A Rollercoaster Year - A Personal Update

Hey, everyone :)

My birthday is coming up later this month, and I wanted to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to all of you who have supported me throughout my comics writing journey. I often get lost in the world of my stories, but it's your encouragement and feedback that keeps me going. So today, I want to share something a little different with you—a glimpse into my personal life. I know I mostly talk about my stories and characters—and the truth is, I can be a little shy when it comes to sharing personal stuff—but I think of you all as my friends, so I thought it might be nice if you got to hear a little bit about what's been going on with me behind the scenes.

And the truth is the last twelve months have been a real rollercoaster. I went on my honeymoon in Italy, had a huge push relocating my Mom from her assisted living facility in South Carolina to one close to me here in California, and finally finished a massive Young Protectors writing project that I've been pounding away at, literally, for years.

Let's start with the fun stuff -- my honeymoon in Italy!

If you've been following my journey for a while, you might remember my wedding photos I shared a couple of years ago. (You can find those posts here.) And just like with our wedding, Fernando and I spent years planning our honeymoon. While I usually prefer smaller, budget-friendly destinations, Fernando had his heart set on Venice—and how could a romantic like me resist the allure of the City of Love? So, we saved up, used a zillion travel-hacking tricks to get flights and hotels for free, packed our bags, and then the day before my birthday last year, set off on the adventure of a lifetime.

Our first stop was Venice, and we kicked off our honeymoon in style by taking an actual water taxi from the airport to our hotel: the stunning Al Ponte Antico, which boasted outstandingly thoughtful and helpful staff. (The wife of the owner made us breakfast every day!)  It even had a balcony with a view of the Rialto Bridge.

Here are some pics.

This is from the water taxi ride to the hotel:

This was our hotel room in Venice (with fabric wallpaper! 0_0 ):

And here's me having a drink on the balcony (note the bridge in the background):

Of course, while there, we checked off all the must-do experiences, including a gondola ride and indulging in delicious pizza.

Here's a pic from the gondola ride (the guy actually sang for us and had a very nice voice):

And here are a couple restaurant pics (that pizza! so good!):

The crowds in Venice were a bit overwhelming, but it was all worth it for the unforgettable experience. And, ultimately, the views of the canals stole our hearts. Truly magical.

But that was just the beginning of our month-long journey!

After Venice, we explored Florence, where I found endless inspiration in the museums and the stunning architecture (keep an eye out for a future story featuring geometric marble patterns at a powerful castle!)

Of course we had to get this shot in at the Accademia in Florence. (Turns out, David is a lot bigger in-person than you expect!):

We then fell in love with the walled city of Lucca, a surprise favorite of both of us, with a massive, tree-lined, surrounding wall you could bicycle on. (We even did a "Bikes and Bites" tour there which combined two of my favorite things: bicycling and food!)

Here's my sweetheart, high on a tower in Lucca (we climbed so, so many steps in Italy!):

And here we are taking a view break during a 10-hour, self-guided e-bike tour of the Tuscan countryside (a huge highlight for me—man, I love e-bikes!):

After Lucca, we then enjoyed a 5-night romantic getaway in an actual Tuscan countryside castle, soaking in the sun-dazzled landscape.

This is the castle we stayed in for 5 nights:

We followed that up with the gorgeous mountains and water of Lake Como and stayed two nights at our splurge hotel: the Grand Tremezzo, pretending we were part of the 1%. I still like AirBNB's and less bougie places, but it was a kick to be pampered to such a degree. Every single whim was catered to with meticulous care and attention (and big smiles!), leaving us feeling like total celebrities.

While there, we rented a boat for a few hours (and got to see the villa that was used in both James Bond and Star Wars—Villa Balbianello—and other beautiful villas like the one in the picture below):

And we ended our trip marveling at the rich history and culture of Rome and riding bikes yet again, but this time on the 2000+ year old Appian Way, one of the oldest roads in the world!

This was the road we biked on. (It was maybe a little bumpy. ;) )

And here we are inside the Coliseum in Rome:

Throughout our travels, we were treated like royalty—welcomed warmly as honeymooners everywhere we went, and even had a charming (and flirty) waiter show us a 1000-year-old, secret wine cellar one night. We enjoyed nearly perfect weather, with only two days of rain the entire trip, and indulged in the most amazing food.

Looking back on our honeymoon, I can honestly say that it was everything we had hoped for and more. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip that we will never forget, and I'm so grateful that we were able to experience it together. It was definitely the highlight of the year for us.

Bringing My Mom Closer to Home

Something else I'm grateful for was the opportunity to transition my Mom from her assisted living facility in South Carolina to one here in the Bay Area.

