In a real book with a real ISBN and everything, no less. 🙂

There was a national short story contest this summer that Polar Expressions Publishing put on, and while I’ve always been rusty at writing short fiction, I figured I’d give it a try and see if I couldn’t shake some of that rust off. With a 750 word count limit, it was a real tight challenge. That’s so short that it’s just about postcard fiction, and a heck of a squeeze for fitting ideas into. All the same, I just got notification that I can, in fact, occasionally keep things short and still have some measure of success! Final voting isn’t until December, but I’ve passed the first round, which means I’m in the top third of submissions, and so my story Outlast is going to make it into The Sun Shall Rise, the printed book for this year. Considering my goal was simply to test my mettle, that’s good enough for me, just as-is. =D

So huzzah and hurrah! For the first time ever, I’m going to have some words in a book. What a nifty feeling. 🙂

The last you guys heard of me, I was moving. Now I’m almost all moved in, thank goodness. I’m still juggling my day job and now the daily unpacking of boxes and rearranging of the things (also introducing two cats to one another, which is always a joy but never simple), but it’s getting easier and faster. I even got a comic done for this week! I was actually completely out of comic pages that were done ahead of time, so I had to put this one together in a matter of hours just today. I apologize if there are a few more typos than usual. ^^;

I’ll also be working on getting back to responding to comments like I used to. I miss that. It still might be a week or so before I’ve got my life and home sorted, so bear with me if it takes some time between responses, but now I can at least consider conversation as a possibility. I’ve missed you guys. 🙂

There were a few glitches on the site that popped up while I was away. Sorry about those. I think I’ve fixed them for now, although if I haven’t or something else is wrong, let me know. I appreciate it. =D

Just a quick note I want to make. If you’ve noticed lately that I’ve been a bit slow at responses, there is an explanation: I’ve been attempting to find a new apartment in my city with a barely-above-1% vacancy rate, and finally, oh finally, I have succeeded. Over the next few weeks I’ll be packing up, cleaning up, and setting up in a much nicer new place. As you can imagine, I might get even more scarce for a while. There’s lots and lots to do. I’ve built up a buffer of comic-story pages already, so there shouldn’t be a noticeable difference to the progression of the story, but I myself will be just about missing.

I’ll mention here when it’s all over and I can get back to normal. We’ll be about three-quarters of the way through the story of Eika and Koro by then, I do believe. I’m glad that it seems well received so far. =)

My birthday came and went, and among the presents I received was one I can share with the rest of you: wallpaper worthy art, commissioned by J.N. Squire and drawn by the talented Andalar. 🙂 It’s only on DeviantArt for now, but I’ll get it onto the site in the Wallpapers section as soon as I can. Check the description for the extra goodies: There’s a story to go along with the art, and you can download the wallpaper-sized version from DeviantArt for the moment.

Enjoy!