For a Better Future

So I’m sure some of you noticed that there was no update for Eikasia again this past Sunday. That makes two weeks in a row. I remember when I posted on January 11th how excited I was. I thought, Finally! After a year of waiting, I can get back to it! But life! Ah, life. How it loves to crush my delusions.

Now before you all start getting alarmed (and you really shouldn’t be) this isn’t some dreary announcement that Eikasia is “ending” or something. Of course not! I’m not even shutting the site down. But I can’t lie that some of you will be disappointed. Thankfully, that’s not too many of you, but still.

Eikasia’s going back to irregular updates again so that I can focus on publishing the books. And this time, I just want to warn everybody that this doesn’t mean updates every other week, or even once a month. I mean there really could be long stretches between one update to the next–months we’re talking here.

Why? Why did this happen again? She had the baby didn’t she? She graduated from college, didn’t she!? Well yes, imaginary reader. Yes, I did all of those things.

But little did I know, that just because school is done and the baby is born, that doesn’t mean things get “easier.” Oh no! Far from that. The family problems still persist, and there’s still that nagging little problem of trying to get enough work experience to really start my career going that’s keeping me from smooth sailing. I’ve started a paid internship that pays little, but is much needed for my resume. It takes a lot of work, though. Almost like a part time job. So apart from playing housewife and taking care of my baby son 24/7, a lot of my energy goes towards that.

So there’s the time aspect. Now about the money: I don’t get many donations at all from the site. I’m lucky if I get five bucks from someone in a year. The ads? Because I’m having trouble keeping a steady schedule up, I can’t improve my SEO to get more visitors to the site, so ad sales aren’t much. The addition of a child in my life, plus a dramatic cut back in income in the last year, plus the new cost of student loan bills, makes money more imperative for me. To be honest, Eikasia’s web site is a money drain. So how do I justify keeping it still active? (And I swear I will!) It got to a point where I thought, Why am I killing myself, trying to write new material for Eikasia, when I already have at least 3-4 finished manuscripts that I just need to edit and publish? My original plan had been to have Book 2 of Eikasia out by the end of the year, but this feels unlikely. The first book was supposed to release a lot sooner than it did, but there were set backs that resulted in that not happening. What could happen this time around with Book 2? And the cost for editing will be much more, but my family has promised to help, and I’m trying to save what I can from sales for Book 1 (but hey I have to deal with my family’s needs right now sometimes.)

So I hope you guys understand. Just because updates aren’t going to be steady anymore doesn’t mean Eikasia is dead. If anything, I’m trying to insure its future! If you want to know when the site actually updates, just join the new mailing list by clicking here.

Recovering From a Bad Review – When One Person’s Opinion Hurts Your Sales

TL;DR: One bad review is hurting my book sales. I need to make a comeback, so I’m offering free copies of my novel to anyone who will post an honest review on Amazon. To get your free e-book of my LGBT fantasy novel, click here and submit your request!

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“Bad reviews happen to everyone.”

I’ve seen this all the time from writing sites and author blogs that try to offer some comfort to authors who have received negative comments on their work on such sites as Amazon. “Don’t take it personal and just move on.” I’ve even seen a few articles that claim bad reviews can be a good thing–that they might have the curious effect of “boosting sales”, or they could contain good advice about what not to do with your next book. For the obviously trollish reviews, the best advice I’ve seen is “just ignore it.” (Removing an inappropriate review from a site like Amazon is notoriously hard, apparently, even if that review violates guidelines.) Obviously, I’ve received negative and mixed reviews before for my unpublished writing. I took what I could from those and moved on, as all the articles have recommended.

But one thing I don’t see these writing sites discussing is what to do when you get a bad review, and have little to no reviews to balance it out. What do you do when one negative review impacts your sales so severely as to cause a virtual flat line? We’re talking about a kiss of financial death here, not just hurt feelings.

I’m in one such position right now. Currently, Amazon is where I’m selling the most units of my first and latest release, Tributaries, which came out just a short month ago. My planning was a bit rushed. It was one of those live-and-learn experiences. I set aside just one short month for promotion before releasing the book. I sent free copies to dozens of blogs, made announcements on all my personal sites, advertised tirelessly on sites like Twitter and Tumblr, launched a Project Wonderful campaign, entered a Halloween book contest, and gave away ten free copies in a promotional raffle. I did manage to get some pre-orders, but naturally, one month is too short a time to generate any real buzz, so when my book came out, it was basically a blank slate. Anyone buying it was taking a risk on me as an unknown author.

