A Brief Update on Alice
How’s it going all? Crasherfly, author of Alice and the Pale Horse, here to give you a brief update on Alice and the schedule for the remainder of 2021.
As you can see, it’s been a couple weeks since I last released any new installments of Alice. What changed? Have I hit a rut? Am I okay?
Answers in brief- “Almost everything”, “No” and “Yes” in that order.
I started a new job that requires a lot of time and concentration. It’s accounting and data entry work that I’m not naturally suited for so I rarely take time away from the work to do anything else when I’m on the clock. It has a high learning curve so it takes a lot of mental energy too. It’s getting better, slowly but surely, but it’s the kind of work you can’t fake the results for or cut corners to complete, so I have a lot less time during my day to devote to stuff like Alice.
Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m completely without time. I work 5 days a week now but I’m off earlier in the day and wake up later in the morning than I used to. I just haven’t had the energy to do much more than watch MS3TK, play strategy games (I’m deeply into Crusader Kings III at the moment) and fall asleep much earlier than I ever used to. I’m hoping that once I’m more comfortable in the work I’ll be able to return to my more energetic ways. Last night I already tried to shift my attention to more useful things and got some reading done- I’m halfway through the second volume of Fist of the North Star now!
It’s also the holidays which means I’m getting pulled in plenty of different directions, socially. I think we can all sense that this winter has the potential to be brutal so we are trying to get our socializing done before the numbers become truly dire once more. I saw a live wrestling show on Saturday and had friends over for some couch co-op video games, things I highly doubt will be viable by January. My parents will visit me this weekend and I’ll likely have at least one more family trip to deal with before the year is out. It makes for a lot of fun times but also a ton of existential exhaustion as I continually juggle the calculus between having a fun time and potentially courting serious illness.
It’s hard to believe we are still doing this thing two years later, and that we might continue doing it for the foreseeable future.
Maybe it’s in that spirit that I made two very Alice-like purchases in the past month- a handcrafted sleeping futon from Kyoto- and two bags full of Carhartt hoodies. I told a friend that hoodies are like suits of armor to me- I always buy a size further up than I need so I can disappear inside it if need be >_< If you want to show someone you care about them this holiday season, buy them a nice, big, warm hoodie. I guarantee they’ll remember you every time they put it on.
I do want to get back to Alice more consistently. I’ve been itching to, even. The energy is lacking even as the spirit is willing. I feel a deep connection to Alice as a character and I feel I have a lot to share with her that others in turn might enjoy reading. Its this compulsion that leads me to write and excites me about this story. I actually added MORE to her story not even a week ago- it was a scene for a future arc that I’ve been planning for over a year now. I felt my fingers shake as I typed sentence after sentence- I was that excited about what’s to come. I hope we can all get to it soon. But before that happens we have a long way to go.
I know have a couple readers out there. I don’t give you all enough credit- ‘cuz you do exist and I know you take time to read my work every week. I long stopped reading the traffic reports, so I’m not sure how many folks there actually are who tune in, but to those who do, please accept my apologies for my inconsistency. Alice will return soon- maybe even this week! But until then, please bear with me as I continue to work through these life changes.
