There’s a lot to be proud about this year, and in my opinion, there’s a lot to be uncomfortable with. Sobering is a word that comes to mind. Over the past three years of moving back into full-time as a creator, my business has continued to grow. I keep beating my sales numbers at shows and online, and I continue to build the quality of my work. In stark contrast to that, however, despite all of the growth, my creative output has decreased significantly, especially over the past two years.

The main factors in my creative output, or lack thereof, is the significant amount of time I’ve spent both traveling to and from conventions and shows, and the amount of time I spend exhibiting thereat. While I started the transition trying to do as many shows as possible to figure out what shows worked best for the type of work I do, and while I began getting choosier and choosier about which shows I would book, so much of my income was and is coming from shows. And with so much time being spent on the road exhibiting and selling, that time would have to come from somewhere else. Though it was not my plan to take the time away from creating, it ate into that time significantly, nonetheless.

I was aware of the problem at the end of last year (2024), and made some commitments to myself to fix the issue–and that worked, to a point. As the problem persisted to a degree through the first half of the new year, I continued to make more and more adjustments until finally shows slowed down, and I was able to fully focus on creating again the past few weeks. But no matter how many adjustments I make, the fact remains: I’m just doing too many shows the past few years, and I’m not getting enough creative work done.

I love doing shows, so I don’t imagine I’ll stop making public appearances and doing markets any time soon, but I do need to slow it down a bit. For good or ill, I like creating even more, and I’ve missed the long hours of writing and artmaking that I haven’t been able to put in consistently. So next year, a better balance is going to have to be struck, and that means I’ll have to both make the shows I’m doing count for even more, and increase my other revenue streams to make up for it. It’ll be a challenge, but I’m up to it. I love what I do too much not to meet it head on.

Of course, less shows does not mean “no shows”. I plan to keep the number under 35 total, if I can, next year (which is a huge reduction from 57/56 of the past two years, aiming closer to the 38 of 2023–which still felt significant because of how unevenly the shows were spread out). With the time I’ll earn back, it’s my intention to create at a greater level, putting more time into book and comic development, and putting Chadhiyana back into regular production again. I need to do that, not only for my fans and the good of my business itself, but I need it for my soul. I miss telling stories. It’s what fulfills me most creatively.

Having the past couple and next couple of weeks off from any conventions or appearances has and will help me get back into the groove of putting regular time and hours into creation. The key will be to stick to that and improve on that over time. With all of the shows I am doing, I think it’s easy for people to forget or not realise I’m a writer of novels and comics, I’m a traditional artist, I have my own IPs (mainly Chadhiyana, but others too), I’m a publisher (Dark Fire Press), and I’m extremely passionate about those things as well as creator-rights and creator-owned projects. Sometimes, it may even be easy for me to forget those things.

But it’s not doom and gloom. For real. It’s just a matter of shifting some priorities again and returning to form–or improving, rather. I’m so fortunate that in returning to my creative career full-time almost three years ago that I’ve managed to achieve what I have so far. I’m very thankful for that, and I’ve honestly met so many great, new people along the way because of how much I’ve been on the road. So for that reason, I wouldn’t change anything about the past few years.

That all said, look for announcements about new releases throughout the year, both publications and smaller, individual works. If you’d like to help support me in this journey, I do have a Patreon (as low as $1 per month: patreon.com/jmdesantis), as well as an Etsy store and my books and comics are available on places like Amazon and Global Comix.

Else, following me on my social media accounts is free, as is sharing my work, joining my mailing list and following this blog. Recommending my work to friends, family, and colleagues couldn’t hurt either.

But whatever way or combination of ways you can or choose to support, I will see you all in 2026!

Cheers!