November 29th, 2021
On this Cyber Monday, one of the holiest of modern shopping days, I hope you consider the little guy. The local shop. Your neighbor or your friend or your family.
It’s hard to express how big it is when we make a sale, especially since it’s such an intimate thing. Whether it’s at a table at a convention center or someone across the country in New Jersey ordering your entire body of work, it changes our lives and makes an immediate impact in how we live.
Because of some of you, I am able to get groceries today, I’m able to pay my dental insurance, I can buy dog food. Yes, I have a day job, but like every other industry in the world right now, times in mine are hard. Sometimes hours are more difficult to come by, and sometimes people aren’t as generous. But because of the amazing folk who support my work, I’ve been able to avoid going back on unemployment during those lean weeks. That’s how big it is to people as small as me.
Not to mention the joy it brings us to share our work with you. I was boxing more $69.69 collections today, and I was in awe at what I put in the box. The years of hurt and then the years of work it took to make The Weirdos. How I was able to not only survive 2020, but turn it into art like Theia. How I’ve been able to distill the words I use to describe how I see life into Time is a Solid State. How floored I am that I was even able to create one book from scratch, start to finish, beginning with Them.
I can’t name a fellow writer or artist I know that doesn’t feel this way or a variation of it. The pillars that this support provides go beyond financial; you could be the reason someone continues on their artistic journey, because your purchase or encouraging comments were what that person needed at the time. Being an artist is hard. Being as raw as we can be can leave us vulnerable.
So if you’ve been that person: thank you. Thank you with every syllable I’ve ever expressed. And if you’re thinking about being that person: I couldn’t recommend it more. You all know someone in your life who is doing the thing they are meant to be doing. Your support is divine affirmation to them that they’re not wrong.
The Den 