Hello! New chapter! Everyone’s favorite evil fay is back, and rather cranky. Of course.

If you haven’t already noticed, we no longer have a front page. And soon, the format will be changing too- once Kez works her magic, so watch for that. In the meantime will be putting buttons here in the blog for voting, donations, Nigel, and the store.

Xylia Store

Donate! New wallpaper available! As always, PLEASE REMEMBER:
If you have any difficulties with, or do not receive your donation gifts, PLEASE EMAIL ME directly: bji2001@mchsi.com. I am trying to email everyone with a personal thank you anyway, once I receive Paypal notification, but if I should miss you or not get a notice, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Nigel’s Opus online novella

Please ote TWC- today’s incentive features a couple of backstory characters that may oddly work their way into Nigel’s Opus in a few weeks. I’m sure those of you who enjoy speculating will have fun when you see them!

If you haven’t heard, there is a contest going on! Every donation gets you an entry into a ‘drawing for a drawing’! Here’s the info in case you missed it!Contest Info

All right, and now today’s question: If I could get anyone to compose a soundtrack for Xyliatales- who do you think it should be? Oooo…that’s a fun one.

That’s all for now, as always, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the words of encouragement here, emails and forum comments. I read them all many times when I am feeling down about the project or scared about the prospect about being an artist for a living. They really keep me going!

Hugs,
~B

Happy almost New Years!

I want to thank everyone again for your support in comments and emails and in donations. This month has been very rough for my business, and Xylia is more important than ever to keeping my entire dream of being self employed alive. Thank you all.

As always, PLEASE REMEMBER:
If you have any difficulties with, or do not receive your donation gifts, PLEASE EMAIL ME directly: bji2001@mchsi.com. I am trying to email everyone with a personal thank you anyway, once I receive Paypal notification, but if I should miss you or not get a notice, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Here are the links to the ways you can help support the series!

Please buy Xylia merchandise. I’m hearing that the calendar looks great! I still don’t have my own copy, but the Cafe Press quality is superb. One of the images (December) is unavailable anywhere else!

Please donate to receive wallpapers and story chapters. Some new things are coming soon!

On to today’s news:
Well, the story is shifting gears. New characters, very different vibe- as you may see by the Chapter page. ^_^ Say hello to our covergirl, Psulli- or as Tychia likes to call her, Spiderface. I hope you like this chapter! It’s a bit shorter than some of the latest chapters too- that last chapter was reeallly long!

Vote TWC to see a snippet of an upcoming donation incentive featuring the Xylia gang playing dress up with costumes from one of a lot of peoples’ favorite movie series (based on my question a few weeks back)…

On Thursday, we kick off a new month -and new year- when I add to the collection of Xylia nudes with a spicy picture of Tychia. (Jeepers, I hope Photobucket doesn’t shut it down…)

Also coming soon- the return to the front page format. I know we had an overwhelming thumbs up for the current front page format, but alas, the image rich layout got us rejected by ad sites, and because of it we were rejected by the company that gave us the best ad revenue.
So the Amazing Kez® will be working her magic and redoing the site.

Now, this week’s question:
The voice talent question revisited. We’ve had fun with the casting on the forum- but that was more if a live action movie of Xyliatales were made. So today’s question is - what if it were animated? What voice actors would you use? I will start off by saying that Livy is taken. Dame Judi Dench WILL be the voice of Livy. Just so you know.

Hugs,
~B

This last year I found myself endlessly amazed at the support I received and continue to receive from so many of you dear readers. People who don’t know me at all, coming and reading my story. Saying such wise and supportive things time and again. And giving money to help me keep going. You people don’t know me! I never stop being stunned by this. Or grateful. I don’t know how to begin showing the gratitude that you all deserve. The only thing I can do is try to put it all into the story the best I can.

I know many of you are frustrated when someone posts a negative thing and it upsets me. And you should be rightfully so. “Lady, look at all of us. Look at what WE say and what WE do. Not them! What difference do THEY make!” Of course you are all right, and I thank you for the reminder. ^_^But I think, “why are these folks so supportive?” This is certainly not the best story. It only updates once a week. And the artist is SO WHINY. But you keep coming back. You keep saying these amazingly helpful things, telling me you love this thing I love to do so much, and I get to keep going. How do you thank people for that?

With several days left in the month, we have nearly hit the donation goal. Over fifty people came by on Monday and wrote wonderful statements of support.

I will say it again, but it’s never ever enough.

Thank you.

The only other thing I can do is keep giving you the best art and story that I am capable of- not always hitting the mark, but doing the best I can!

Chapter 5 starts on Monday.
I changed my mind again about chapter order.
So this next chapter I introduce you to some new characters, and the return of a couple others. It’s going to be a real change of pace from Claude hugging his mommy, I promise you.

Mwah ha.

Thank you everyone!
Love,
~B

“So, basically… Boo hoo, I’m a single mom, and I don’t want to work, so give me money so I can stay home with my kids and draw!!

