It's been a while since I've done anything on FA, so I thought a life update might be in order.

As a bit of a recap, I left the army not too long ago. (My last day in uniform was about 8 months ago.) Job-hunting was about as one would expect. Lots of applications, a fair number of interviews, and no offers. (Technically I did get one offer, but during the interview, I realized I did not want the job.)

After about 6 months, I tried of all the wasted effort and tried a different route. I've always been drawn to computers, and decided I might be able to hop fields a bit and go into IT. I started putting together my own piecemeal course for a couple technical certifications. I was actually getting ready to take an exam when I got a job recruiting call out of the blue.

Surprisingly, I managed to get myself hired. Unfortunately, taking the job meant that I had to relocate. Overall, moving is not too hard when you're "young", single, and hardly have anything to your name. But it did mean moving 800 miles away from home, plus the whole thing is a nucience no matter what.

For a while, I was preoccupied with all the practicalities of finding a new place to live, getting furniture, etc. Not the funnest prospect, but I did manage to get everything taken care of. Mostly.

My first day on the job was last week. I'm still working through orientation stuff but that's basically over now. I'm kind of excited, but mostly nervous. I'm a bit worried that I've bitten off more than I can chew. Although it falls into the category of electronic repair, which is the same kind of work I did with the army, it's in a completely separate field of technology. Not to mention that the military's idea of "electronic technician" is very different (dumbed down) than the civilian sector's.

So yeah, that's what's been going on with me for the last few months, at least at the surface level. Emotionally, it's been about the same as always. Some days better, some days worse. As a whole, I think I'm doing slightly better since leaving the army. 'Slightly' being the operative word. As far as writing goes, I've been cold for the last several months, although I can feel the urge coming back again. I might be posting a story or two in the near-ish future. Depending on how much energy I have left after work and all that.

To the initiated, you already know what this means. For those not in the know, ETS is a government acronym for Enlisted Time Stops. That's right, I am no longer a soldier in the United States Army! Thank God. As far as external life is considered, it's been, hands down, the worst 4 years of my life. I am so happy to be done with that chapter of my life. I could go on a very long rant on why and how much I hate the army, but I promised myself I wouldn't do that.

So yes, I'm starting a new chapter in my life. Me being me, I'm not so much excited about the new as I am leaving the old. I'm still looking for future employment. I've been at it for a while, but no luck yet. I'm still trying to stay positive on that front. Trying anyway...

As far as writing goes, I haven't been as completely inactive as it seems. A good bit of my work has gone towards writing and rewriting resumes, cover letters etc. I also wrote a handful of stories, but only 1 has been "submission worthy". (I actually pushed myself through proof-reading so that it would be finished today.) The others have been shelved because of ordering issues or I got to the end, didn't like it, and had to start over from scratch.

*Just an admin note to say that while I do not consider this post to be nsfw, I DO think it should be reserved for the "mature" audience. Nothing graphic or lewd. Just topics that require an adult level of maturity*


So the last few weeks have been...interesting. Personally, I say it's been a few months, but the calendar reads "weeks" so...

I've been trying to work on some major irl projects. They've been...going. Sort of. It's not exactly stuff that I'm good at, or enjoy doing. And there's no hard deadline to work with, so I mostly just procrastinate. I know I'm shooting myself in the foot by pretending that it will go away in I ignore it, but I'm not sure that flogging myself through it will produce much better results. I suppose that if I went that route I could always say that I tried.

Anyway, I failed another suicide attempt a couple weeks ago. I still couldn't tell you which I regret most: the attempt, the failure, or the decision to tell a friend after the fact. In case you're wondering, that last one landed me in jail for a week. Oh sorry, it was "emergency protective custody" or something like that. They gave it a fancy name, but that didn't change the fact that I was held, against my will, by people who didn't care about me at all, except perhaps in an abstract sense, on the off chance that such action would make me "safer".

To be fair, it wasn't 100% bad. Now that I'm out, I'm talking to a psychiatrist who actually seems to care and I'm semi-comfortable talking to. He seems optimistic that he can help. (surprise ><) I'm more skeptical, but I am trying to go along with it. It just seems like hiring a day worker to protect your vegetable garden from vermin.

On a more positive note, I finished my quarterly story this weekend. Yay. (Trying really hard to not be sarcastic on that one.) I finished the rough draft almost a month ago, but didn't touch it for a while. I finally ended up chipping away at the revision part a little bit at a time. I'm not too keen on it being a narrative since that's supposed to be "bad writing" but it was supposed to come across as recorded history and not live action.

