Good year for the Fears, lousy year for the illustrator

Posted on by LittleFears

I have written and deleted this post six times. The fifth time it was 4,000 words long detailing my entire last year. An overwhelming urge to vent to the internet at large can take you sometimes, can’t it? That post had no place here.

The abridged version.

My 2017 has been pretty catastrophic. Land Registry lost the lease to my home. It’s wiped out my life savings getting a new one made. Just existing this year has cost me £70,000. $120,000 in American? I haven’t seen my missus or my dogs since July. My house sale’s on the rocks. If it falls through I may not see her for another four months or more. On account of property law issues, when my house does sell I’m going to have a three month period of limbo in rented accommodation and 3G internet in the Scottish hills. Three months is a lifetime on the internet. That’ll wipe out all the progress I have made with the Little Fears. I’ll be posting once a day, but I’ll be doing no marketing. Bandwidth will be restricted to one gig per month. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to leave comments on blogs or Twitter with that sort of restriction.

At the end of 2016, I was at the lowest point in my life. At the end of 2017, I’m worse off with no savings, and I don’t know how long it’ll be this way.

2017 doesn’t have me beat. I learned something. It’s possible to make £600 a month from the Little Fears as they are today. Currently taking four hours a day, six days a week. Once I have moved home, £600 will cover all of my bills. I can then drop my freelance work and odd jobs, which I currently can’t live without, and focus entirely on the Fears to lift £600 to a reasonable wage.

That’ll be awesome. I’ll be back with my partner and animals. Switching my flat in London for a 2-3 bedroom house in the Scottish mountains. Dedicating all my time to making people groan, cry and fear filled. You all know I have ideas for the Fears. I’ve probably had and forgotten more plans than I will ever manage to put into action.

I have dreams, hope and Fears. The future is bright.

From all the Little Fears and the illustrator,
happy new year!

185 thoughts on “Good year for the Fears, lousy year for the illustrator”

  5. Sounds like you have an awesome time ahead of you and hope that it will more than make up for the pitfalls and the wait that you can soon pack in boxes marked ‘Shit That Needed To Happen’ and ‘Distant Memories’. 😉

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  7. Life can be strange and change on a whim. My story is not much different then yours for the last year. Between the Thomas Fire in our area and troubles at home, my New Year begins with Job searching and apartment hunting. Kudos for you and a new beginning for me. Thank you for making me laugh and shutter along with your little fears. Happy New Year.

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  10. 2015 was weird. 16 was awful. 17 was a stress filled strangeness. Yesterday I told 18 to f*cking turn it up, or I was going to turn it off, ‘net wise. Head above the water is all we need. May be all we get. All we can do is tune that son of a bitch and crank it. Good luck, my cosmic brother. See you where the sun shines.

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    1. Eventually I’ll get there and it will be awesome. The future is bright and that’s where I’m headed. Have a happy new year Anne!

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  15. I hope life is kinder to you in 2018. Thank you for making me laugh when I really needed it. You have a special gift and I’m sure your work will lead to better times in the near future.

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  17. All the best to you in the New Year! Sorry 2017 was such a rough one. Sounds like good things are on the horizon. I’m wishing you good energy in keeping your chin up while you scale the final slope to the summit of your grand change. I have a feeling the view and life will be lovely up there.

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  18. As many above have said, I too am so sorry you’ve been going through all that, sounds like it’s been awful. But you will find light soon, you’re never put through what you can’t handle. I wish you all the best and pray that this year brings you happiness, breakthroughs, and all the success you deserve. Take care my dear x

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  23. Sorry to hear your year sucked but making enough money from your blog to live is awesome. I look forward to you having a much better 2018!

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  24. I’m wishing everyone a “happier” new year because 2017 sucked big time. You’re so talented that 2018 just HAS to be the year it “happens” for you. Don’t forget us when you’re rich and famous Cheers, Alisa

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  25. I’m so honored and grateful that you used some of your limited bandwidth to read my blog post! I’m grateful that you Liked it, so that I could connect back and thank you. Your positive outlook is contagious, and 2018 will be a great adventure beyond your 2016/17 crap. ❤ Take care.

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    1. Howdy Gina. Gotta keep chins up and head for the better life.

      Afraid to say, my first phone call of the year was from my solicitor. I’m stuck in my London flat for another month. The limited bandwidth period will start one I move heh. Bad start to the year, but I remain optimistic. This year will get better!

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  26. Oh man, oh man… can I ever relate to and sympathise for your terrible year; 2017 really can just go stuff itself (barring a few sunny highlights, of course).

    So sorry to hear of your struggles, but so glad to have read the follow up post where it seems there’s at least some things turning around for you. I wish you all the very best, and hope that it only gets better for you from here; creative types like yourself could do with a bit (a LOT) less struggle just to be able to express their creativity, but hey, builds character right?… Or at least it’d better, with how much of a pain in the butt it is 🙂 anyway, take care, and keep the groans, the laughs, and the Fears coming!

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    1. Cheers, Celeste!

      I’d hope the bottom half of this post shows I’m positive 2018 is going to be my year heh. It’ll get better, and the groans, laughs and Fears will keep coming. 🙂

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      1. It sure does 🙂 and absolutely, I’ve got a good feeling about 2018 – so far, so good anyway 🙂 and awesome, glad to hear it!

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