What all that meant was that any reviews I received from the incredible diverse (and often unprofessional) reading masses was going to determine my sales. Scary, right? Especially considering the trolls that haunt the internet. But for the most part, I got a handful of mostly good reviews, with one or two mixed reviews tossed in. The problem? Most of my positive feedback was on Goodreads, where people are known to add books to their lists and virtually forget about them. I’m guilty of this myself, having I think over a hundred books on my “to-read” list. And on Amazon, my primary seller? I managed to snag one glowing 5-star review one month after the book’s release. “That’s great!” I thought. Then three days ago, I got a scathing one-star review from a guy who said my book was “pointless” and who apparently didn’t think too much of my books “rare vocabulary.” He even took a shot at the fact that I have a bachelor’s degree, like I was trying to lord that over everyone. Ouch!

And I could’ve ignored this review for what it was–the spiteful opinion of one guy who wasn’t even part of my targeted demographic. This was written by an older white man who has only bothered to review seven other books aside from mine, and only one out of those seven got four stars from him. A picky reader. Certainly not a crime, and it’s not like his review violated guidelines.

But his scathing comments had a huge impact on my sales. The effect was almost immediate. He posted his review on December 17th. You wanna know what my sale chart looks like on Kindle Direct Publishing now?

Ouch, ouch, ouch! What happened? Can one man’s negative comments really have such a devastating effect on an author?

In my particular case…yes. You see, when you have such a small pool of reviews and a small publishing history to go with it, the fact of the matter is that unless I’m wowing people with tons of stellar reviews, no one is interested. It’s the insane hurdle that new indie writers have to overcome. This man’s one-star rating dropped my book’s average from five-stars to three. Even if I got another five-star rating, I’d only get half-a-star back of what I’d lost. Hardly the kind of thing that boosts confidence in potential customers, right? It’s particularly frustrating as I have a 4.2 star rating on Goodreads (at the time of this post) based on multiple reviews, but most of those who might actually purchase my book only ever see the feedback on Amazon. Talk about skewed perception!

So the question is: how do I come back from this?

The short answer? I honestly have no idea. Right now, all I can think to do is wait and have faith that someone who has already received the book will be kind enough to post a more positive review. What’s excruciating is that, until I get some better ratings to off-set this one bad rating, my sales will continue to look like the one above. I’ve already sent out free copies to tons of people prior to this latest set-back, specifically requesting a review on Amazon. I’d do a free sale if I was enrolled in Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program, but I’m not. If this keeps up, I might have to resort to editing the base price to see if I can encourage more people to try the book. Over a hundred people have purchased it since its release, and I have no idea if any of them will bother to say anything about it–good or bad.

And in the meantime? I guess I can just put my head between my knees and try to breathe. Publishing a book is rough, but it can be even rougher when one person sets out to destroy what little chances you already had. I don’t know that reviewers realize the kind of impact their comments have on writers like me. For me, this isn’t a hobby. I’m trying to make this my livelihood. The thing that hurts the most? It’s most likely that this person doesn’t give a damn about any of that.

…All that said, for the next few weeks only, I’m offering my novel for free to anyone who is willing to post a review on Amazon. This is for an HONEST review, and you don’t have to feel pressured to write something positive just because of my woeful tale. I know my book isn’t perfect, I wrote the original manuscript when I was just 19 for heaven’s sake, and it’s my first attempt at writing a major novel. BUT I’ve also made significant improvements since then, and I’m confident my work isn’t a one-star affair. All you need to do to get your free copy of my book is go to the contact page of my book’s site by clicking here, and submit your request for a copy. After that, I’ll personally send you three formats of it: PDF, MOBI, and EPUB. I realize that any reviews posted on Amazon will have to state that you received the book for free, and that it won’t be a “verified purchase”, but anything is better than what I have right now.

So I implore you. If you like independent books and/or LGBT fiction, then please consider reading my work and posting your feedback on Amazon! Don’t let this one person have the final say on what has taken over six years for me to accomplish!

I’ll be doing this until the end of the first full week of January. (That’s the 10th.) Spread the word about this, even if you feel you can’t read the work yourself! Every little bit helps.

