In my entire life I can only recall two times when I was on a lengthy do-nothing vacation. And both of them were when I was a child, barely old enough to call myself a teenager.

It's been a long ass time.

Last night my husband and I returned from a six-day vacation in Bavaria. A lovely prelude to our one-year anniversary in August. The sights, the atmosphere, the food... it was incredible. We spent most of it lounging in a pool and getting drunk off Tequila Sunrises. Well, at least I did the latter part. We took a day trip to Austria for a boat ride along the Bodensee - Lake Constance to the rest of the world - and otherwise had a lovely time. Prior to that we spent a couple of days entertaining some American family friends, so it was eight days of me doing absolutely nothing but experiencing life. It was lovely. It was fun. It was inspiring.

In the time leading up to the vacation I'd been working on a private project - writing a novel under a pseudonym. It's something rather mainstream, so I won't be promoting it here or any of my usual stomping grounds, but suffice to say it is a romance I'd had in my head for a while and serves as a big love letter to certain aspects of my past. I've got a little bit of editing to do on it, but I'd been hoping to release it prior to vacation. Sadly, that wasn't the case, but just the same, the whole experience got my brain working overtime. In short, writing a full novel fulfilled a life goal, and it just makes all of my other goals feel achievable ... writing a best-seller, holding a novel with my name on it in my hands, publishing novels and novellas and anthologies, actually having books out there for anyone to read. I talked at great length with my husband about a novel I'd been poking at for upwards of 15 years, Dragonfly. It's my true passion project, and something I want so badly to write.

The only one who's been limiting my own possibilities has been myself.

It honestly clicked for me when I was watching a video about Chuck Tingle. An incredible author I admire, because he has a way with taking the absurd and not only making it plausible but enjoyable. The video was basically 'Chuck Tingle's trajectory needs to be studied.' So, I did. I looked into it. And I was surprised to realize he'd been posting short stories as ebooks for ages, rode the ridiculous, and developed into a renown author of novels that are deeply rooted in serious issues. We don't write the same genres - well, not completely - but I feel inspired by what he's done. I realized I've been following a path I thought I had to follow when, in fact, I can make up my own path. And I feel foolish for not realizing sooner.

Beyond his path as a writer, I also found myself inspired by him regarding my concerns over my own case of identity crisis. My pen name is and always has been Skye McCloud. So much so that it's the name I go by in everyday life - my own husband calls me Skye. When I returned to the furry fandom a few years back I created new social medias and logins under the handle SynthW4V3. It encompasses my writing style, themes, and that feeling of nostalgia for a future never realized. It was a very specific notion brought about from having been a small-time writer in the fandom back in the early 2010's, but then stepping away completely due to my own insecurities and a life trajectory that left no time for writing. I was fond over what could have been had I continued. I've felt this notion to separate my writing across what I write as Skye McCloud, and what I write as SynthW4V3.

I've floundered ever since because of it.

Chuck Tingle has fully committed to keeping his identity a secret, and leans into the mythos that was borne from his existence. It's given him intrigue, and allowed him to be both the author that writes wildly specific erotica and deeply personal novels. I've realized that I don't need to separate my writing across one and the other. Skye McCloud and SynthW4V3 are one and the same. Always have been. What's important is that the style and evocativeness I write with is what links everything together. Am I a romance writer, am I a sci-fi writer, am I an erotica writer ... the answer is yes, yes, yes, and whatever else I want to write. My writing style is my mythos, and over the past few months I've developed my style with RainGlow into what I feel is truly a style entirely my own. And it doesn't matter if I'm taking you to the sunny shores of Pointe Pleasure, the sterile halls of CyberGenesis Innovations, the techno-city of Skyview, or wherever else I can imagine, I am building universes to explore and the writing style is what I am developing to be the hook. This is what I need to lean into.

The biggest lesson I've learned is that I just need to focus on my own goals and make up my own damned rules. So it's time for me to get serious. Keep writing RainGlow. Write Dragonfly. Build my universes to create the kind of fantasies I want my readers to escape to, relate to, and learn from. I've looked over all of the short stories I've written thus far, and the ones I haven't yet remastered from my old days. I'll start putting together anthologies to whet the palette for what's to come. So, I'm going to be revising what I'd written, write new short stories alongside what I've allocated into a few anthologies already, and start releasing these.

I was already on the right track with how I've been handling Patreon these past few months, but now I have a fresh focus. Following Eurofurence in early September I'll be utilizing Patreon to both release new chapters of Cotton Candy and a new short story intended for my anthologies - exclusive for Patrons. I may do more as well, but that's the basic idea. Through FurAffinity (and SoFurry once it gets back up and running) I'll start releasing Cotton Candy piece by piece, and finish my project of remastering my old works. Some of them will be released publicly, some will be specifically for my anthologies.

I've yet to release July's Patreon reward, but it'll be Cotton Candy Chapter 9. I'll be working on more chapters to get ahead of the curve so I can dig deep into my anthology endeavor, but August is going to be spent writing as much of Dragonfly as I can. I have the full idea clear, and cannot wait to write this deeply personal story. It was always meant to be my debut novel.

So! Many things on the horizon. I'm charged and ready! Time to stop talking about it, and just start doing it.

P.S. I really need to update my Carrd and everything lol...

Cheers! Keep on shining 🌈💫