Wired & Jezebel & The Portland Mercury (Patreon)

Things have been a bit full on. 

It’s good! It’s positive. It’s just… a bit overwhelming. 

So rewinding backwards! The last week was consumed with being sick while still trying to pick away at the Masturbation comic so it’d get done on time. 

My very first day out of the house post-sickness was Sunday, my book release party at She Bop! I was very anxious about getting enough people in there who would buy enough toys to justify the store staying open two hours later and staffing it with their employees, but it turns out I had no reason to worry because that adorable little shop was STUFFED TO THE GILLS with people. The people who showed up absolutely blew me away with their enthusiasm and kindness, I couldn’t have hoped for a more lovely assembly of folks. Sitting at my counter signing books, I had noticed the store was packed so full you could barely move but I was focused on my task at hand so I didn’t realize it was not just a throng of people milling about but a LINE of people wrapping around the store TWICE while they waited to get a sketch in their books. 

Wow. 

Jesus Christ, wow. 

Coming off of being housebound with sickness for a week and then jumping straight into a jam-packed signing for a couple hours where I needed to be “on” and engaged with everyone who came by was a bit of a roller coaster for my poor little body. And I still had to finish the comic! Monday, the day before its Tuesday release, Matthew and I baaaaaarely finished it. And then it was straight on to the next comic with no down time. 

(Matt’s also been dealing with a bunch of intense administrative-y, shipping, negotiation-y stuff behind the scenes as we move store fronts. Several boxes of books arrived at their new location MANGLED AND COVERED IN ANIMAL BLOOD, so that’s been a delight to sort out.) 

We’re both feeling a bit threadbare and exhausted. 

And then… today. 

Today happened. 

The Portland Mercury had let me know their review of the book would be coming out in this week’s paper, which releases on Wednesday, so I was already excited about that. Though I knew Wired was going to be running their article on OJST “sometime this week”, I had no idea it’d also be today. In fact, I found out it’d gone live because a lovely reader sent me a congratulatory email about it! 

So hey! Two big pieces of press on the same day! PRETTY COOL. 

And then Dr. Ruth tweeted about OJST. And Jezebel picked up the article from Wired. And all these people were flooding my replies on my social media accounts with congratulations and kind words. And the traffic on OJST is through the goddamn roof. And my Patreon now has $1,005.97 pledged per comic.And my brain kind of felt like it was exploding and my blood like it was bubbling like a carbonated soda all day. 

I guess I’m feeling a little over-stimulated? Overwhelmed? Stunned? Amazed and scared and unworthy. 

A lotta feelings. Like I said, it’s good, it’s positive, I’m so goddamn grateful. But jeez. I… I need to go lay down in a dark room for a while, I think. 

Wow. 

Thank you.

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Articles: 

Wired: http://www.wired.com/2014/12/oh-joy-sex-toy-review-blog/
Jezebel: http://jezebel.com/you-need-to-check-out-this-amazing-webcomic-for-sex-toy-1669467235
The Portland Mercury: http://www.portlandmercury.com/portland/toyland/Content?oid=14425023
Dr. Ruth: https://twitter.com/AskDrRuth/status/542747042444238848