A Distant Soil by Colleen Doran

I am very sorry for the dearth of bloggingness, but I am in deep work mode. There are a lot of nice things going on, and I ‘d rather be doing them than yattering about them. But when I don’t yatter once in awhile, some of you miss me. So, here I am with yatter.

Gone to Amerikay is on its last days, yet with every pen stroke, the assignment expands. Quite magical how that works. I spent the better part of this week struggling with two enormous double page spreads, which is exactly what I was doing a month ago, and never seemed to get anywhere.

My last ebay auctions post on October 1, and I am truly, deeply grateful for all the support, and the generous bids. I’ve said a dozen times that I didn’t want to do ebay anymore, and a couple of years ago, chucked it entirely. But this round was such a positive experience, I have changed my mind. However, as I mentioned before, no more art or book sales from me for at least six months, perhaps longer. I don’t have the time, energy, or focus for it.

While my inventory on graphic novels dwindles, yes, I am working with Image Comics on a digital edition of the A Distant Soil comics. I have a great deal of clean up on early issues to do, and since we do not have any access to many of the original paintings, I will be creating new ones. Also, there were no Image Comics editions of my first 14 issues. So we need new images for them. Since my early cover paintings were, on the whole, pretty amateurish, this gives me an opportunity to make some new art for my readers.

The increase in web sales and art sales is not only heartwarming, it’s a necessity for financing the last of the A Distant Soil series. I’ve received some letters from irritated fans demanding to know why I wouldn’t sell them this piece of art or that piece of art right now. If I sell you that art right now, when I don’t truly need the cash, I pay taxes on it right now, and its value for financing future work is diminished. I will not sell any original art until I need to. Later next year, assuming I don’t have a very lucrative movie deal in place (and I expect at least one,) I will open the coffers again and the art will come out. And I will be happy to sell it to you.

I’ve had many inquiries from people who wish me to scan or sell them photocopies of unpublished works. I’m afraid I simply can’t do that. The internet makes counterfeiting and piracy easy, and I’m not able to sell photocopies of books and art to which I do not own the rights.

On the gardening front, this is the most successful garden I have ever had. We canned more than 60 jars of beans, and still enjoy fresh vegetables late in the season. I am particularly pleased with these leeks, which are ridiculously expensive in the grocery, but are no more difficult to grow than a plain onion. Here they are in a bed of Chrysanthemum.

I’ll post more about the garden later. I took many pictures this summer!

And by the way, a major key to my gardening success this year was WEEDGUARD, a paper mulch product expecially for gardeners and farmers. This cut hours from weeding chores. Weedguard is completely organic and biodegradable. In the beds where I did not use Weedguard, we got a big mess. In the beds in which we used Weedguard, we went for weeks and weeks with no more than 5 minutes of maintenance necessary.

I’ve already purchased a large roll for next year, and am about to lay it down to plant my winter onions. There is no way I would have another garden without putting down the Weedguard first. It is far easier to use than newspaper, and completely breaks down at the end of the season. Don’t have a home garden without this stuff!