Let’s Get Together! – The Unfortunate Disconnection in the LGBT Fiction World

Since opening up my fantasy novel, Tributaries, to pre-orders, I’ve noticed something that both surprises me and disheartens me at the same time. When I made the decision to write for the LGBT community and its allies, I realized that I would have to face the challenge of connecting with a very niche and (at times) remote audience. In the super-abundant world we live in now, where getting your voice heard is hard enough in a cishet market, I’ve learned that LGBT fiction just plain has it rough. Marketers still have no idea what to do with these kinds of stories. Do you lump them all together under romance? But then what about those stories that are more fantasy/adventure/thriller/sci-fi/etc? Do you list those under the specific genres without mentioning the LGBT aspects? Ah, but the reviewers! What if they complain on their blogs and customer reviews that they felt tricked when the protagonist fell in love with someone of the same sex? Well what about just attaching ‘romance’ to the primary genre, and hoping for the best?

It’s all just one hot mess.

It isn’t unusual for brick-and-mortar stores to lack any self-identifying LGBT work, either. A sad fact, as I’ve read a number of LGBT books that are every bit as good as some of the nonsense that gets on the best seller lists.

But this isn’t the disheartening surprise I alluded to earlier. I’ve known the reality of scarce LGBT outlets for years. No, what surprised me was specifically the lack of support and structure for lesbian fiction. Over the last few weeks, I’ve tried hunting down LGBT blogs who I hope could connect me with my target audience, only to find myself disappointed when the site clarifies that they are actually only interested in m/m fiction. Uh, say what? Why the heck would you use the full acronym if you’re only interested in a single aspect of it?? You see, the fact is that m/m fiction has a much bigger community of support than f/f. (Don’t even get me started on bi and trans…)

It’s not that I haven’t found lesbian sites dedicated to writing or reviewing lesbian fiction. I have. But half of the sites I found were defunct. Then the remaining active sites were sadly narrow in scope (i.e. erotica only, print books only, fan fiction only, paranormal romance only, books with positive reviews of 2 or more only, etc…) And on social networks? I primarily use Twitter for my social marketing (it’s about all I have energy for–though I dabble in Tumblr) and I can’t seem to find any of the les fic authors anywhere. A quick google search also proved that there doesn’t seem to be an LGBT group of writers out there interested in supporting and signal boosting each other. You’d think the LGBT community of readers would have come up with a hashtag or a retweet group to help promote what is already a neglected corner of the market. Something like #LGBTrds or #LGBTbks. Something! Anything! Erotica, paranormal romance, dark fantasy, and horror fiction are doing it, why the hell can’t we? I even tried searching blog hops (which are basically author events on blogs featuring interviews, free books, cover reveals, etc.) and the last LGBT blog hops were last summer! That was over a year ago now! The one LGBT fiction blog hop that I could find that was held this year was actually ended prematurely and shut down for good. Yeah. It apparently went down for lack of participation. Not encouraging.

Now I know what you might be thinking: But Illise, if you hate it so much, why don’t you do something to change it? MarkTheShaw did it with #IndieBooksBeSeen on Twitter and Tumblr, didn’t he?

Simply put, no one gives a fuck about me. I don’t have the status or the connections to set something like this in motion. I suppose I could try to contact someone who DOES have these things to help me, but let’s just all refer back to my first point regarding the lack of fucks people give me, then infer what the result would be.

Okay. I had my little tantrum. I can’t have been the first LGBT writer to have thought along these lines, and I bet those who came before just learned to deal with it. You find a way to make it work, or you don’t. I’ve been promoting my work on a number of Indie Author hashtag communities, and it’s not like I’m not getting some help. The people on #IAN1, #IARTG, #IndieBooksBeSeen, #IndieAuthor, and #ASMSG are wonderful folks! But the point isn’t just to blast your work out to a random audience. It’s to target your efforts so that the people most likely to want to read your work hear about it at all. That’s really the major issue. LGBT fiction feels like a grain of sand lost in an indifferent ocean when marketing to a general audience. You can’t use #LGBT on Twitter either, because dear god, that stream moves waaaay too fast and is inundated with LGBT political and entertainment news.

As LGBT authors, our little slice of the literary world is tough and challenging in a market that already has plenty of obstacles to overcome. But it could be so much better if we could pool our readers together and support one another, especially since most LGBT authors are signed with small press or are self-publishers. It isn’t as if anyone is looking out for us little guys.

