I’m not dead, I can assure you that, so you can stop worrying. It’s just tha — Oh, you weren’t worrying? You were what? Celebrating?! … Geeh, thanks. Someone’s not getting a Christmas card upcoming holiday season! (Christmas is only eight months away, people! Start pouring that money into the pockets of shop owners.)

Where was I? Ah, all right. I’m not dead, it’s just that I haven’t had the time to update, in addition to the fact that my trusty iMac had a heart attack, leaving me behind, all alone, to take care of our three children, Shcherbatsky, Vronsky and Karenina. (What? So I named my external hard drives after characters in Anna Karenina. I bet that’s not that weird.) Also, I was preparing to send some of my short stories and poems to literary magazines, but — there’s always a “but” in my life — since it’s all stored on my external hard drive, which is formatted in HFS+, I can’t get to any of it until my iMac is restored or replaced. *cheer*

So, stop celebrating and start crying! If all goes according to plan, I’ll be returning soon! Aren’t you glad I will?