On May 2nd two years ago, I was screaming in my car trying to take a one-handed selfie, feeling like I had won the internet:

I had just successfully funded my Kickstarter campaign – and after 9 days, and probably 1000 emails later, I had reached my goal to make a book. It was one of the greatest moments, and definitely the most money I’ve ever had in my bank account at one time.

My older sister had done a Kickstarter, and warned me that the campaign takes a lot out of you. “You think your project is over when you get funded, but you’re just getting started. Give yourself a lot of time.” She’s typically right, so I listened and did give myself a lot of time. Side note: if you’re reading this and thinking about doing a Kickstarter, give yourself more time than a lot of time. You’ll want it.

I was pretty close to being finished with a draft of the book when the campaign was funded, but I had barely begun the nitty gritty part. Once I had all 100 pages (painstakingly narrowed down from 500-600), I still had to make sure each was scanned and made to be fit to print.

I didn’t know much about scanning and printing images – so I googled a ton and tried to find decent and trustworthy information. It was tough. Only a few of my favorite visual artists actually answered those questions online – but the ones who did, I read religiously. I googled what pens they use, what color, whether they scan their drawings then ink them, or just scan. There wasn’t much – but when there was, it felt like a text book in how to actually do this straight from the people who do.

I could go on and on. There’s so much that I could write about the process of making the book and doing the Kickstarter. The late hours, hundreds of stacks of paper, self-doubt and self-obsession, elation, and most importantly feeling like you may never actually finish it and will be embarrassed for the rest of your life. But in the end, you hold something that feels like a gem you carved out of a rock or cinder block. The finished product has its problems – the resolution is screwed up on a few pages, there are a few spelling errors, etc. But all in all, it’s mine, and I managed to actually do it.

I write all this because 2 years later, I think its about damn time I do this process again and make another book. It’s fun to reflect back, because when you’re in it and right after, there’s almost too much going on to have any real perspective.

I’m excited to have that perspective now while I make the new book. There are many things I know I can do better, and now I have a better sense of how. My biggest fear other than failure (which is typically my biggest fear), is that when I did the Kickstarter I had all of these backers put their faith in me to deliver. That was without a doubt the greatest gift. Now I need to figure out how to do that on my own, without the extreme pressure of already having so many peoples money. Ha. We’ll see how it goes.

For those of you that have supported me since the beginning, thank you. I couldn’t do this without you. And for anyone else, I hope you’ll stick around. It means the world to me, and I’m so grateful for the support.

Check out the book here.