If, after reading this post, you feel that I am in error, then please enlighten me! I want to be proven wrong, even a tiny bit. But if you’re in agreement, why not share your thoughts on why the LGBT author community is so disconnected. Do you agree that lesbian fiction is not as well off as gay fiction? Just to be clear, a lack of readers is not the issue. That’s more a marketing challenge, anyway. But why do LGBT authors seem so disinterested in connecting with each other?

Oh, and if you ARE a LGBT author, please please please connect with me. I love RTing LGBT fiction on Twitter! I’m @cajeck. Send me a DM and I’ll add you to the LGBT author list I’m trying to form. 🙂

No seriously…

I’m totally TRYING to work on Eikasia (and thereby ALP!), its just that I got hit with some withdrawal symptoms. Withdrawals from what? Rest assured, I’m not a coke addict. But I do, unfortunately, take regular medication. So when I took that stupid 8 hour “nap” last night, I skipped my scheduled dose of anti-depressants and anti-anxiety pills, and my dosage isn’t exactly mild. Actually my dosage is kinda…heavy. I’m not sedated or something, but going from 275 mg of “the stuff” to 0 mg of “the stuff” results in lots of stuff kicking my ass. So at the moment, my body is like, “DUDE YOU SUCK,” and I’m just like…

OMFG, I’M ACTUALLY TRYING TO WRITE FOR ONCE, WHY IS THIS HAPPENING!?

P.S. I’ll send you special Eikasia goodies if you can guess the joke film reference I’m trying to make above.

Cat Naps

Okay guys. Yes. I KNOW. I didn’t update Eikasia yesterday. I have ALP! to update today. So why the hell am I doing posts about documentaries at 7 in the morning? WELL…

Yesterday, I had my usual Sunday shift, which was absolutely KILLER. After discovering that I had a busy schedule this week right up onto the moment I fly back to California for a month (updates will resume during that time, don’t worry) I was practically dead on my feet. I lifted I don’t know how many pounds of food and dishware to the kitchens, and it felt like a damn marathon. My entire left side ached, my right wrist ached, my right ankle was all fucky, and everything throbbed. This wasn’t me being soft from days of not working. This was just the after effects of a lot of suck.

So after sitting at home with my husband Eric for an hour, I tell him I’m going to “lie down” for a little while. My intention was to continue reading Sharp Objects, then perhaps get started on Eikasia, which I was woefully behind on. But then my eyes started to burn and felt harder to keep them open, so I decided for quick cat nap.

Quick…ha! Yeah, right.

I ended up sleeping from 6PM to 2AM guys. Not lying. When I got up, I discovered my husband, who had stayed up nearly twenty four hours, had fallen asleep on the couch. This was part of the reason I never got up, because he was technically supposed to come in and hang out with me on the bed. Read that however you like that. The basic point is: I fell asleep, and nothing woke me up—not my phone, not my husband, and certainly not my everlasting guilt over how behind on writing I am.

I’m being a little facetious here.

Anyway, I once again have my gaming group coming in tonight at 8PM. But hey! Since my ass is up so early, I suppose I can knock out ALP! and Eikasia in one day! Right?

…Right?

Happy Halloween!

"Elmiryn, next year, I'M choosing the costumes."

Chapter 20.2 is up and available for your reading pleasure!  I hope you like this quick sketch I did.  I’ll work on it more later and color it.  For now I hope you enjoy Nyx pouting and Elmiryn’s sexy witch costume.

Some news:  I posted up a new video on Eikasia’s Youtube page.  It features me at a local writer’s mic, reading a portion of Chapter One.  If you can stand my babbling in the beginning, please fave, rate, and comment!

Just to note, as you guys can see (and as I tried to warn before) the pacing of the story has slowed down a bit.  I don’t have the time to bang out 10,000 word updates anymore, but know that I’ll always try my best to be on schedule, at least.  With the recent switch to Sundays, I find that it’s alot easier now.

