Storycomic Weekly Newsletter: May 16th
ALWAYS POSTED A WEEK EARLIER ON PATREON
🚨 Storycomic Patreon Update for Creators 🚨
If you're an author, indie comic creator, game designer, or storyteller looking for more visibility, the Storycomic Patreon is one of the easiest ways to get your work in front of a growing audience.
For just $5 a month (about the price of a cup of coffee), you get some real promotional benefits:
🎙 Front-of-the-Line Recording Access
I’m often booking podcast interviews three months in advance, but Patreon members jump to the front of the line. This is especially helpful if you have a time-sensitive launch, Kickstarter, or new release coming up.
🔗 Permanent Show Notes Promotion
Your website or project link will be included in the show notes of all interviews as long as you’re a member.
📣 Social Media Promotion
We’ll regularly help promote your projects across Storycomic’s social media channels.
And remember, the Storycomic podcast has over 30,000 downloads, so it’s a great way to get your work discovered by readers and fellow creators.
For the cost of a coffee each month, you get promotion, visibility, and priority booking.
If you’re a creative looking to grow your audience, it’s a pretty great deal.
👉 Join us on Patreon and let’s share your story with the world.
Founders Club patrons include amazing creators like:
Michael Winn, Higgins802, Von Allan, Stephanie Nina Pitsirilos, Marek Bennett, Donna Carr Roberts, Andrew Gronosky, Simki Kuznick, and Matt & Therese.
Explore their work:
Nancy Hudgins on Ursula Nordstrom: the editor who helped define “classic” children’s books
In my newest interview, I’m joined by Nancy Hudgins, author of Books Good Enough for You: The Storied Life of Ursula Nordstrom, Editor of Extraordinary Children’s Books, out March 24, 2026 from Abrams Books for Young Readers.
Ursula Nordstrom worked at Harper & Bros. and helped bring some of the most beloved children’s books of the 20th century into the world. What I love about Nancy’s approach is that she doesn’t just tell us Ursula was important—she shows it by building chapters around the creation of iconic books Ursula edited and championed, including Goodnight Moon, Charlotte’s Web, Where the Wild Things Are, Harriet the Spy, and In the Night Kitchen, among others.
Nancy also quotes Ursula extensively, letting young readers hear her sharp, funny voice and get a real sense of what an editor does: spotting truth, protecting a creator’s vision, and pushing a book to be braver than “safe.” Kirkus praises the biography for doing its “brave, funny” subject proud.
If you’ve ever wondered how great books become classics, this episode is a great place to start.
Project Update: Slow Going, but Still Forward
Things are still slow going with Appliance, but the important thing is that it’s still moving forward. I’ve continued to put time into reviewing sections, refining the structure, and making small edits where needed.
This stage of the process isn’t flashy, but it’s necessary. Little improvements add up over time, and even on the slower weeks, the project keeps inching ahead.
Progress may be gradual right now, but it’s steady—and steady counts.
Book Review: The Big Golden Book of Poetry: 85 Childhood Favorites – A Little Bit Every Night
There’s something wonderfully timeless about The Big Golden Book of Poetry: 85 Childhood Favorites. It feels less like a single book and more like a cozy collection of memories waiting to be rediscovered. Over the last couple of months, I’ve been plugging away through it with the kiddos, reading a poem here and there at bedtime or during quieter moments, and it’s been a really enjoyable experience.
What makes this anthology work so well is the variety. Some poems are funny, some dreamy, some playful, and some just plain odd in that classic old-fashioned children’s poetry way. That variety keeps things fresh. One night you’re laughing at a silly rhyme, and the next you’re reading something gentle and calming that feels perfect for winding down the day.
The Golden Book presentation adds a lot to the charm too. The illustrations have that warm nostalgic feel that instantly transports you back to childhood, even if you’ve never seen this exact edition before. It feels familiar in the best possible way.
One thing I’ve really appreciated is how naturally poetry slows things down. You don’t rush through it. Reading just one or two poems at a time turns it into more of a shared moment than simply “getting through a book.”
The Big Golden Book of Poetry is the kind of collection that earns its place on the shelf by being revisited again and again. Warm, comforting, funny, and timeless—it’s been a lovely book to slowly experience together as a family.
Personal Update: Rainy Days, New Opportunities, and Board Games
This week had a little bit of everything. On the eBay side of things, sales have been pretty slow lately, and honestly, some of that is on me. I got a little lax about getting packages out promptly, which knocked me down from Top Seller status to just above standard. From what I can tell, the algorithms really favor Top Sellers when it comes to search visibility, so I think that’s been affecting things. A good reminder that consistency matters, especially online.
The big win this week was finally getting the newspaper website fully transferred over. That’s a huge relief and opens up a lot of opportunities moving forward, especially with adding more RSS feeds and improving how content flows through the site.
In more bittersweet local news, another nearby newspaper shut down this week. It’s always tough seeing local journalism shrink. One positive thing, though, is that I was able to reach out to some of their columnists about potentially bringing their writing and stories over to our paper. Hopefully we can help keep some of those local voices active.
Weather-wise, spring has been unseasonably cool and rainy. But honestly, the rain is welcome. We were in drought conditions for such a long stretch that it’s good to see the ground finally soaking things in again.
We’re also making great forward momentum on getting the new broadcast automation software up and running at the radio station, which is exciting to see coming together.
And because I’ve been out and busy so much lately, I’ve been trying to be really intentional about spending active time with the kiddos when I’m home. This week that meant breaking out some board games, which ended up being a really nice way to slow down and reconnect.
My Friday lunch buddy!