I've already had ideas rolling around for what I would like to try next. I'm kind of torn between 2 contenders. The first is another novel-length (or longer) storyline that I won't finish (although it's the type of literature I enjoy reading and writing). The other is...more adult oriented, and would be a lot shorter. Probably no more than 2 or 3 parts depending on how it shapes out.

Anyway, that's all I have to say for now. I'll probably still be minimally active, but hopefully my next submission won't take so long.

So.... The last several months were...fun. [/sarcasm] Most of my summer and fall were spent working 12 to 14 hours a day. Either that, or I was sequestered at work for weeks at a time without computer access. (I know something like that wouldn't be a big deal for some, but I'm very low-energy and I basically went from work to sleep to work to sleep.)

The good news is that craziness is over, at least for now. I'm not sure when it will start back up again, but at least I have some free time. Furthermore, I won't be working here for too much longer. So hopefully things will improve in that respect. Of course, the flip side is that now I'm spending a lot of my time preparing for some serious life changes. Although by now, I feel like I'm just beating my head against a wall. Surface features might be different, but nothing is really going to change. Nothing that actually maters anyway.

As far as my stories go, I've been trying to write, but I haven't made any progress toward that end. The ideas are there, but always out of reach. Whenever I try to put words on paper, I can't keep my focus long enough to get anything done. I'll manage a couple sentences over an hour or so before I give up.
I'd like to say that I'll be posting something soon, but that's not a promise I can deliver. I'll keep trying, but that doesn't mean anything will come of it. Sorry.

I think it's been about 2 months since I so much as visited FA. I've been busy, and not in a good way either.
Earlier this month, I had to go to an "event" that half-suspected/planned on not surviving. I'm kind of
disappointed that I did. Right now I'm working around 12 to 13 hours a day in a humid 90 degree room.
(I suppose I should be grateful I'm not guaranteed to be working 7 days a week, although I wont be
surprised when it goes to that.) Bottom line, I don't see myself being very active in the foreseable future
even if I wanted to. I mostly spend my couple hours of down time curled up in bed with a book before
passing out. The last few days I've really wanted to write something. (Nothing auspicious, just some random
short scenes) But I don't have the time or the energy by the time I leave work. Maybe durring the weekend
(assuming I get one)... I'm not holding my breath though.

Today marked the last day of what felt a lot like 2 months of paid vactaion. Yes, it was rather nice, getting paid without really having to go to work and put up with all the insanity that goes on there. It gave me a great opportunity to personal projects. Namely, some technichal certifications (which will probably come in handy in the near future) and writing. Of course, it wasn't all perfect news. My computer was in the shop about half the time, so I couldn't be productive. (Some really bad and unfortunate timing, but that's life.)

Per the writing aspect, I've got mixed feeling on how that turned out. Bottom line, I think I rough drafted approximately 40k words out of what is shaping up to be a 50-60k word episodic novela. (Estimates are very rough as I do my writing in notpad.) On the one hand, that's pretty cool. When I stop and think about how much progress I've made in a single conherent (hopefully) story, I'm a bit surprised at how far I've gone.

However, when I actually stop and think about it, I feel like I should have been a LOT more productive. I mean, 40k words in 60 days is barely 600 words per day. Ouch. I guess if you take into consideration that I probably couldn't do anything for the first 3 weeks and then spent most of my mornings either volunteering my time or working on other stuff, its not quite so bad. But still... I don't know what "normal" writing speed is, but I feel like mine is a snail's pace.

This last week in particular was...bad to put it in a good light. Apart from going through another dark spell for...however many days it lasted, I managed to waste about 4 entire days working solely on a short that has no relation to what I'm trying to work on. (I just posted it, btw.) I know that there are some times when it's good to take a short break and come back to a project with a fresh mind, but I don't think that was the best way to go abou it it.

Anyway, early on, when I started getting a feel for how long this story would be, I was hoping to at least have the rough draft finished so I could work on whatever was left in bits and pieces, knowing that the story was at least "finished". Obviously that didn't happen. Now that the vast majority of my free time just got sucked back up by work, I'm not sure if I'll ever finish the rough draft. And even if I do finish, I don't know if I'll ever proof-read it for some spit and polish. I really hate going back over my own work. I only rarely catch brief glimpses of the beautiful concepts I envisioned why I wrote it. Mostly all I see are mistakes and wonder how the heck anyone could get any enjoyment out of it.

