Dreams! Commitment! Investment! and of course, butterflies in the belly

In the USA, March is National Reading Month, a very big deal at my daughter's school. This is her last year there and I wanted to do something BIG to celebrate her time there and to celebrate her school's immense enthusiasm for reading. So, last December, I set a goal to be met by February of this year: I would draw a series about kids enjoying books. Then, through a somewhat unexpected turn of events my day job turned into a night and weekend job. Since relentless toil is completely my jam, I was still able to get all 8 drawings done, if just a little bit behind schedule.
Now I am running full speed to meet my second drawing-related goal of the year, which is to get these drawings printed so that YOU can enjoy them, too, if you like; and of course the school -- which has done so well by my kid -- is going to receive a full set of prints, too. Thank you, school!
Here is a picture of what I've been staring at this evening: file prep for printing.

Years ago, I had a fancy-dancy pigment ink printer and it served me pretty well, until it broke and I couldn't afford to fix it. Sending files away to be printed by a service is also a fairly expensive proposition, and often not altogether a comfy one for many artists, as it's not always easy to guarantee that what we've created is what the printer will ultimately spit out.
Now I'm committing, and investing, and having faith, and charging ahead, with a combination of a new not-broken printer and online printing services. It's very exciting! But sometimes, I must admit, this part of the process -- definitely not the drawing, but the printing setup -- makes me feel like this:

(That's me, circa 1976. I still look pretty much the same, but now I am in technicolor!)

I will return with drawing previews and -- fingers crossed -- some very good news about a little indie print shop near you.