Wayyyy Up I Feel Blessed
In the words of the wise prophet Riley Curry…
2016 closes out leaving me with such an overwhelming joyful feeling. (No, it’s not the Christmas spirit…that gives me gas.) December has been pretty amazing for me. Every Wednesday – minus the 21st – has been my comic book birthday. I remember being ridiculously hyped when I received my comps for The Outfit, a back-up in Nailbiter. Here it is a few weeks later and I see my name in a friggin DC Comics press release.
See? Here it is:
That’s my name. Surrounded by some of comics top creators. All of this happened thanks to Carla “Speed” McNeil. This woman is a godsend, she listened to me cry on the phone for HOURS, so yeah…she’s a godsend with tons of patience; I would’ve hung up on me in the first 4 minutes. SMH.
It’s currently 3:54 AM EST and I’m up writing this because I have no life or sleep patterns after reading a copy of Love is Love. This anthology had me going through a full range of emotions: anger, laughter, sadness, you name it. I am so humbled and blessed to have my name and the story I did with Carla among them.
Carla approached me back when the weather wasn’t stuck on frozen Arctic blast, and wanted to know if I was doing a story for Love is Love. I wasn’t (like who was really going to ask someone who hasn’t written anything, to be attached to something in this capacity.) and was completely shocked she thought of me. Carla said she wanted to reach out to one of her LGBTQ writer friends and extended the opportunity.
I’m gay.
(That no-brainer is for those who had no ideaR, I was Queer.)
A chance to write a story for the Pulse nightclub shooting for a comic benefiting those effected by the shooting? Hell Yeah! Without spoiling our 1 pager, Carla and I collaborated and came up with something beautiful, then it went left. In a good way…a great way. Our story is full of pure and raw emotion.
Not sure if you’ve read anything of mine yet, head on over to the credits page and fix that, but I have a way of layering messages on top of messages on top of messages in my stories. Shameless plug here, but read Comicosity’s review of The Outfit and get a sense of my layering skills.
As I was saying, what you’ll read in our brief one page story, has so much underneath it. I implore you to read again to see what’s being said – not just in OUR story, but in EVERY story that’s there.
Even though I’ve read the 144 page book, I still can NOT believe that the story I wrote is in this book. This story is in a book with creators that I’ve read for years, creators that I’ve admired for years, and with creators that I consider friends (*waves to Gail, Sean, Matt, Scott). Never in my wildest dreams.
I am feeling blessed to not just be in this book, but to be able to create comics that people enjoy. Matt Rosenberg, extraordinary writer of one of my fave books – 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank (Black Mask), wrote a little blurb about my comic debut for TheCreatorsProject, and his words have been gum in my hair since. “I think she is going to make a big splash in comics next year.”
These words echo so loudly in my head that I can’t stop thinking about them. Honestly, it has lit a fire under my ass. When the Impostor Syndrome comes a-knockin’, Matt’s words answers the door like…
“I was waitin’ on you at the door.”
I’m so blessed to have amazing people like Matt Rosenberg, Shawn Pryor, Erica Schultz, Patrick Thorpe, Gail Simone, Carla McNeil, Taylor Esposito, Joshua Williamson, Tini Howard, in my corner, pushing me to be the very best Tee that I can be. Giving it to me straight and encouraging me to reach for whatever I want.
I’m blessed to have fans and followers who WANT to read and SUPPORT my work. I’m so thankful for y’all, and I hope I can continue to bring you great books to read in 2017.
It’s 5:31 AM and I’m finally taking my ass to sleep. (Probably shouldn’t have ended it like this, but you know how I do. HA!)