[WHOA] Every NERD'S WORST FEAR! Is This YOU!?
Is this you? Is this NOT you? Let's talk about!
Today I want to talk about something I think about quite often, which I believe is every nerd’s WORST FEAR. Before we get into today’s topic, just a reminder that we have 10 DAYS LEFT on the BULLET ASSASSIN LIVING IN A FANTASY WORLD #1-2 Kickstarter campaign. If you haven’t checked it out yet, please do!
Okay! Let’s discuss!
Every Nerds Worst Fear Is…
Okay maybe not EVERY nerd, but I know for me, I have a massive fear of losing passion and love for the things that I currently have love and passion for. Let me explain.
You see back in school from 4th to 7th grade, I was making comics on the DAILY! It was all that I wanted to do. At some point, I just STOPPED making them and even thinking about them. I have no idea why. It was only until I was 19 that I re-discovered my love for storytelling and art, and dived back into the world of comics. but still. That was basically a 6-year gap where I didn’t do something that I used to love.
Well right now, I’m doing something that I love…but what happens if I lose that passion again?
One thing that I’ve been thinking about lately is the importance of prioritizing what is important in your life. When I was 20 and single, making comics and getting better at them was my #1 priority. Because of comics, I started teaching myself marketing, which then led me to a career in a marketing. Now that I’m 31, however, my priorities are completely different. If I had to list my top 3 priorities, they would be:
My family
My career in marketing
My comics business
And here’s the thing, there are so many facets to the comics business. There’s the online follow, the online engagement, the content creation, the making of the comics, the management of the team, the fulfilling of the books, and more! This comics business takes SO MUCH of my time, and sometimes I wonder how much longer I can keep it going…
This brings me to something that I’ve been thinking about…
It’s OKAY to NOT monetize your hobbies.
Lately I’ve been getting back into YuGiOh. After 15 plus years of not playing, I’m attempting to get back into it. It’s freaking hard, it’s freaking, and I want to smash my computer every day that I play. But here’s the thing, I know that there is a correlation between those that play YuGiOh, and those that read and watch manga and anime. I keep telling myself…
“I should make content about this…”
But then that means that I need to play more seriously. I have to schedule streams and edit videos of me playing. I’m just thinking…ALL OF THIS WORK ON SOMETHING I JUST WANT TO DO FOR FUN!
So now this brings me back to the WHY I make comics.
I make comics because I enjoy creating stories. I make comics not because I want to make buttloads of money or for this to be my career…because let me tell you something…both of these will never come true.
This year I’ve basically made no money off of my comics because I’ve used all that money to pay artists to make MORE comics with me.
And I think the reason why I’m choosing not keep and hoard the money I make into comics is because I’ve found that if I totally try and monetize this to all that it can be, that I will lose my love and passion for it because ultimately it’s not the most important thing to me in my life.
So what does this mean?
It means that every time you support me, you're supporting a creator who is doing this because they’re having a silly goose time. You’re supporting a creator who does this because they love telling fun stories and want to create affordable indie comics for people. You’re supporting a creator who is doing this not for fame, glory, or money, but for the love of community and art.
I hope I get to keep making comics.
I hope that you continue to read those comics.
I hope that I never lose the love and passion I have for comics. And if I ever do, well, I hope I put out one last banger of a book/series to end it all in fireworks.
I hope you go and check out BULLET ASSASSIN LIVING IN A FANTASY WORLD #1-2 on Kickstarter. We have 10 days to go!
Peace!
Tyler
Once again, Tyler has summed it up, and sealed like a comic book. lol
I’m still looking forward to the “Comic Creator meets Breaking Bad” aka “The Broken Creator Comic!”
It’s awesome to see your body of work grow so fast, keep being awesome Tyler! 😎👍