State of Resolve · 2:44pm Feb 9th, 2018
Hey everyone.
First of all, I'd like to direct your attention to a little story my dear friend Karrakaz has been working on for the better part of two years. It's called Guilty Pleasure, it's a maturely rated Twilestia, and it's insanely adorable. He just put out the last chapter today so those of you who like to wait until a thing is complete have no excuse. I will however accept that you cannot or do not choose to read mature stories. You get a pass.
Having said that, a little update on your author.
So, 3 chapters in to Folly of Princesses and I have to beg for your patience.
The long and short of it is: I haven't been maintaining my writing schedule. What that will mean is I will be skipping the march update so that I can rebuild my buffer in time for April. I'm doing this because Feb is already a short month and I will be going on a trip in march.
Now, at this point you may be asking 'Why?', or 'What's wrong with you?' or 'Damnit Steel, I don't want to hear this, produce the horse words or I kill another hostage'. I will be glad to answer those first two, for the third just know the plane is coming and the bills are small and unmarked.
Basically, my writing has been suffering due to stress.
To give you a little rundown, my wife started having problems with vertigo around a year ago. They were the type of thing that had her out of work for a night, maybe two, and then she was fine. Around October things got so much worse because her energy levels went from those of someone who had trouble sleeping to 'no matter how much I sleep I get I never feel rested, and the constant exhaustion makes the vertigo be an all of the time thing',
That's when we found out about hypothyroidism. Apparently there's a little gland in our necks that, when it's not working correctly, affects practically everything in the body.
Fun.
Also, the thyroid is a real bitch to get right. She and I both have diabetes and that simply required the right dosage of pills. Finding the right dosage on this is very delicate, and even when you find it, can take weeks/months for you to feel normal.
Add that to the fact that it's a huge pain to get someone on medical leave, and that medical leave itself is paying her around 1/3 of what she normally makes, and getting doctors to set up appointments around the end and beginning of the respective years was like pulling teeth from a shark and... yeah. It's been a time.
For those of you who have been following me for a long time, no, I haven't resorted to payday loans. We've managed, somehow, but it's been rough. Imagine around 33% of your monthly budget just disappearing and add on a bunch of medical appointments beside.
But again, we've managed, it's just the added stress has been drowning my poor muse out. She really wants to tell me what's happening with these ponies and I can't focus on getting it down.
This is not intended as a plea for anything from anyone, just an explanation because I feel like I owe it to people who bother to read my story to explain when there will be delays. I haven't given up on the story, I am still adoring writing it, but life is kicking my ass right now, and I don't immediately know when it plans to stop.
More to come, and thank you all for reading.
Damnit Steel, I don't want to hear this, produce the horse words or I kill another hostage.
...
But seriously, sorry to hear about all of this, and good luck.
I know the feeling. I'm sure you need more forms to fill out too, right?
Being grown up sucks. We should all get to do this for a year and then go back to being twenty years old. I could write three novels in a year if I had the time and responsibilities I had when I was twenty.
But, you're taking care of important stuff, and doing a good job. You deserve an up vote/fave/keep up the good work on life!
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We got it done finally, but she went for six weeks with no pay at all while this all happened.
So many forms. And worse, my general practitioner didn't want to fill them out because he didn't feel qualified to treat the illness, so we had to be referred to a specialist with a deadline for the paperwork set for the beginning of January and the earliest appointments in February. Basically I had to call daily for a week to see if they had any cancellations then pray they had time to fill out the FLMA paperwork and that my job would accept the doctor's explanation of what was going on.
I had undiagnosed hypothyroid for the better part of 15 years. I can confirm that it will do things to you that make "miserable" a welcome relief if it goes unchecked for too long. The largely negative effect it had on the arc my teenage and adult life took because of it cannot possibly be understated. I've been on my medicine for almost two years and I'm still picking up the pieces of my life I left in tatters from the constant depression, fatigue, and inability to sleep like a normal human being.
Anyway. Get yourselves in order first and foremost. Can't do good things when you're in too much turmoil yourself.
another hostage goes down Stoh well. get better ya hear me
Sorry to hear it's been rough. I haven't been adulting for long enough to really give any advice on that matter.
Another month without Princesses being Folly-esque is doable 
But I hope things will be looking up, and don't worry about us. I know we say this a fuckton of times, but it remains true nonetheless. You guys' health is more important than regular horse words. A bunch of people and I are on year 2 of waiting for an updated version of an old, old story, and I haven't lost my patience yet
Sometimes we all need a little kindness. The only kindness I know how to give in this situation is the assurance that, were we speaking in person, I'd be offering hugs and drinks of choice rather than clumsy words. Hang in there.
take all the time you need best of luck and i look forwards to when you can come back to things