I’m not at my best. Not even a little.

But in spite of the horrors, here I am, trying to write and make art like some sort of delusional squirrel trying to cross a road.

Who am I kidding. I haven’t made any new art in weeks.

But I have been trying to write. So there’s that.

And soon it will Story-a-Day May, one of my favorite things. I’m either going to write (start?) a new story every day or I’ll go back to an old unfinished one and write an ending. Sometimes I wonder why I bother when I’m in a financial hole, the country is on fire, and the situation with my aging father is its own hellscape. Shouldn’t I be doing something completely different? Yeah? What? I don’t even know. Surely there’s something that would help?

Worrying is not helping. Scouring the internet for additional work isn’t helping. Screaming into the void isn’t helping. (I think the void is tired, y’all. It’s put in earplugs. It’s wearing a tee-shirt that says, “Not today, puny human.”)

Well, I have to write. For my own mental equilibrium, and who knows? Maybe the void will appreciate it.

I love the Story-a-Day challenge not because I write a terrific story every day. I don’t. Some days I’m too tired or down. Some days I write something that is crap. Often, I don’t finish the story a start. Wow! Makes you want to read everything, huh? Hahahaha!

Look. I love imagining other people, other places. My brain does this regardless of circumstance. I love the feeling a good story provides. A good story offers an escape or a release or an understanding. A good story shows us something new about the person sitting next to us or the place we’ve never been (the place where we live but have yet fully seen). Telling stories is deeply human. Granted, some people tell stories to harm. We see that every day. But the best stories, the needed stories, the beloved stories shine a light, open a window, offer comfort. I’ll never invent a great technology or discover a drug that will change the world. But I might be able to write something that changes someone’s day. And that’s a little miracle.

So, I’ll be writing stories and sharing some of them over on Patreon. After all, I finished the latest serialized novel, Sunlight & Mercie, and have to post something. Join in if you’d like to read along!

---

Buy my art. Support the stories.
Buy me a coffee! Find some things.

---

And thanks for reading!