You mean to tell me it's already the middle of July?

This means I've been navigating the failboat that is my novel through stagnant waters for a MONTH now?! Ouchh.

So yeah, that novel I said I was writing? It's still here. I just need to get cracking on it. Soon, I might have enough to post it somewhere! Maybe here? We'll see, I don't know what kind of attention the fiction section of this site gets. I hit 50K, which is great, but I hit that a month ago...so yeah. We'll see what happens. One way or another it's getting done.

My absence, which by now is probably no surprise to anyone, is due to a bunch of things together.

1) My sister's off at some kind of awesome school for the arts, so I had to see her off there.

2) I started watching Honey and Clover, and at the same time fell into a bout of self-reflection that was totally unlike me, and resulted in me purchasing a bunch of weird objects in an attempt at retail therapy. I don't think the two are related, because really, Honey and Clover is a great show. Makes me laugh and tugs at the strings of my black, black heart.

3) I'm reading an amazing old Irish folk tale called "The Tain" (from which the epic Decemberists song is based) and it's my favorite summer read so far. Warriors beating each other up before the backdrop of ancient Ireland, doesn't get much better than that.

4) I'm trying to up my drawin' skills. And also figure out how to use GIMP. It's coming along...kind of...you can see my efforts in my gallery. I have tried my hand at shading and have found out it's no good for me, at least not with the trackpad. I need at least a mouse if I'm going to do anything more artsy than flat colours, but at least I can experiment with those! Expect more of that in the future!

I also need so say how sorry I am for disappearing so frequently like this. I really do love reading your writing and looking at your art! I just am having a hard time balancing everything. Hopefully one day I'll have it all right. But in the meantime, I'm going to get to all of you, and I hope you enjoy any new stuff I might throw up here Also hope your summers are going well!

Yours, etc.