So.
I’m totally OK. My health is robust. Its robustness would astound you, in fact. I’m getting fresh air and sunshine aplenty, and while it does grow colder by the day, I’m spending most of my time outdoors where nature and I can commune. Our communing can be most obviously observed in my allergies, which manifest in constant sneezing and eyes too watery to line properly, but that’s Mother Nature for ya.
Speaking of Mother Nature… she’s a bit of a bitch when you get right down to it.
Now, I have no idea where you lot live—and by “you lot” I mean all you fantastics who read my writing here on the vast realm of the internet—but I live in the southern part of the United States. Specifically, I live in Texas, which has been going through the biggest drought in pretty much EVER.
The reason I’m bringing this up is because my family is, predominantly, made up of cattle ranchers. My grandparents make their living in the cattle business, as do the majority of my aunts and uncles and cousins, and this drought has all but shattered our livelihood. Nothing will grow for the cows to eat so we have to spend untold amounts of money on cattle feed; the tanks won’t stay full so the cows have nothing to drink, aside from the water we have to buy and truck in for them. We’re sinking very quickly into debt as a result, and because my parents have well-paying jobs outside the industry, they’ve begun channeling their resources into keeping our fifth-generation farm alive.
And, since we’re cutting back expenses and not hiring any ranch hands, I’ve been delegated a hand myself. I’m taking a semester off of school to work the farm and ease the financial strain on my mom and dad, and let me tell ya, when you’re fifty miles from the nearest city, writing can be hard to do.
I’d like to apologize for my disappearance. I didn’t mean to drop off the face of the earth like that, but my computer broke and then I got shipped off to the farm before it was fixed… my grandparents don’t have the internet, or even a computer on which I can type, so the only internet access I get is if I go to a friend’s or relative’s house, or if I drive to the library. It’s incredibly difficult to manage all of this, but I’ve been writing in my notebook and as soon as I have more time with a computer I’ll convert that text into type, I swear.
The good news is that the southernmost and easternmost parts of Texas are looking like they’ll be getting rain soon, and hopefully that’ll drift on up to the ranch in the next month or so.
More good news comes in the fact that I’ve written almost two hundred pages of short story, original fiction, BY HAND IN THE LAST MONTH. This place really brings out the best in my creative drive. I’ve been drawing a lot, too, and I’ll upload some of my new stuff soon to share. The library has a scanner, it turns out! YAY!
Final piece of good news: Mom, still in the city, says she’s taken my laptop to get fixed for cheap by a family friend. Hopefully I’ll have it soon, and hopefully FT will get back on its feet.
As much as I hate not being able to finish FT right now, I love being on the farm. I plan on talking about it soon.
Thanks so much, all, for putting up with me and my shenanigans.