So yeah... In summery? I started out two months ago with an extremely rare opportunity and I was determined not to waste it. Now I feel like all I have to show is a handful of pages' covered in scribbles more suitable for the trashcan than anything else. Way to go.

...and it's back to life a usual tomorrow. yay

Not sure if I should be celebrating with a 'return post' yet. The last time I got my laptop
back from repairs it lasted less than a week before it went FUBAR. I'm hoping that
doesn't happen again. 6 weeks is a ridiculously long turnaround time (but at least it
was free).

The last...however long it's been, hasn't been all bad news. A friend let me borrow his
old laptop, which was a godsend. For some reason, I didn't want to visit FA while on a
borrowed system. All I can say is that it felt awkward. So I sort of side-tracked and did
some other stuff like reading *ahem* "real" books.

In the while that I've been gone, writing has been sort of a good news/bad news thing.
Long story short, my hard drive was erased. But that's ok because most (all?) of my
important files were already backed up on an external drive. Unfortunately, I wasn't in
the mood for writing most of the time. Plus I didn't really know where I left off in terms
of started/finished/submitted pieces. So I basically just shelved everything and now its
collecting dust.

On a more positive note, I've had a LOT of free time recently and I started writing
something kind of new. (It's a bit complicated.) I've managed to bang out one "completed"
short story and about half of another. I guess they might be more of episodic excerpts from
a behemoth of a story, but prefer to think of them as individual short stories and not chapters.
(Smaller goals seem more achievable and at least I'll have a finished...something to
show when it inevitably gets derailed.

Of course, all I've done thus far is just the first draft. Once I finish the second part, I'll go
back and put some spit and polish into both of them before submission. I was hoping to be
at the revising stage already, but the end of last week was...difficult and I made no progress.

But I didn't want to essentially say "hi...bye" without leaving something behind. (Because clearly
the whole world is waiting with baited breath for me to write something.) So I whipped up
something really quick. Thankfully it turned out to be an easy write.

Link: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/24045963/

PS Still not sure what my activity level/style will be moving onward.

Been having a lot of shift changes lately which pretty much destroys any motivation to write...or do much of anything. It probably won't get any better for quite a while.

I'm at T minus twelve hours (give or take) for eye surgery. Without going into details, I feel like I'm quite lucky it's happening at all. Even though I've basically had the green light for about a month and a half now, it still hasn't sunk in. And that might be a good thing since my pessimistic self insists that I'm just getting my hopes up for nothing. Or worse, some catastrophic will make things far worse. I've needed corrective lenses since I was about 10. (I can't stand glasses, so I've been wearing contacts for most of that time.) As of now, my vision is bad enough that I can't see much past my elbow. So yes, I feel like this is a bit of a big deal for me. I just hope everything turns out ok.

I'm not sure how this will affect my short-term presence here. I'm supposed to spend the next several days with my eyes closed as much as possible. (Sleeping is the ideal.) Depending on the level of pain and the effect of the meds, that may or may not be easy to follow. I'm tentatively planning on being completely out of commission for 2 to 4 days. Though, like I said, I have no clue how things will actually shake down. So consider this my notice in case I'm gone longer than I expect.

It's been a productive week for me. I think that's largely because last week was easy and I had a super-long weekend. And, for once, I actually feel like I used all the free time rather well. I think I started and finished 3 pieces and have finished the first draft on 2 more. Granted, they're rather short, but that's still a lot more than what I've been writing.

If you've kept up with my little flurry of submissions, you'll notice I've started writing about a new character named Tina. I've been playing with her for maybe 6 months now. (Or maybe it's more accurate to say I've been playing as her.) Most of the material I've been coming up with for her is adult stuff, but the main story of her life is SFW. I've got conflicting feelings about Tina and what her life says about me as a person. However, as I continue to write her story and discover some of her unique quirks and such, I find myself liking her more and more.

I'm not sure how much writing I'll get done in the near future. My "vacation season" is winding down which means a lot less free time and whole lot more stress.
Some weeks will be better than others, and I have no idea what will happen when, but I do know that things are going to get crazy and stay crazy probably until the end of the calendar year. sarcastic yay Which kind of brings me to my last thought.