I guess it just bothers me when people don’t want to work. I’ve been working my ass off for years, and I don’t LIKE to work… but it’s something adults do. Why should some people get a free ride while others have to bite the bullet and get a job?”

That said, I must apologize as well. In a fit of anger about this thread I posted something here that I didn’t mean to- got way too carried away. I have now deleted it.

But… I will NOT be called lazy.

Just wanted to establish that. Now, I’m going to go bake Christmas cookies with my two children that I love and chose to have and am thankful for. Then, I will work after 10PM. Cause I’m just that lazy. ^_^

Thank you to those of you who are so supportive.

~B

What a day. If you haven’t already heard, some strange folks decided to take this day to assail me personally for asking for donations. This thread went well beyond the normal insulting deluge into some really nasty comments that I don’t want to direct anyone toward. I don’t take those personally as me, but as a woman in general. Four days before Christmas. What a nice thing. This time of year is always a struggle for me anyway, but this was just the cigarette butt in the cup of spit.

Generally, someone I don’t even know is calling me lazy. My webcomic has been called a ‘rainbow of sh*ttiness’ and people are saying I need to ‘get a job.’

I HAVE A JOB! I am an illustrator! I own my own business. It has a tax ID number, a business bank account, and I employ an accountant. I have freelanced for TWENTY YEARS. Longer than some of these chumps have been sucking air. No, I’m no longer working that second or third parttime job in a warehouse, receptionist desk, or sign shop but up until FEBRUARY I was and had been my entire adult life!!! All while raising two kids and making sure that they are at all of their lessons and events, conferences and concerts, parties and games.

Feh. I don’t need to explain myself to these asses. I have a challenging life and I DO DEAL WITH IT. I simply shared the information that I need some income with the Xylia project or I will have to put it aside for a time while I get more freelance accounts and focus on that part of my business. THIS IS MY REALITY. You know, I could just stop. I could. “That’s it. No more webcomic.” But considering that I get between 2K and 5K hits here a day, I felt I owed it to you, the readers, to be aware of my situation.

Well, have a great day everyone. I will be posting another Christmas image for you on Thursday. Thank you to everyone who has been supportive- and those of you, new from the flame threads, welcome and thank you for the nice comments.

~B

Hello!

Well, I know I said that I would be updating at noon, but I got this done early- I had hoped to have this up on Thursday, but it didn’t work out that way. But thus ends Part I of Book I on a sadly nostalgic note.

The next few weeks will be a bit different in Xylialand. Because of the vast amount of information I need to convey and the direction I want the story to go, I will be posting exposition pages (from Claude’s POV) that will eventually be FAQ type pages. I hope to present these on Monday’s and Thursdays. Gotta get through the next couple of weeks.

Thank you everyone who has been purchasing Xylia items, and donating! Donations have slowed a bit, so I appeal to those of you again who enjoy Xylia to consider making a donation to receive one of the wallpapers. Every bit helps, and it keeps the boat in the water. With the recent pulling of comic sites by Adsdaq, including Xylia, our ad revenue is nearly non-existent. I hate to keep bringing this up, but Xylia’s future depends on your support.

PLEASE REMEMBER:
If you have any difficulties with, or do not receive your donation gifts, PLEASE EMAIL ME directly: bji2001@mchsi.com. I am trying to email everyone with a personal thank you anyway, once I receive Paypal notification, but if I should miss you or not get a notice, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Here are the links to the ways you can help support the series!

Please buy Xylia merchandise. I’m hearing that the calendar looks great! I still don’t have my own copy, but the Cafe Press quality is superb. One of the images (December) is unavailable anywhere else!

Please donate to receive wallpapers and story chapters. I hope to add some new goodies soon.

On to today’s news:
Today’s page is another heartbreaker. But there are a few bits here that may make some of you go “Oh…look who’s there!” Not to mention an appearance of the favorite Azloean- Xenor. And if you haven’t seen enough Xenor, check out the new incentive! Xenor and…someone else!

Like I’ve said, things shift gears a bit from here, first with some explanitory journal entries from Claude, and then with a new vibe in Part II. ^_^ Also- we will be resuming a comic on the front page format. This is due to technical reasons, but Nigel’s Opus will have a prominent button that lets you know when there have been updates. Watch for these changes in early 2009.

You all had some fun with last week’s question- especially some chatter in the forum about Xylia/Star Wars ideas. Being a SW geek myself, it was killing me not to sit and draw those right away. Gruh! Soon!! I need to get through Christmas, children. This cast is a little trickier to place than some…but the ideas were really fun.

Today’s question. Would you actually purchase a print version of Xylia Book I Part I? Or is the online version just fine, thank you very much!

Hey, everyone, thank you for reading, thank you for the donations, and the emails, messages and forum posts of encouragement. I can’t thank you all enough.

Hugs,
~B

Hey everyone!

First of all, I want to announce that I have decided to update Xylia at noon CST every week. Sometimes a bit earlier, but that just makes it more realistic for me.