I haven't talked a whole lot about this publicly, but my mom has needed specialized care for over a decade, and her previous facility in SC was not ideal. With over 10 changes of management and underpaid staff, she wasn't doing well there, and I had struggled for a long time to find a solution we could afford. (I even looked at places in Mexico -- which at least gave me motivation to brush up on my Spanish! :) )

I had nearly given up, when I discovered a newly renovated facility right at the edge of the BART line here in the Bay Area. The location was perfect, and the care and amenities were exactly what my mom needed. It was a bit more expensive, but luckily still within our means.

The move wasn't easy. My mom had lived in South Carolina for over thirty years and was pretty frail, so it took a lot of planning and letting go of things to make the move happen. On top of that, I caught COVID just two weeks before we were set to move her, got better, and then rebounded with symptoms the day we arrived in Beaufort. (!) Thankfully, my husband came to the rescue and, despite only having met my mother once before, helped her pack while I was quarantined at the hotel. I often say that the real superheroes can be found right here in our normal world, and my husband totally lived up to that. He really is my hero.

And now my mother is closer to me, in a community that is fully-staffed with caring and competent people who organize plenty of fun activities for the residents. She's happier than she's been in years, and I'm able to visit her multiple times a month instead of just once a year.

Here's a pic of her at the new place:

Of course, I know that my mom's health issues are not going away. In fact, they're likely to get worse. But having her nearby, at a community that is fully-staffed with caring, competent folks, that offers lots of fun activities, knowing she is safe -- that means the world to me.

(And without the flexibility of my comic creator job, I wouldn't have been able to move my mom closer and provide her with the specialized care she needs. It's your support that makes that possible, so I'm very grateful to you as well for this.)

And closing out the year-in-review, in just the last month or so, I can now say that

The writing for the Annihilator Dossier is finally, finally, (FINALLY!) complete!

For those of you who've been with me since the beginning, you might remember that this was one of the rewards from my Kickstarter campaign for The Young Protectors Volume One I launched way back in 2013. You might also remember that the campaign was so successful that I created over 100 rewards—including books, pin-ups, sticker sheets, and even a Spooky Cap—and that I delivered each and every one of them.

Every one, except for this Dossier, that is.

Originally, I had planned for the Annihilator Dossier to be a short, fun, "classified government document" with just a few pages gathered in a file folder. But as I got deeper into the writing, I realized that I could do a lot more - and being the nutball I am, that's exactly what I did. :)

Over the last ten (!) years, this "short and sweet" project turned into a 35,000-word novella in the form of a government report, delving deep into who the Annihilator is, his motivations, his great love, and what led him to become a super-villain.

To give you an idea of *how* deep I went into this project, here is a screenshot of the timeline of the major events that go into this story:

It obviously took quite a while to get the writing where I wanted it to be (and TBH I struggled with some of the worst writer's block I've ever experienced), but I am quite proud of the result. The book design for this Dossier is currently on my designer's schedule for May, and I hope that it'll be worth the wait for you as well, especially those of you who also supported me on Kickstarter. Stay tuned. :)

And what am I up to now?

Currently, I'm working hard on finalizing the scripts for the last part of Double Cross Chapter 4, as well as the next chapter of the more romance-focused Fallen. I'm excited to share these stories with you -- especially developing the romance between Cory and Karthak -- and I hope you'll enjoy them as much as I do.

And with the writing of the Annihilator Dossier finally complete, I can also now (finally!) start planning my next Kickstarter campaign! I'm so excited to be able to publish more books and share more stories in print with you. The Dossier reward will still need to be finalized and sent out first, so I'll keep you posted on the details as soon as I have a date for the campaign. But right now I'm looking to the Fall with that.

I'm also working on some special treats for y'all as members of my Patreon community here, including commissioning some new NSFW art from artists that you recommended to me. I'm still working out the scheduling for this, but I'm really looking forward to creating some more sexy art for you all. Stay tuned for updates on that, too.

And for my birthday this year, Fernando is taking me on a bicycling trip in Napa Valley. As you can imagine, I'm really excited for this trip. I can't wait to relax, unwind, and enjoy some beautiful scenery. (Let me know if you want to see pictures.)

So, anyway, that's me. How about you?

So, that's a little recap of what I've been up to over the last 12 months. As you know, I don't usually share a lot about my personal life—in general, I usually just focus on the comics—but did you find this interesting? Would you like to see more posts like this? Let me know. I'm wanting to make this Patreon as fun for you as possible.

And if you have a moment, please reach out in the comments and let me know how things have been with *you* over the last 12 months. Whether you're a long-time Patron (thank you!) or super-new, it would be great to hear from you. Your support and encouragement are what fuel me to keep creating, and I couldn't do this without you. So please let me know how you've been. :)

Sending you all hugs,

Alex