Catching Up! (Patreon)

(Posted this both on FA and here, just to be sure :))

I just wanted to let everyone know where I’m at in terms of catching up on commissions and Patreon work since getting back from my insane summer.

Though I’m making progress, it’s quite slow. Unfortunately, in the process of trying to catch up I injured my right arm badly enough that I couldn’t bend it. I had strained the muscle badly during a workout, and then forced myself to work overtime anyway, which was definitely the wrong thing to do and exacerbated the problem. For 4 days it’s gradually regained mobility, but it’s put me behind on 4 days of work. I just want to make sure everyone is aware so they don’t feel I’ve forgotten the work I owe them. I haven’t! I’m just a lot slower than usual. I’m really sorry my turn around time hasn’t been what it used to be. My goal is to be completely back on track by the end of September, but realistically it will probably be mid-October before I’m fully caught up. For my commissioners, I completely understand if you’d like a refund on the basis of that being too long a wait!

I also need to be forthright about this injury, past injuries, and all the things that seem to lead up to it. Due to the flexibility of my job, I’m often called upon by friends and family to give up more of my working hours than a ‘regular job’ would ever allow. Whether I’m picking up slack on a collaborative project or travelling for a wedding, I need to be a lot better about limiting the time people ask of me. For the past year, my inability to say ‘no’ to these social obligations has resulted in an endless cycle of stress, backlogs of work, drawing overtime in an attempt to catch up, and then eventually injuring myself or making myself sick from overworking. For myself and for the sake of my work, I need to stop saying ‘yes’ when pressured to do someone a favour from Monday-Friday 9-5, because for the past year it has negatively affected not just my work, but my physical and mental health.

I wanted to be up front about this not only for transparency, so people know where I’m at and why I’ve been so slow to catch up, but because I know that there are probably other artists out there who, like me, have difficulty defending their right to a regular routine with their job. You have every right to say ‘no,’ and I need to get better at doing just that myself. I’m my own worst enemy when I load up my schedule with things I realistically cannot handle on top of my regular working life.

That said, I feel incredibly lucky that I get to do something I enjoy for a living. Everyone has been so understanding and patient as I work through all this, so thank you a million times over for continuing to be the most compassionate people I’ve ever worked with. I can’t wait to be back to a normal routine. I will continue to keep everyone posted on my progress and hopefully, as I said, will be caught up by the end of September to mid-October.

Cheers <3

P.S. I've sent out the June and July perk packs to those who pledged during that time, just in case anything was missed (or someone dropped their pledge and missed any that I posted into the next month). I'll be doing the same with August's perks to ensure nothing gets missed. :)