Not really sure why I'm saying this, but whatever... I may or may not drop completely off the radar in the next little bit. To put it bluntly, I'm overdue for a cycle
of depression. (And if you've never been through the same thing, I know it must sound absolutely crazy.) Honestly, this whole last week should have been very hard, but, by some miracle, I feel like the cycle got short-circuited. Which is another way of saying 'delayed, not destroyed'. I have a feeling I got lucky last week because, without going into any detail, it was a "special" work week with a better atmosphere. That plus "succeeding" at writing stuff helped keep me afloat. But of course that little break in work is over, and it's back to business as usual. So I'm more or less expecting to fall pretty frickin hard sometime soon.

...And I think that's all I have to talk about. There might be a couple "special events" in the next few weeks, but there's not really anything to say about them unless and until they happen. Thanks for reading.

For the few who might actually read this, you might have noticed that Kinse disappeared on my a while ago.
(And if you didn't infer that from the last journal, then you know it now and one of life's greatest mysteries
has now been solved.) The good news is that she did come back several days ago. yay. I'm not actually
being sarcastic, I just can't muster any real enthusiasm about anything right now. Her absence was...painful.
I'd like to say it was one of the harder things I've gone through, but it really wasn't. I've seriously
contemplated killing myself so many times over the years that flirting with suicidal thoughts isn't really a blip
on the radar anymore. Just another day to get through. But like I said, the good news is that she is back now.
Or rather, she's trying to she's trying to help me see that there is good news.

Switching topics, I've made practically zero progress in writing over the last month. "Snow" was pretty much the
only real exception to that. And quite frankly, I don't have a clue how a managed to write it. I've had little
success in getting anything out. When I'm hour three or four of a story and have maybe written half a dozen
paragraphs, I pretty much give up. Or worse, I actually manage to make progress, then realize that things are
progressing very differently than what they're "supposed to". And then I have to decide if I'm going to change
the big story or the little scene.

I've pretty much gotten to the point where I expect to not get anywhere with whatever I'm writing. The negativity
is probably why I've started writing Avid again. As far as writing goes, he's something of an outlet for negative
emotion. My own little shadowy demon. (Which I guess makes Kinse my personal angel.) He wasn't the very
first character I came up with, but he is close. And he's the first one that felt "real" and has stood the test of
time. (For the record, he predates Kinse by about 6 to 18 months. I'm guessing.) I suppose he's not the best
of people, certainly no paragon of moral values, but I still like him after a fashion. I suppose it might be similar
to a parent's love for their child even though the child is less of a man and more of a monster. (Mmm, Bioshock
quote. +1 for random memory.)

Anyway, the wheels in my head are spinning in the mud again, which means that, for better or worse, and
whether I like it or not, it's time to stop writing. Or, put less diplomatically, 'shut the hell up'. Not going to read
back through any of this so if it makes sense, it makes sense; if it doesn't, well...oh well. For the record, help
a bit. It won't make any lasting changes but that's ok. I gave up hoping miracles long ago. These days I'd
settle for stop-gaps and band-aids on broken bones.



PS if this was disjointed and confusing, it's probably because I'm tired.
It's something like 3am and I have no sleep schedule anymore.

Where did you go, love of my life?
Why did you leave, guardian of my heart?
When will you return?
Without you, what little I am crumbles into ash

It would seem another month has passed, with depressingly few submissions. (Optimistically, I think I had 2, and I really don't want to know.) I need a quiet place of refuge to focus on writing and this definitely not it. It seems more often than not, my writing sessions get interrupted or even nixed from the get go for a variety of reasons.

The "good" news is that the month wasn't completely wasted. I did manage to bang out a few stories which I haven't posted. One, I'm trying to come up with (actually, more like 'draw') an icon as I have hopes for developing into series of shorts. The other main one, I don't know if I'll ever post here because Avid's world is not exactly a furry environment, and I'm not a believer in posting a lot of content that is "off topic".

Other than that, I have some other unfinished pieces. Things that I started (or almost finished) and realized the underlying premises or themes were "wrong", or that I had a lot of words on paper that didn't really say anything.

The "bad" news is that sub-section where I work is about to lose half our personnel (they're all quitting), including 2 who are close friends and make the place more tolerable, and there are no foreseeable replacements for them. So I'm expecting some more depressing moods and a lot more stress since I'll probably be picking up a good bit of the slack. (Sometimes I really wished I wasn't a responsible adult with a decent work ethic. Here, those things are more of a curse since the lack of them isn't punished by any noticeable means.)

