(This is copy-pasted from my website, [link] )

I'm sitting here at 4 a.m. on the morning of Christmas Eve, trying to clean up the script for Chapter 7 of the comic, and realizing that I have no Saturday Sketch post prepared. So I thought I would just do a blog post instead. Might be long, might not be. Will most likely be rambling brain-dump, so I apologize for that.

2011 has been an incredible year for me and I am so, so thankful for every wonderful thing that's happened to me. I have some of the best readers ever (the small number of you there are!) and you guys are awesome. The comments, the gifts of art, the retweets on Twitter and the discussions on Facebook have all just been wonderful and have kept me going this year in times of darkness when I wasn't sure that I was getting this out to anyone at all. You all have given me feedback when I've needed it, encouragement when I was feeling down, and kicks in my @$$ when I was being a whiner, all of which I have needed and appreciated! I just can't thank you all enough for hanging around, for taking the time out of your day to share this story that I'm having so much fun writing.

I've had the opportunity to do some incredible things too! I've been on TGT three times now, twice as a co-host and once as a guest. I've gotten goo-gobs of incredible art from those of you who have taken the time to do me a piece. I had the chance to be a guest at the first ever Digi-con in September and do some panels with some other awesome creators! I also went to InterventionCon, and Anime:USA saw my presence once again as well. I also became a regular guest, and then a co-host of The Tropecast, as well as continuing to co-host the Rho Pi Gamma podcast my husband and I do, and was an impromptu guest on an episode of The Dish as well! Every convention, every podcast appearance has taught me so much and allowed me to meet so many wonderful people that I just want to do one every day sometimes. Many thanks to those who have come by my table, bought my first book, attended panels that I've run, listened to interviews, given me a gift of your time by doing guest art, and just being a wonderful inspiration to me.

Looking back though at the year as the end of it comes speeding along, I've also started looking forward to the next year and setting goals. I went in to 2011 with two goals: Get a new tablet, and move to my own domain. I achieved both of these things well before the end of the year, and have since been coasting along just trying to improve the art and pick up new tools and tricks.

For 2012 though, I have quite a few goals. In no particular order:

Have a fundraiser early in the year for a Cintiq tablet. (In the planning stages of the incentives, it's going to be awesome)
Go back to updating 3 days a week
Switch to MangaStudio for doing the comic art
Start doing more blog posts, tutorials, and extra art for my readers
Advertise more and grow the readership of Adrastus
Go to more conventions (as a guest, working on this right now)
Be on at least 4 podcasts, not as a co-host
Make more merchandise
Lofty goals, probably, but they're something for me to guide my little boat here by, and I hope to achieve at least most of them before the end of 2012. This comic is so important to me. I love every minute of working on it. I love interacting with my readers. I love drawing and writing and just everything about DOING this comic, and I can't wait to be able to devote more time to it and get it out to more and more readers who will love it too.

I'm looking forward to 2012 and can't wait to get in to the nitty gritty of this tale. Thanks again to every one of you for the time you give me- it's the best gift you can give. The time you take to read the pages, to comment, to look at my blog posts, to talk to me on Twitter and Facebook, to chip in on GAX art when I go on hiatus, to review Adrastus and link to it, or to have me on your podcast is a gift from the heart and I'm truly, truly grateful for it. This year has been humbling, informative, and probably one of the best of my life.

Have a safe and happy holiday, and see you all in 2012!