COMIC: Letters From Space Camp, Day Eight (Patreon)

(Start on Day One, catch up on the previous chapter, Interlude, or continue to the next chapter, Day Nine)

Continue to Day Nine 

Matt pointed out that my deadline to finish working on my Space Camp rough draft is coming up really soon. It's August, specifically. August will mark one entire year since I stepped away from OJST and began working on this memoir. 

So, let's see, these pages document day eight in the program, out of the ten I attended. That's means I've got two more days left to cover and then a... what's it called? Not a eulogy. Post-script? AFTERWORD? I dunno, some bonus chapter to say what happened after I finished Space Camp, so readers don't feel like I left them on a cliffhanger with my mental health misadventure. So that's at least another three chapters to get done before August concludes-- which is actually doable! When I write up a production schedule, I actually do get these pages pumped out in a reasonable timeframe! I just... haven't been doing that for the last.... handful of months 😬

But, like, this chapter? I got these ten pages done in a week by sticking to my work schedule. So hypothetically, the next three chapters will probably take about three weeks...

I mean, there's more interstitial chapters I want to insert later, too. Stuff like sharing more moments that happened outside of the program and perspectives from my husband and friends about what they observed and how this affected them. And of course I want to flesh out some stuff in the original chapters, as well. Whole lot more work to put into this old girl than just three more chapters, but first things first. First: Finish this first draft of Space Camp and give it to my agent so she can get it in fighting shape to shop around to publishers. 

Ha ha ha so, like, no pressure, but whether or not I can sell Space Camp for a livable advance is kind of going to be the deciding factor in a lot of life and OJST decisions Matt and I will be making in the near future? If I can get a decent advance then Matt will probably be able to keep running OJST past the ten year anniversary next year. And, if I can't sell Space Camp for enough money, then there's some other life options we gotta think about. Like I said, no pressure.

I'm sharing all this a bit prematurely, so maybe don't mention it on The Internet? I mean, why even would you? But, y'know, be cool, plz 😎

There's just a lot of factors! More than I'm sharing here. And OJST isn't going anywhere in the immediate future. We've got a ten year anniversary to get to!!! And we've got some pretty cool fundraising events we're working on with OJST's team, so stay tuned for that.

Anyway, anyway, anyway. 

Three more chapters to go. LET'S DO THIS, ERIKA.