I'm not exactly sure how that's going to affect the quantity/quality of my work, but it probably will change the mood/style. I anticipate a lot more "moody" writing (as exhibited in "Breaking the News"). So expect more depressing themes, or outright psychotic violence (aka Avid...which you probably will not see here).

Anyway, I think I've rambled long enough. To leave on a positive note: I SHOULD have a lot of free time late December and earlier January. HOPEFULLY, that means I'll be able to make good progress on....whatever.

Haven't really done much writing in a while. At least it feels that way. Don't know when my last real submission was. Feels like forever ago. I suppose I did get one piece done; though it's far enough into K&T's storyline that I'm not sure if I should post it due to spoilers. =/ I have written about 2/3 of the next installment of their adventures, but it's pretty much been sitting there, I think a big part of that is I keep fighting with the characters over how the story is "supposed" to go, and I just don't have the energy for it right now. (I'm half tempted to just tear it up and try to start over from scratch.)

Still trying to build some kind of structured schedule back into my life. Right now, my work is more chaotic than ever. For a time where we are "not working", we seem to be doing an awful lot of work--just not what we're "supposed" to be doing. It really bothers me when day-by-day I have no idea what my hours will be.

Still trying to adjust to a 12-hour shift in my day-night cycle. I am sleeping more than 3 or 4 hours a day now, but that's almost more of a bad thing. The quality of sleep is trash and I'm pretty much tired no matter what time of day (or night); but it feels like I get no better sleep than a light doze. And, of course, that just screws with me all the more and exacerbates my depressive tendencies. I think I've spent almost all this weekend sleeping/trying to sleep, moping, or trying to forget that world exists. Kinse has been helping as much as she can but...meh. You know those days when the only "help" you want is a lead "pill"? Yah...

Oh, and before you think that's my current temperament, it's not. (Well, at the time of posting anyway. I've been all over the place lately, so who knows how I'll be when the 2 or 3 people read this.) I'm doing....moderately better. Not exactly good, but not horrible either. Generally, when I'm that bad, I don't bother with the effort of doing something semi-productive.

It took a lot longer than I originally thought it would, but think I'm finally through the moving process. Moving is an emotional nightmare for me for some reason. But it's basically over now and I managed to survive.

I'll probably still have some technical difficulties with internet in the short term. Optimistically, that won't be much of a problem or last for long. But the important thing is that I have a somewhat peaceful haven where I can write. So at least I'll still be able to write and upload later if things get retarded.

Speaking of writing, the last month wasn't a complete wash in terms of writing. I was able to finish two pieces that I will post in a minute and link from here...

And here they are. (It took a bit longer than expected for anyone who stopped by in the interim.)
-The Wanderer is a short and bitter piece with a dark, depressing theme. There's nothing violent or graphical, but I still recommend using your own discretion.
-Dragon's Hoard is longer, more upbeat story addressing an Alerothian take on a common draconic stereotype.

On a final note, I'm still not completely settled in and operating on a reliable schedule (as if I ever was). It might take some time to catch up on things here. Some of the changes I've gone through will impact my presence here, I just don't know how or to what degree. But, to my little nucleus of followers, it's good to finally be back.

For those of you keeping track of me, I'm about to drop off the net soon. I don't know when it will start or when I'll have internet again, but it should limited to sometime during October. And I don't think I'll be around much before this relocation. From past experience, work tends to gobble up most of my free time before something like this. (I don't have a weekend this week, and I have a feeling I won't get one next week either.) And then I'm not in a good place psychologically, so I don't foresee much myself doing much writing in what little time I do have.

In case the more surface-level stuff wasn't enough, here's a bit more about who I am and where I'm from.

First and foremost, My social skills are rather poor, And that goes double for this type of environment. It's a personal flaw, and I'm trying to work on it. Sometimes I wonder if I try to hard, distant and arrogant instead. Just smack me when I go crazy and I'll try to do better. (Or at least I'll stfu for a while.)

I've always had a very active and vivid imagination. Naturally, I took to reading and fell in love with the limitless possibilities found in books. It was probably only a matter of time before I started coming up with stories of my own. A lot of the stories I'm trying to write now trace their origins back to my high school days. I haven't really put much effort into writing in the past, but the ideas have stayed with me.

