Print copies available!

I'm excited to announce that the comic journal I kept as a sister missionary in Tokyo, Japan, is now available in print!

You can buy your copy of "DENDO: One Year and One Half in Tokyo" on Amazon now or learn more about the book by visiting tokyomissionary.com!

New website and print release

If you're still anxiously following the progress of the book version of my comic journal, you can visit http://tokyomissionary.com or http://facebook.com/dendobook where I post regular updates. The first several chapters are available for digital download on comiXology.com, and the print version should be released before November!

Milestones

Today I reached two milestones with my mission journal! First, the entire original manuscript is now finished! I had about five monthly filler pages left (like the one below) that I kept procrastinating, so I finished them up this weekend. Now the entire 18 months of pages are done!

Second, the entire first draft of the digital manuscript is completed! Every original page has been scanned, cleaned up, and saved digitally. I haven't  done all the lettering and shading yet, and the cover is nowhere close to being finished, but I can now professionally show the entire journal without having to hand over a physical copy. Should make pitching the project to publishers easier--a process I'm still working on. (^-^) Wish me luck!

Scanning

 

Now that my twenty or so sample pages are done and are doing their work pitching the book for publication, I've begun the daunting task of scanning all 600-something pages. With a trusty old scanner and a nice, long audiobook, I've got my work cut out for me.

This morning I completed my MTC journal entries and most of my first transfer, the most contrasting two sets of pages in the whole book.  Going from laughing every day with two dozen friends and a supportive learning system to being thrust into the missionary field where I couldn't understand anything or anyone was a shock, and the effects of it took toll on my journal-keeping. I've so many times thought about why I had the initial training experience I did, and if nothing else, it taught me the kind of person I don't want to be the rest of my life. I may have had a really rough time in my first area, but it made me try harder the rest of my mission to get along with others and make do.

Another comic update

Over two years ago, I got the envelope from Salt Lake City that changed my life. To celebrate, I'm still working hard on preparing comic pages for print!  By request, I'm preparing a sample of  more "spiritual" pages that will probably end up looking like this:

 

 

Comic update

I'm moving into the long and arduous process of preparing my journal pages for print: scanning and cleaning up the artwork, re-doing the lettering (shortcut: custom font of my hand-writing), and working on print-only content like the image above. It's tedious and tough on my wrists, but it's also been fun reviewing all the old pages and reliving some of those memories.

Comics Aug 7-9 2013

This is the very last batch of missionary comic pages! More updates / more comics by Brittany will be on her blog at http://brytning.tumblr.com