Last note, and it is less pleasant for me, as recently I’ve been getting the sense that people have been mistaking the current state of the story to be my “best work” in terms of grammar and such.  This is in no way reflecting on only one person, as it seems with the influx of new readers, there have been some who have come with some misconceptions:

While I have the habit of making the same mistakes when in the heat of inspiration, I would like to politely remind everyone that I am posting first draft work, and as it is first draft, there are bound to be lots of mistakes.  I don’t have an editor.  I don’t even have a beta reader.  I find it unfair that I have been compared to fellow weblit writers who do NOT post first draft, who DO have beta readers, and who also have atleast a DECADE of experience over me.  I don’t mind you pointing out my typos and errors, and I reward every single bit of help I get.  I encourage you to point out whatever mess you find.  Even if I don’t get to it right away, maybe even take ages to, I save those notes.  It was reader comments that I used to edit Chapters 1-3.  But please do not insult my craft and say that I do not know anything about grammar.  I am giving this story free and all I ask in return is a bit of fair and polite feedback.  Keyword being fair. If you are a new reader and felt that somehow you were promised a polished and perfect piece of work, then I’m afraid you were mistaken.  I concede that perhaps I should state this on the New Readers page, and it will be done momentarily.

I will not apologize for all the love I have put into Eikasia, nor will I apologize for first draft work.  I am humble, and I know I can improve in many ways, but I am not a fool.  I know I can write a damn good story, and if that’s what you want, then you are at the right place!

That said, Happy Halloween!  Be safe everyone!

Chapter 16.3 and A Serious Goof

So I was writing Chapter 16.3 (now available, btw) and something horrifying came to my attention.

I have a serious plot hole.

Now why am I pointing this out to you all?  Why aren’t I trying to sweep it under a rug?

Because at the pace I’m going, so close to finishing Part 2, with a backlog of bonus updates to do, I can’t really address this issue right away.  For now I have to let it be.

You see, the issue is simple, but important:  Graziano, Hakeem, and Arduino.

Yes!  That’s right.  If you’ve already read 16.3, then you’ll have noticed my sad attempt at mending the serious problem in characterization.  Graziano “forgot” to ask Hakeem what happened to Arduino.  The truth of it was, I forgot to make him remember, which leaves us with a poor explanation for the problem and a stupid resolution.  I’m pointing this out because I fully intend on fixing this once I finish Part 2, never mind that I still need to edit Part 1.  So if you read Part 2 again, or see some reference to a change I’ve made in the story, you’ll know why.  Now that I think on it, I’m surprised I didn’t mess up like this sooner.  But you guys are all good sports, right?  You all know that I’m basically posting up the first draft of the story for you all, so you knew this was bound to happen sooner or later, right?

So…yeah.  That was pretty much it.  Thanks for being so understanding! ❤

Have a cookie!

I sometimes wonder…

…if others stop and try to connect the dots in their lives?  Of course, everyone takes the time to reflect on their lives to some degree–you wouldn’t be a human being if you didn’t.  But what I really mean is–are they aware enough of their surroundings and the circumstances that others go through?  Does anyone ever feel like they hit the nail on the head when they puzzle over the mystery of a relative’s odd behaviour and the motives behind a friendly employee?  Is a strong revelation ever reached when considering one’s quality of life and one’s relationship with others?

I was a precocious kid.  I’m not saying I was smarter than my peers, or that I was like a fully matured adult at the age of six.  What I mean is that I was always analyzing things.  I became perhaps too sympathetic, and others took advantage of that sensitivity.

Nowadays, I find it becoming a strength.  It’s helped me deal with some situations at work, and also dodge some shady situations when socializing out of my usual element.  The most obvious benefit of this awareness is in my writing, where I can easily create a character with conflicts and individual tastes.

Again, I’m not saying I’m the most attentive person in the world, but when I put it into practice I can usually see the reasoning behind a dilemma or a good situation.  I find this to help diffuse anger or sadness.  In the case of bad things, this doesn’t necessarily give me the answer to my problems, just the means to find it.  A few times, I’ve come to the conclusion that the most effective way to solve the problem is to speak with whoever I’m having the altercation with.  

…And there’s where I typically hit a wall.

In writing, I find it cathartic to have my characters go through tough obstacles, only to solve it and reach a common understanding.  In the real world, however, I find it frustrating, because it seems like I can’t get others to get where I’m coming from.  I try to talk to them as respectfully and as clearly as possible, only to have them shut me down out of stubborn pride or impatience.  Narcissism and ignorance have been the handicaps of man since the dawn of time, and I can’t deny that I’ve suffered from them before…  But I still find it frustrating when people allow their emotions to blind them to the point that they can’t submit to simple logic.  

(This is, of course, assuming that you are knowledgeable of everything that’s relevant to the situation to make that logical conclusion–but for the purpose of this rant, let’s just say that one does.)