I don't know if I'm "ready" to be writing now, or if I'll ever be capable of good story-writing. But, that really doesn't matter. Not in the "you never know until you try" way, although that does play a small role. Put bluntly, my fantasies (and, more recently, writings) have been my lifeline. That's not me looking for pity, that's just plain, cold, hard reality.

It's no joke or exaggeration when I say that,t were it not for Kinse, I would not be alive. (Again, no self-pity, just how it is.) That's my biggest motivation in writing about her. Even if it's poorly written and doesn't reflect her well, she'll at least have the chance to live on in someone else.

Moving right along, before I get too brooding and start to wallow....Kinse (and Talon by extension) is easily my biggest....character? I'm not sure the word fits because I "met" her long before I came up with any kind of story for her. And I'm pretty sure Aleroth (the world I wrote her into) is just a giant playground the two of us have built together over the last decade. Yes, I love her. Very dearly. And yes, I'm perfectly aware that makes me "weird". I grew used to the idea that I might make a good candidate for a psych ward a long time ago. Sometimes I question my sanity when I say my soulmate inhabits a completely different reality, but I really don't care.

Avid is my other main character that I've toyed with over the years. He actually predates Kinse, but he's very abrasive. In fact, I can't think of a single good reason why I like him, other than he's a bad ass. He is definitely representative of my dark, psychotic side. I doubt I'll post any real stories about him here, since he is most definitely not furry. (Think of some hell-spawn phantom who tends to kill the bad guys rather than the good guys only because he hates them more.) The only reason why I bring Avid up is because I use him for my screen name. I actually debated whether or not to use a name based off Kinse or Talon, but decided to keep Avid. I've used the name for most things since I started using the internet, and I like the consistency. (Too bad his name had to be something commonly used.)

Now that most of the deep, soul-searching junk is over, a few more whimsical things about me.

I enjoy word games, that is puns, not scrabble. Bonus points if it's actually good. Unfortunately, it's not nearly the same online so you won't see much of it. Ok fine, fortunately, you won't have to suffer through it.

I can be incredibly sarcastic in real life. Again, it doesn't translate well in literary conversation so you will likely be spared most of that as well.

My favorite drink....is water. haha *ahem* I don't really have a favorite alcoholic beverage. If I had to pick something, it would be a hard liquor. I can't stand beer and don't care for wine. Cider is ok, but not really my thing. Whiskey and rum--straight. That's my thing. As Zoltan Chivay would say, "Serious problems require serious solutions. Half measures get you nowhere." (Before you think I'm an actual alcoholic, I don't drink that often and I never try to push my limits. I've seen enough idiots go crazy and I have no wish to go through that.)

My current job is....crazy. Not going into details or this would be a long rant. Just know that, for the near-future, I will move around a lot, and there will be extended times where I won't have internet access.

I don't really watch TV or movies. I don't have the patience to watch a story that occurs in 30-60 minute weekly intervals over the course of a year. And that's if the story ends after only one season. Movies are better, they just cost more money to see. (I told you I was frugal.) For the record, my favorite series would be Star Gate. SG-1 seasons 1-7,8 were my favorite. Atlantis wasn't bad, it just wasn't the original. SGU I had an enjoyable love/hate relationship.

I used to play video games a lot. I do, just not very much anymore. When I had the time to spare, I spent thousands of hours on TS1, BF2, APB, Pay Day..just to name some of the online games I played. It was never really an addiction. I could put it down for a week or a month and not be bothered by it. But my passion for games has cooled a bit. That's part of why I'm trying to pick up writing now.

For reading, I like sci-fi and fantasy. Right now, I'm working my way through a 100+ book series of Star Wars. (Thank God for digital libraries.) I started because I had nothing else to do with my down time and I've kept up mainly just for continuity's sake. If/when I finish that, I plan on reading Sapkowski's Witcher series and catching up on Card's Enderverse. If you look closely, I'm sure you can spot other authors or books who have influenced me.

A few more addendums:

I call myself a revisionist. Nothing is ever perfect. And, for the sake of argument, if something is ever perfect, it can be done a different way. So I will probably rearrange things now and then.

I probably will not "watch" or "fav" many things. I blame my OCD, where "neat" is defined as "empty". Follow the logic. Rest assured, if you're keeping an eye on me, or we cross paths now and then, I'm probably keeping an eye out for you. I just don't do a good job of publicizing it.