Hello FA,

Hoping all is well for you and yours. It's been over 8 months since I wrote a journal or gave an update. A lot can change in so little time. So let me give you a lowdown on what I couldn't say before and follow up with what is going on now.

1. Late 2020 i.e. October - I had a huge amount of tragedy that I'm still not fulling coping with now. I had two friends commit suicide within a week of each other. It's literally been over a year and I still can't get over it fully. Especially because the second friend I've had over 20 years. That was a hard hard situation to deal with especially because it wasn't a conscientious suicide. It was an accidental medical neglect manslaughter from my friends husband. The long and short of it is the man had political pull from his family and it all got swept under the rug. That I believe is why I can't come to grips and move on. So I'm campaigning for everyone to try and be kind cause often there are scars that you can't see on the surface and it costs nothing to be kind.

2. June 2021 My niece after struggling with being a single mom and a hood rat with an addiction problem - Passed away after getting out of jail and getting her 1st month sobriety chip. She was in the halfway house and somehow still snuck drugs in and overdosed. This devastated my family. She was the oldest of the next generation and died at the tender age of 27. She leaves behind two children. My heart wrenches to see my niece lose her battle in this fashion when things were starting to look like she was gonna beat the odds. There's much more to this story but it's not mine to tell. The kids however, is where my heart really is at. Her second husband and father of child #2 passed away in January this year. So losing both of them in such a short time. Hasn't been easy to deal with. Oh and I did attempt to adopt my great nephew however, because I have had cancer ... my state decided I'm an unfit parent. Again a whole other story to talk about another time.

3. August 2021 GOOD NEWS Legit no more sad stuff for the moment. on August 5, 2021 I got kicked out of Oncology!!! Yes that's right - I am in FULL remission. No more chemo - no more infusions! So long as it doesn't come creeping back I'm good. I still have auto immune disorders but the big bad C word is Gone baby GONE! After all that sad stuff we all needed a pick me up for real!

4. November 2021 - It's that time of year again NANOWRIMO! I have competed every year since 2009. This year is no exception today is the 5th and I've already hit 17k out of 50k words! Woot Woot! I have a good feeling that I will win! Plus it brings awareness to adult literacy programs and programs for young writer camps and to help people get their stories published for the world to read! Pretty cool right? Join me!!!!

5. I'm gonna leave you with this - a self published book author has granted me permission to read her first published work on Twitch! Yes that's right in December the lunch hour is coming back and I'll be reading to all you fine folks to promote her book as her second one is about to be published. Something to look forward to as well!!! Also, Moonblossom yes I calling her out - she made me organize all my commissioned art into folders and because it messed up my flow there will be an art dump of sorts as I organize the folders into FA. I'm also taking offers on several characters. So feel free to look around and see if someone catches your eye. I might consider selling them. I've got surgery in 2022 I gotta save up for.

So yeah here's my year in a nutshell - I've missed you all and I'm totally still here if you need me. I'm grateful to all of you for sticking around sending me notes and comments to keep my spirits up and while I keep traveling this wild ride called life. Thank you all - Please be kind and excellent to each other! Until next time ...