Next I want to extend an ENORMOUS THANK YOU to everyone for your incredibly generous outpouring of support in our first week of fund raising. Considering the economy, the holidays and everything else, it is truly a show of great support and loyalty to me and this little project. I will always say that I have the best readers in the world. We are nearly halfway to our month goal already! Thank you so much.

One thing I want to mention again:
If you have any difficulties with, or do not receive your donation gifts, PLEASE EMAIL ME directly: bji2001@mchsi.com. I am trying to email everyone with a personal thank you anyway, once I receive Paypal notification, but if I should miss you or not get a notice, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

Here are the links to the ways you can help!

Please buy Xylia merchandise. I’m hearing that the calendar looks great! I still don’t have my own copy, but the Cafe Press quality is superb. One of the images (December) is unavailable anywhere else!

Please donate to receive wallpapers and story chapters. I hope to add some new goodies soon.

On to today’s news:
Today’s page is a heartwarming bit of stuff, isn’t it? Sniff. Claude is finally home in every sense of the word. The next page I hope to update before next week. No promises, but check on THursday!

Today’s question. I’m thinking about doing some fun images of the Xylia cast in movie or band settings. What do you think would be a neat tribute Xylia image? I’ve done Claude as Ziggy Stardust and Dorothy…hmmm sounds like a confused guy. Anyway, what movies do you think the Xylia cast could handle?

Better get this up. Thank you everyone for reading and helping me stay on course with this. Stop back Thursday for Nigel’s Opus, and maybe some more!

Hugs,
~B

Hi everyone, I hope all of you who celebrate Thanksgiving had a great day last Thursday!

Okay everyone. Today’s newspost is a plea. One of those annoying, whining, beggy diatribes that we all hate. But at least I warned you!

If you have been following Xylia for any time, I’ve made no secret of the fact that I am a struggling artist/mom and that Xylia is my pet project that I do because I love it so much. Earlier in the year, I tried to maintain an eight update a month schedule, but it just wasn’t feasible. I’ve now reached a point where working on this webcomic at all is becoming difficult. So I thought I would appeal to you, the readers. I know that I have a wonderful group of very loyal readers who support the ups and downs of my life and creating this story. You have all bee so supportive and understanding through all of my challenges in the past. Now I am asking that anyone out there who enjoys Xylia consider helping with a donation. I have several wallpapers and chapters of Nigel’s Opus to offer as incentives. If only a portion of you would donate, it would be more than enough that I could keep the story going.

What brought all this on is that I have had a sudden mess of financial challenges smack me in the last week (furnace problems, car problems, a dead washer, medical bills etc.) Coupled with this, I have seen a drastic decline in freelance projects and interest in XYlia which has decreased ad revenue. The reality is that I’m having to consider looking for outside work again. Realistically, unless Xylia makes some money, I just can’t keep doing it right now. I will need to take time off and get money coming in again.

I know- “webcomics are SUPPOSED to be free!!” The web is supposed to be free. I know. I wish I COULD do this for free. But this is my personal reality as a webcomic creator: I’m a single mom, a team of one, feeding and clothing two kids and myself. If there is no income, I will have to put Xylia on hiatus in search for work. I have to get money coming in to support my children and myself. End of story. It doesn’t matter how much fun I find Xylia, if I can’t afford the time to work on it, I just can’t.

It’s come down to the end of the year. The project did not meet my expectations, so I’m appealing to you all, the audience, to come to it’s rescue. If we can raise $800.00 or more this month in donations and income from merchandise profit, I can keep the boat in the water next month. If not, I have to shut it down. This will be a hiatus, hopefully only temporary until I get money coming in somehow and someway again.

So if you enjoy the story, please donate. Like I said, if everyone just contributed a small amount- it would be more than enough. Thank you so much for your help, and for helping me do what I love to do.

Please buy Xylia merchandise.

Or donate to receive wallpapers and story chapters.

Thank you EVERYONE who has ever donated, commented, or just read my story. I appreciate you all. If you aren’t able to donate, PLEASE DON NOT FEEL BAD!! If we don’t make the goal, and I need to shut down for a time, it won’t be forever, I promise. But I have to do what I have to do.

Thank you everyone,

With love,
~B

Hey everyone!

Sorry for this page being late! Someone asked who Nevrika was. Nevrika is the girl here. Kay? She is the winner of the “Be an Azloean contest and based on Rhiannon from England.

Please vote TWC!

Hey, thank you for answering my merchandise question last week. Now the good news…XYLIA STORE IS OPEN FOR BU’NESS! YAY! Calendar! Other1 stuff! And I will add more items later! GO! SHOP! Remember that the profit from all of your purchases goes to help keep the Xylia project going.

Thank you EVERYONE who has been donating this month! We still need your help. A $3.00 donation will get you a nifty Xylia wallpaper! There are now FIVE new wallpapers for you to choose from!

Thank you for reading!

~B