Q & A with Diane Barker

Giving back as a self-employed creator.

It can be hard when you are a self-employed creator to find the resources, let along the time, to give back to your community. Diane created a free monthly resource to help connect writers and artists to job opportunities and convention events as a way to help her community.

Q: What inspired you to create the Tea Goblin Cafe newsletter?

A: It is absolutely daunting to spend hours searching forums, Discords, Google search results, and social media accounts just to find job opportunities as a creative. I wanted to make a database that everyone could access that was updated on a regular basis. Tea Goblin Cafe was what I wanted to see in a free resource. So, I made it.

Every Monday, I update a massive Google spreadsheet with comic convention application open dates and calls for comic anthology submissions.

Q: How do you balance running your business with giving back?

A: When I first created this database, it took me weeks! But that was the foundation I needed in order to make a weekly update possible. I limited my hours to only working on it on Mondays. That allowed me keep up with the responsibilities of running my own creative business. Not gonna lie, there were many a Monday where building the database was all I did for the entire day.

After the database was completed, it only takes me a few hours to update the spreadsheet, check my sources, and sent out the newsletter.

Q: Will you be expanding what opportunities Tea Goblin Cafe tracks?

A: Yes! I will be tracking artist residency programs. Once I figure out the best way to track these programs, I’ll add it to the Tea Goblin Cafe newsletter. Tracking grant opportunities is also on the bucket list.

Q: Where can we find the Tea Goblin Cafe newsletter?

A: I am currently running it through my Patreon. It is a free resource, though I do have a $1 and a $3 tier if you’d like to support my snack and caffeine habit.

www.patreon.com/teagoblincafe