River "Neon Noble" Nicolosi
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The May 2021 Situation Report! (AKA: The Return!!)
🕑 Added 2021-05-03 22:32:59 +0000 UTC
Hey there, everybody!
It sure has been a hot minute, hasn't it? Thanks for sticking around! Let me help catch everyone up on the past few months. (Don't worry-- not much has happened, in truth. I just type a lot of words.)
I think it's only fair to start at the last page update.
October: I haven't made a new page of Tales of Kalzeria in over 6 months now, which isn't something unusual to my habits of focus and time management to those who have known me for a long time. October was the last time I updated the comic proper and that's for a couple of reasons.
One such reason was the Foxglove Comics Halloween collaborative effort! It's still pinned at the top of my Patreon posts for a few reasons: 1) I really liked how it came out; 2) I want people to see it still; and 3) it's really the only notable thing I've publicly released in a while! It took up the rest of my month to make sure I could get my parts as good as they could be.
The other reason that the Halloween collab was my last posted comic was...
November and December (and a little bit of January): ...I was busy with another comic! As part of Caytlin Vilbrandt's Tales from Treehollow productions, I worked on a previously-exclusive short comic called "The Campsite Rule"! (You can pick it up for $5 here, if you're interested.)
Of course, there were also animated avatars I was producing and the like as well. But I think most astute patrons realize that it doesn't take me 3 months to make 5 pages of a comic, generally speaking. So what else was I up to?
Well...
January, February, and most of March: ...Nothing. Well, not nothing, but... It's a little complicated, and will be entirely unsatisfying to hear. But it's important that I at least try to explain, without also trying to make excuses.
After finishing "The Campsite Rule" in early January, I was feeling somewhat burnt out. I'm not really sure why that was, since it's hard to say I was overworked when you look at the grand scheme of things. I'd made only 8 pages of comics since October!
As a result, I simply just put my head down and got absorbed in video games. Then, in late January, I later had some doctor's appointments which resulted in setting the date of a minor surgery in March that would knock me out from using my computer for potentially 4 weeks.
An average person would resolve to handle all of the art they could prior to the surgery, and then enjoy the time off. But, my dear patrons, I am not an average person. Despite intending to do what most would consider to be the normal thing to do (work on what I can until I have to stop), I instead did almost nearly the opposite: I stressed out about every small worry my brain could come up with, and in order to stave off the stress, I simply continued to play video games.
I could probably write a whole post that parrots the articles I've read on the subject of ADHD and its numerous, seemingly random side-effects that change the way one plans or thinks or acts which are in no way consistent between people, but suffice it to say, I definitely fell back on some unhealthy coping mechanisms instead of dealing with the situation ahead of me like a non-ADHD person might have.
It did help my stress levels a little bit to ignore responsibilities, but I look back and have to shake my head, because I was worked up over... almost nothing? I think I'm just kind of scared of surgery.
March 26 rolled around pretty quickly, and I had a cyst removed from my lower back. According to the surgeon, and the nurse who I groggily asked about it, I had to be in the operating room for an extra hour past the original schedule because, as it turns out, nearly 10-year-old pilonidal cysts have a lot of surface area hidden under the skin that needs to be removed. Gross!
I had to pretty much lay down all day, every day, for two and a half weeks while it healed. I had games like Monster Hunter Rise to keep me company, at least! But it was very fortunate that I got the OK to start sitting again just as I was beginning to lose my mind. Turns out, the healing process was shorter than it could have been, and I'm pretty lucky on that front!
April: So, now, after having rested the better part of the month, what did I do?
...Not much. There were still a few appointments to check on the progress of the scar, and I didn't want to start any art projects with the looming possibility that something might go wrong with the healing process and put me back in bed again while that sorted out. My last appointment was on the 27th, and my final remaining stitch was removed (a safety precaution in case the incision decided to split open), leaving me free to basically just enjoy the last few days of the month without having to worry about any imminent medical mishaps! Yay! (Also my birthday was on the 29th! Woo!)
May: That all catches us up to the present day! What lies ahead? What's the plan??
I will state with conviction that Tales of Kalzeria will be returning this month! Patrons, please look forward to the next page in the future! (It'll take me a small bit to get the process going again, so it won't be within the next few days.)
I also have a bunch of Patron reward to catch up on-- If you are $15+ Patron, please check out this post and make sure you have filled out your sketch requests for the past few months and if you are also $5+ Patrons, check out this post and catch me up on any old doodle requests for the past couple months! I am rested up and ready to go, so please fill those out so I can get those to you! The rewards posts for May will be up in a few days so as to not confuse things.
I'll also be catching up on outstanding commissions this month as well. Thankfully, that list isn't too long, but I have avoided a still incomplete commission because I did not want to work on it while I wasn't at my best. (My personal philosophy is that I can somewhat get lax with my own comic, because it's mine-- but the things other people want me to make for them deserve the best quality I can give!)
This still leaves the hanging question about how I'll be handling work and stress going forward.
Unfortunately, I don't presently have an answer for that yet. I suspect I'll have to begin looking around for more comprehensive help with the effects of ADHD, because my previous counselor wasn't really effective in helping me out. I won't rule out the possibility that I may simply just need to take regular creative breaks to keep up with the ever-changing mental focus that I experience. I don't want it to be this long anymore, though. I'll try to be as forward as I can about these things, but I think the best thing I can do right now is try to find a good starting point for sorting out these issues. Not a day goes by that I don't think about Tales of Kalzeria, and I want to see it through to the end!!
I cannot overstate how grateful I am for your support and patience all this while. Thank you for your support, and I hope you enjoy the comic as it proceeds forward! Full steam ahead!!
