIN, making it the second successful aerial besmirching of my back since February. Let's hope superstition holds up and furthers my fortune; I feel like it already might be helping me. (It's also not like I won't be dealing with bird shit daily soon enough - we're planning to pick up some new baby chicks later on this week.)

Matt's handmade henhouse, the Huevos Ranchero.

I've set next Monday, the 21st, as my goal to complete the next chapter of Ivy to allow for a few days' wiggle room with printing before the big Stumptown weekend. In those seven days I have ten pages to start/complete. This might have seemed more impossible, but yesterday alone I wrapped up two inked pages, got them into the computer, and finished up the greys for them and two more - four complete in one afternoon! Now it's down to the wire and I have to do something I'd never imagine I'd be doing - taking Dave Sim's advice. "One. Page. A. Day." (Plus three.) Let's see.

Inkstuds Interview!

The very thorough and thoroughly entertaining indie comics podcast Inkstuds has posted a half-hour interview with me. Listen to it here. I was worried I'd come across worse than I did - somehow I managed to keep it positive, which actually isn't all that hard when I'm talking about the great love of my life, comics!