Nowadays, I think there’s a lot of emphasis on the self–and it’s this sort of self-involved thinking that creates the narrow minded people you meet today.  It isn’t quite the materialism of the 80’s (though advertising and corporate domination is more pervasive than ever.)  What it is instead is just an idea of self-righteousness.  Lots of popular songs today circle around the idea that one is “right” even when one is “wrong.”  Also, the increased usage of things like the computer and television has made vapidness a wide-spread epidemic.  While this hardly qualifies as proof, I have to say it’s pretty disheartening when many of the kids I’ve spoken to in universities fail to practice basic critical thinking.  And I find it odd, as some of these individuals DO read alot and can ace through tough college courses…

But I guess the issue isn’t that they lack “intelligence” so much as just “wisdom”.

So I just wonder, how many of you stop to try and think of things from all angles?  Do you admit the things you did wrong despite how much it may hurt or embarass you?  Do you factor in where others are coming from?  I.e., a broken home, poor romantic relationships, money problems, social experience… Do you use your conclusions from such musings to try and reach out in a way that the other person would respond positively?  And do they?

This introspective post was brought to you by the makers of Anxiety™, “When confidence is away, insecurity will play!”

Because twitter fails to illustrate…

…I’d just like to clarify (for those who follow my twitter account) that the past two days have been weighed down with economic troubles, family feuds, emotional breakdowns, medical bad news, and the looming fear that I may get sued or fired from my new job over a stupid misunderstanding.

There.  🙂

Update will be up before Monday!  (I mean, why let some bad luck ruin a good thing?)

Going to my happy place.

WHEN IN DOUBT, SCREAM AND SHOUT.

As unadmirable as it may sound, I just nearly broke my $1700 laptop in a sudden fit of rage that had me slamming my fist into the walls and screaming all seven deadly words irascibly. I had to take a cold shower to calm down. Now I just feel dejected.

You see, I just lost about an hour-and-a-half’s worth of writing to an accidental keystroke that took me away from the Blogger post editor. The real issue wasn’t even that. It was that the auto-save feature, for whatever reason, failed to do its job. So the two new scenes, the new dialogue, and the grammatical and editorial changes for Chapter 2.3 have all been lost.

Frustration, as many writers will say, is understandable in this situation. “What you really need to do,” they’ll tell you, “Is think about it in a positive light. You can rewrite whatever you did, and perhaps even better.” I’ve had this happen to me before, so I know this. I’ve lost more work to silly screw-ups like this in the past.

It still sucks though.

Anyway, I apologize that this is all taking so long. I forgot how long it can take to put edits into effect, even with notes in hand. I guess part of the reason I’m so determined to get this done first is so that I can create a stronger base to build off of when I move to finish “Tributaries”. Generally, writers wait till a work is finished before editing the whole thing, but I think it’ll be better if I do things this way. My issue is that, despite having an outline and notes and all that nonsense, I still tend to write solely with the last chapter in mind.

Now this may not sound bad, but just imagine it like building a jenga tower. Each level has a piece missing, and you place pieces with consideration to those gaps. But as you build, you only take into account the level you are building off of. So as you go further up, the tower starts to tilt more and more to the side, until it falls over. I really was feeling like the paths of Nyx and Elmiryn’s character were beginning to stray a little from how I introduced them and how I intended them to be. The same went for their adventure.

Bottom line: I felt like I was losing perspective, so I wanted to regain that before I went on toward the finale.

To me this is extremely important. So important that I’m willing to put the story on hiatus for a while. I’m tempted to do fillers and/or side stories in the meantime. Maybe post up excerpts from the book Tobias gave Nyx, or do abstract ‘backstage’ skits with the characters in the story. I’m not really sure. These won’t be posted on a regular schedule and they likely won’t be long pieces. If I can get the help, I might ask a guest writer to share their work on the site.

So will there be an update Friday? Probably not. Maybe a filler, but it’ll be posted on THIS blog, under the appropriate category.

I’m feeling a bit better. Writing this post was a little cathartic. I’ll stop now, as I have to go get ready for a lunch meeting, but know that I’ll resume work (maybe not today) and the story will continue.

Till the next update, hope everyone takes care. I’ll leave you all with a colored pencil drawing I did while I was in Panama. My only wish was that I didn’t do it on lined paper.